Measurements of Energy Used for Vehicle Interior Climate
Journal article, 2014

Fuel consumption of vehicles has received increased attention in recent years; however one neglected area that can have a large effect on this is the energy usage for the interior climate. This study aims to investigate the energy usage for the interior climate for different conditions by measurements on a complete vehicle. Twelve different NEDC tests in different temperatures and thermal states of the vehicle were completed in a climatic wind tunnel. Furthermore one temperature sweep from 43° to–18°C was also performed. The measurements focused on the heat flow of the air, from its sources, to its sink, i.e. compartment. In addition the electrical and mechanical loads of the climate system were included. The different sources of heating and cooling were, for the tested powertrain, waste heat from the engine, a fuel operated heater, heat pickup of the air, evaporator cooling and cooling from recirculation. It was found that a separation of the sources and sink was possible and increased the understanding of the energy usage. Further the study showed that the sources were very dependent on the powertrain and that ambient conditions and thermal state of the vehicle, i.e. thermal load, had a very large impact on the needed energy.

Heating

automotive

energy consumption

ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC)

Author

Filip Nielsen

Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Building Services Engineering

Åsa Uddheim

Volvo Cars

Jan-Olof Dalenbäck

Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Building Services Engineering

SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars - Mechanical Systems

1946-3995 (ISSN) 19464002 (eISSN)

Vol. 7 4 1404-1416

Subject Categories

Other Mechanical Engineering

Areas of Advance

Transport

Energy

DOI

10.4271/2014-01-9129

More information

Latest update

11/20/2018