Back in 2017 at the Rally Mexico, DENSO and its Toyota Gazoo Racing partners were confronted with a great challenge of overcoming the severe heating problems that the rally car was experiencing at that very hot event. “Heat management is always a balancing act because of the range of temperatures, altitudes and different conditions we see in the sport of rally,” said Toyota Gazoo Racing Technical Director, Tom Fowler.
In response, DENSO and the team worked relentlessly to find the necessary solutions. Leveraging on DENSO’s expertise and technical knowledge, DENSO engineers and the team were able to find the necessary solutions, allowing the driver and co-pilot to come back stronger as the events passed. Much of the development work was undertaken at the DENSO Thermal Systems R&D facility in Italy. With the use of a full-scale wind tunnel, the DENSO team worked continuously to improve the car’s heat management system.
In 2022, thermal management has become more challenging due to the vehicle’s complex hybrid system. However, DENSO has been proactively investigating on this matter. “Cooling a very powerful internal combustion engine combined with the hybrid powertrain is something that we do every day for our hybrids and plug in hybrid applications,” says Matteo Biglia, R&D Director at DENSO Thermal Systems.
DENSO is continuously looking to find solutions on how to transform this technology into a more compact, efficient, and lighter applications, for mass production customers.