Study of thermal phenomena in the cabin of a passenger vehicle using finite element analysis: human comfort and system performance

Abstract

A numerical simulation is performed to evaluate the thermal comfort of passengers and the performance of a defroster. In this study, a grid system based on a real vehicle and a finite element human model are used with an appropriate time step. The turbulent nature of the flow is modelled using a standard k–ε model according to the logarithmic law of the wall. The complex flow characteristics inside the passenger compartment are shown with simultaneous velocity and temperature fields in several sections of the flow domain. Through a predicted mean vote analysis, the thermal comfort of the passengers is discussed, in particular with respect to the measured location of the seat and the measured position of the passenger. An additional study is conducted on the defrost mode with respect to the defrosting performance which is closely related to passenger safety. The velocity profile at the defrost nozzle is interpolated to the inlet boundary surface node through a defrost duct simulation. The monitored points on the ice boundary indicate the melting time, the phase-change duration, the change in the enthalpy and other useful information.

Optimization of Cockpit Ventilation for Polar Cruise Ships in Combination with Windscreen Defogging and Cabin Comfort Considerations

“…To ensure the reliability of the simulation method in this paper, the experimental results of defrosting in the literature [ 18 , 19 ] were used for comparison with the numerical simulation results, where the model dimensions of the computational domain are 3.1 m × 1.8 m × 1.2 m (length × width × height), and the windscreen thickness is 4.96 mm, as shown in Figure 3 . Assume uniform frost on the outside surface of the windscreen, an ambient temperature of −18 °C, and a frost layer thickness of 0.5 mm.…”

Design and development of the Sunswift eVe solar vehicle: a record-breaking electric car

“…The extrapolated highway range of eVe with the present battery pack is in excess of 800 km if driven at a near-constant energy consumption at around 80 km/ h on average. Aggressive driving behaviour has a particularly strong influence on the overall range of an electrical vehicle, 20,21 and thus smooth driving strategies are required for managing eVe's energy budget. This extends to interactions with undulating terrain (long acknowledged as a significant factor in WSC solar car performance 22,23 ) as well as overtaking; therefore, strategic driving even in non-race conditions is important for endurance.…”

Thermal Comfort Optimization in an Electric Vehicle

“…The initial part of EN ISO 14505 was linked with EN ISO 7730 which introduces the use of PMV and PPD. The PMV index provides a value that indicates the ASHRAE thermal sensation scale and gives the average thermal sensation felt by a group of people [16,17]. It was measured at a scale of 7 with -3 indicating being cold to +3 being hot [9,10] as shown in Figure 1.…”