Cooling method and system for automotive engine.

摘要

A vapor cooled type internal combustion engine is provided with an auxiliary reservoir and a coolant management system. The management system establishes fluid communication between the reservoir and a cooling circuit of the engine in a manner to fill the latter with liquid coolant when the engine is not in use and thus exclude contaminating non-condensible air from same, and monitors the operation of the system when operating in a closed mode to determine if too much or too little coolant has been retained in the circuit following a warm-up mode wherein the excess coolant which fills the system when cold, is displaced by its own vapor pressure. The management system also ensures that the cooling circuit is not switched from closed to open states while the possibility of superatmospheric pressures developing therein exist and thus prevents violent displacement of coolant out of the circuit to the reservoir in a manner which invites spillage of coolant and the entry of large amounts of contaminating air.