Modelling of the engine cooling system of a locomotive engine with the aid of a unidimensional calculating program (#1270)

Authors

Romero Piedrahita, Carlos Alberto

Perez Castro, Wilson

Mejia Calderon, Luz Adriana

Abstract

Nowadays the thermal load of components for alternating internal combustion engines becomes higher and higher. Therefore, not only the materials and components have to be enhanced, but also the way in which we design cooling systems acquires a larger importance. Optimization of cooling systems design is necessary because of several reasons. On the one hand the remit and requirement to the components of the present must be accomplished and on the other hand, a more important point has to be respected, which is reducing fuel consumption, also closely related to the emissions of exhaust gases. The best way to design and model these systems is to create and use simulation tools. The optimal designing of cooling systems permits saving time during the construction process, reducing the amount of required experimental work, thus improving the economic aspect. This paper is about illustrating the computer program “Flowmaster” (a thermal, hydraulic simulation software) to represent a real circuit of a locomotive into the so called “simulation software”. It is built the virtual model of the cooling system of the EMD 12N-710G3B-MUI engine installed in a locomotive, using the FlowMaster thermofluid-dynamic circuit simulation program. The models generated can be used to predict the performance of the cooling system under different conditions such as cold start and working under a singular drive cycle.