With the evolution of the electric cars, the battery unit in these cars needs to be maintained at optimal temperatures at all times, to ensure longer battery life, efficient charging and longer operating miles. Most of the e- vehicle manufacturers are looking at cooling liquids as the viable solution to operate battery packs at optimal temperatures.
For the efficient cooling of the battery packs most of the designs incorporate actuators, which control the flow of the cooling liquids around the battery. These actuators need to have high reliability to ensure that the cooling liquid operate as per the designed flow algorithm.
Some of the advanced designs even incorporate more than 5 actuators in a single cooling system control. Lubricants play a pivotal role in the reliable operation of these actuators. The gears and other critical components inside these actuators need to be lubricated well, even when exposed to varying temperatures.
These actuators need to operate at -40 deg C during peak winters and also operate at temperatures close to 150 deg C, as the battery packs can reach very high temperatures during operation. The lubricant used for these actuators also need to work under these extreme temperatures and provide excellent lubrication properties.
Another major challenge for the lubrication of the actuators are the compatibility with the different plastic and non ferrous materials being used in the actuators. Generally available lubricants either swell or shrink these plastic and non ferrous components, creating structural damage to actuators over a period of time.
Klüber Lubrication a world market leader in speciality lubricants has been successful in solving these demanding conditions for the lubrication of these actuators. They provided a specially engineered PFPE/PTFE-grease as the lubrication solution. This grease can operate at -65 deg C to 200 Deg C and at the same time provide excellent material compatibility. On extensive testing of this solution from Klüber Lubrication, the OEM's not only found the right lubricant solution but also realized higher service life for their actuators.
