Energy Efficient Air Quality Solutions for Vehicle Cabins
Doctoral thesis, 2023

Show more

climate system

private car

measurements

particulate matters

CO2

simulations

air quality

air filter

UFP

filter status

energy use

vehicle cabin

Author

Dixin Wei

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Services Engineering

Included papers

PM2.5 and ultrafine particles in passenger car cabins in Sweden and northern China—the influence of filter age and pre-ionization

Environmental Science and Pollution Research,;Vol. 27(2020)p. 30815-30830

Journal article

Size-resolved simulation of particulate matters and CO2 concentration in passenger vehicle cabins

Environmental Science and Pollution Research,;Vol. In Press(2022)

Journal article

Vehicle cabin air quality – influence of air recirculation on energy use, particles and CO2

Environmental Science and Pollution Research,;Vol. In press(2023)

Journal article

Dixin Wei, Anders Löfvendahl. HEPA filters to improve vehicle cabin air quality – advantages and limitations

Manuscript

Popular science description

English

Maintaining a good air quality level is essential for reducing potential health risks for human beings. Vehicle cabin is one common environment challenged by elevated pollutants from surrounding traffics, especially small particles like PM2.5 and UFP (Ultrafine particles). The objective of this thesis is to evaluate and propose solutions for improved cabin air quality and energy efficiency, which could be used in the development of vehicle climate system. The work has been conducted through vehicle measurements to set the baseline of current air quality levels, development of an air quality model to enable a comprehensive evaluation environment, modelling of increased air recirculation, as well as measurements on new pre-filter prototypes in vehicles.

The results are showing that cabin particles are highly influenced by the outside particle concentrations, the filter design and status, and to some extent the ventilation settings. Modelling of increased recirculation results in significant reduction of energy use and particles. The use of high recirculation should be evaluated based on the number of passengers. One way to achieve that is adding a control based on cabin CO2 concentration in the climate system.  It is also shown feasible to improve air quality using an EPA/HEPA pre-filter. The main limitations come from space and acceptable pressure-drop in the relatively compact environment.

Research Project(s)

Energieffektiva lufkvalitetsystem för fordon

Swedish Energy Agency (44011-1), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-06-30.

Categorizing

Areas of Advance

Transport

Energy

Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)

Environmental Engineering

Vehicle Engineering

Identifiers

ISBN

978-91-7905-830-2

Other

Series

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 5296

Publisher

Chalmers

Public defence

2023-05-05 13:15

SB-H5, Chalmers

Online

Opponent: Professor Guangyu Cao, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

More information

Latest update

4/12/2023