Work vehicles, such as tractors and other agricultural vehicles, typically include one or more electronic control units (ECUs) configured to receive input signals and/or transmit output signals for monitoring and/or controlling vehicle operation. For example, work vehicles often include an emission sensor control unit communicatively coupled to one or more emission sensors, such as a nitrous oxide (NOx) sensor, configured to measure the concentration of one or more emission gases contained within the exhaust flow expelled from the vehicle's engine. As such, the emission sensor control unit may be configured to receive emission-related measurement signals from the sensor(s). Suitable control signals may then be transmitted from the emission sensor control unit to an engine control unit of the work vehicle to allow the operation of the engine to be controlled based on the emission-related measurements provided by the sensor(s).
In general, it is often desirable to position the control unit(s) of a work vehicle under the vehicle's hood to allow such control unit(s) to be in close in proximity to the components with which the unit(s) must communicate. However, electronic control units are typically required to be maintained below a specific operating temperature. Unfortunately, at high ambient temperatures and/or during high load applications, the under-hood air temperature of a work vehicle may often reach and/or exceed the predetermined temperature limit defined for a given control unit. As a result, there is an increased likelihood of damage occurring to such control unit due to overheating. In addition, after a hot shutdown, the under-hood air temperatures of a work vehicle often increases well above the under-hood temperatures typically experienced during vehicle operation, thereby further increasing the likelihood of damage occurring to any control units installed under the hood.
Moreover, conventional under-hood mounting arrangements typically require that a control unit be mounted to a separate mounting bracket installed under the hood. Such mounting brackets unnecessarily increase the number of under-hood components required for a work vehicle. In addition, since control units typically need to be isolated from vehicle vibrations to operate properly, vibration isolators must often be associated with the mounting bracket(s) to satisfy the vibration requirements of such control units, thereby increasing the overall costs of the installation.
Accordingly, an improved under-hood mounting configuration for a control unit of a work vehicle that addresses one or more of the issues highlighted above would be welcomed in the technology.