CFD-Based research on control strategy of the opening of Active Grille Shutter on automobile

Abstract

Active Grille Shutter is a very promising technology to improve the performance and fuel economy of automotive engines. The engine room temperature and the automobile aerodynamic resistance should both been considered when controlling the opening of the Active Grille Shutter. A very complete geometric model was built for exterior of an automobile and interior of its engine room at a scale of 1:1 with different openings of the Active Grille Shutter. An aerodynamic drag coefficient variation curve at different grille openings was obtained through simulation analysis, which coincided with the actual aerodynamic drag coefficient. Research was made on the Active Grille Shutter opening control strategy based on computational fluid dynamics method and with radiator's heat dissipating capacity and the automobile aerodynamic drag coefficient as the evaluation parameters. The Active Grille Shutter opening control strategy was obtained, which guarantees that the automobile aerodynamic resistance is the lowest at different travel speeds, and the engine room temperature is within the optimal range. Keywords: Active Grille Shutter, Engine room, Aerodynamic drag coefficient, Temperature