When it comes to the grille, everyone is certainly no stranger. It is one of the most important elements of the front face, which greatly supports the family design. Functionally, it can also ventilate the air intake of the water tank, engine, air conditioner, etc., and prevent splashes from damaging the internal components of the front cabin during driving. The active air intake grille we are going to talk about today is also a kind of air intake grille, but it has become smarter. The reason why I came out to talk about this car accessory in particular is because I found that there are still many people around who don't know it well, but in fact, it has a lot to do in the past, present and future, so it is necessary to give it a special introduction.
1.The role of active grille If you have watched the touring car race, you will find that the middle nets of many racing cars are blocked. This is done to allow the engine to reach the best operating temperature in the shortest time and thus achieve better performance. Why do you say that? We know that when a cold car starts, the temperature of the water tank, which is not high, has to be cooled by the outside cold air again. Therefore, the water temperature rises slowly, and it will take longer for the engine to enter the best working state. Not only the racing car will be affected, it can be said that the low temperature greatly affects the operation of the engine, and many models will greatly reduce the heating effect in winter, and the fuel-saving effect will also become worse. If you still have memories of life in the 90s, you will definitely remember that many buses put a quilt on the front of the bus in winter. The stop-and-go mode of buses burns more oil, so it is very demanding to maintain the best operating temperature. Compared with this kind of "dumb" air blocking mode, the active air intake grille is much smarter. In terms of working characteristics, the active air intake grille system will automatically control the opening angle of the blades by the electronic unit based on the relevant sensor information and the engine temperature information, so as to achieve the effect of rapid warm-up and make the engine enter the most in the shortest time. Good working condition. In fact, the active air intake grille appeared very early. What is impressive is the new Focus launched in 2012, which was equipped with this device as standard at the time. And the biggest feature is that it has up to 15 different opening angles in order to more finely control the amount of air entering the engine compartment.
2. Why is it said that it may become a standard configuration in the future? In terms of the general direction, active air intake grilles have appeared in American cars earlier. For example, the Fox mentioned above, or Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and other models are also equipped with it. The new medium and large SUV Buick Angke Qi, which is expected to be officially launched on November 20, 2019, is also equipped with active air intake as standard. Gate. Of course, BMW also likes to configure it, like the BMW 5 Series is standard for all series, but the X3 of its own brother at the same price does not even have an option, which makes many people complain. The reason for this is related to the environment of use. There are many highways in North America and the strong wind resistance has become the main culprit of fuel consumption. The active air intake grille can be closed appropriately to reduce the drag coefficient, thereby improving vehicle stability and fuel economy. For example, Cadillac ATS-L, when the vehicle speed is higher than 60km/h, the on-board computer will automatically monitor the engine temperature, and the active closed air intake grille will play a role when ensuring that no additional air cooling is required. At this point, we can summarize the advantages of the active intake grille:
▎It is helpful for cold car start and can pull the engine to the best working environment faster;
▎Reduce drag coefficient when driving at high speed and save fuel consumption. In terms of these two points, it is already attractive enough in an era when fuel consumption must be compared. It can be said that the active intake grille can be promoted vigorously in the future. But having a foundation is definitely not enough. After all, we can use other ways to solve the above problems, such as choosing low-viscosity oil (in winter) and designing a more streamlined body, which can all be alleviated. There are two reasons why I predict that it has a lot to do in the future, and may even become a standard configuration.
▎The big mouth design is popular in modern cars, and the design trend is that there is no biggest but bigger. The large mouth means that the intake grille will be larger, and the effect on the engine and wind resistance will be more obvious. If the air intake grille is configured at this time, the effect will be better.
▎The active air intake grille has a tendency to gradually drop. For example, Geely Xingyue, Chery Tiggo 7, Baojun 730, Baojun 510 and other models are equipped with medium and high models. And because of work, Che Jujun found that many new models are paying more and more attention to it in the research and development stage, and I believe that there will be a wave of small outbreaks in the future.
3. Do electric vehicles also need this configuration? Some people may ask, if electric cars do not have an engine, do they still need an air intake grille? Since there is no grille, the active grille is even more useless. This is indeed a good question. It is true that electric vehicles do not need to use the air intake grille, because electric vehicles do not have an internal combustion engine and do not need an air intake grille to dissipate heat, and the elimination of the air intake grille can also reduce wind resistance. What about cooling down? Of course, there is a solution. For example, the forced air cooling system of the power battery uses a blower to convert the air through the evaporator of the air conditioning refrigeration system into cold air, and blow the battery through the set special duct to cool the battery. But in fact, in order to better provide air, this type of system should have a relatively large air volume source, so although the intake grille becomes smaller (or disappears), the lower skirt part will still be hollowed out. In addition, another function of the hollowing of the lower skirt is to cool the motor. So on the whole, the air intake grid grid may be transformed into another appearance in the future and used in the lower skirt part. Geely Geometry A is very typical. At first glance, Geometry A is also faceless, but in fact, strictly speaking, its lower skirt is hollowed out, and the air intake grille is active. It is said that the reason for this design is that the air intake grille can be matched to different opening and closing angles for different vehicle speeds, effectively reducing the drag coefficient, and also functioning as a diversion and cooling for the battery pack under the chassis. The idea coincides with our above analysis. Of course, in addition to the above explanation, the more realistic situation is that many hybrid or pure electric vehicles are now derived from traditional internal combustion engine platforms. Under this type of architecture, the cooling channels of the motor and battery are very similar to traditional internal combustion engine models. Therefore, the intake grille is also indispensable.
