Prediction of HAVC Cool-Down Performance inside a Minibus Passenger Cabin Using CFD and Its Experimental Validation.

Abstract

Now with more time spent by people while travelling and increasing mobility, providing passengers with a thermally comfortable experience are one of the important targets of any bus manufacturer. Conversely, comprehensive assessment through Climatic Wind Tunnel testing is costly and not possible during early stages of vehicle design. The aim of this work has been to develop a simplified simulation methodology to model the Minibus passenger cabin for cool down test. This study presents a methodology for predicting Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) cool-down performance inside Minibus cabin using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation to revise the HVAC duct design and parametric optimization in order to ensure thermal comfort of occupant. Heat Load is calculated analytically and has been considered in the CFD model and occupant heat load is considered as per ASHRAE standard. CFD simulation predicted the temperature and velocity distribution inside passenger cabin. Simulated cool-down results were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. CFD cool-down prediction is useful in order to reduce time and costs related to climatic wind tunnel and road tests. Validated CFD model is used to study the effect of air flow on cool-down performance.