System for controlling the temperature of a vehicle drive train component including coolant circulation

摘要

A system for controlling the temperature of a vehicle drive train component (24) utilizes coolant that is normally used to cool an engine (22) on the vehicle (20). At least one flow passageway (32,34) is associated with the drive train component housing. Coolant from the radiator (26) is selectively allowed to flow through the passageway where it absorbs heat from within the drive train component. The fluid is then returned to the radiator where heat can be dissipated in a conventional manner. A suitably programmed controller (42) preferably controls the amount of coolant fluid flow through the component and controls a fan (28) assembly associated with the radiator to ensure appropriate cooling of the fluid to achieve desired engine cooling and drive train component cooling.