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With the increasing stringency of emission regulations, auto makers are now improving vehicle fuel efficiency via all kinds of technologies, such as hybrid systems, turbocharged or supercharged engines, engine auto start/stop, active grille shutters, etc. By implementing a variety of technologies, the engine cooling module’s working environment and work load has changed. This paper will mainly focus on the impact to the thermal durability of the engine cooling module’s main radiator from active grille shutter and electric thermostat implementation. A 2017MY hybrid vehicle using the above technology is evaluated by a wind tunnel test at a variety of ambient temperatures and driving conditions. First, such technologies’ control logic is studied by the wind tunnel test, so that the evaluation condition for evaluating the radiator’s thermal stress can be properly chosen to represent the actual field usage.

Requirements for fuel economy improvement and reduction in the vehicles engine compartment have increased significantly in the pass years. Performances in radiators have driven changes in terms of compactness and weight reductions. By focusing on the air flow we have optimized the radiator fin and developed a high performance radiator. A similar performance was achieved using an 11mm core depth which has 30% weight reduction compared to a 16mm core depth. The purpose of this paper is to present a technical outline about fin optimization.