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EACC 2005 CLIMATE CONTROL

Keeping Cool in an
by Lin-jie Huang, Delphi Thermal and Interior, Lockport, NY, and Taeyoung Han, Delphi Research Labs, Shelby Township, MI

S IMULATION OF VEHICLE CABIN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS is becoming increasing-


ly important as a complement to wind tunnel and field testing to help achieve
Delphi Passenger Compartment Model
improved thermal comfort while reducing development time and cost. However, the
tendency to use more glass in vehicle styling coupled with tightening fuel-economy
Solar Load Radiation View Factors constraints, the change to less-efficient, environmentally safe refrigerants, and
reduced condenser air flow, particularly at idle, are significant challenges for achieving
occupant thermal comfort. As a consequence, it has become necessary to develop
Refrigeration Cycle Analysis tools that can predict the impact of various design choices on passenger thermal com-
design fort early in the design process.
iteration
3D Flow and Thermal Analysis
To explore different climate control strategies as they relate to occupant thermal com-
iteration fort in a quick and inexpensive manner, Delphi developed the Virtual Thermal Comfort
Human Physiology Model Engineering (VTCE) process. The model has the ability to predict the local thermal
comfort level of an occupant in a highly non-uniform thermal environment as a func-
tion of air temperature, surrounding surface temperatures, air velocity, humidity,
Thermal Comfort Prediction direct solar flux, and the level of activity and clothing of each passenger. In its study,
Delphi used test data to validate VTCE for a sport utility vehicle (SUV) cabin environ-
Schematic of virtual thermal comfort engineering process ment. VTCE was then used to perform sensitivity studies of various vehicle cabin envi-
ronments on the occupant thermal comfort, including discharge temperature, breath
level temperature and air velocity, solar intensity, and solar angles.

For the purpose of VTCE, the geometry of the passenger compartment was described
by parameters that were carefully selected from early-stage vehicle architectural
design. The key design parameters, such as A/C outlet location and size, windshield
angle, and body vent locations were easily varied to accommodate potential design
changes. Due to the readily available water-tight surface geometry from the Delphi
compartment model, the mesh generation time was drastically reduced compared to
the traditional CFD process. Once the compartment model was available, the benefits
of the model for developing the HVAC system design were tremendous.

During the simulations, it was necessary to specify the thermal environment around
the passengers, such as air velocity, air temperature, and radiation load around body
segments corresponding to a human physiology model. The human physiology
model, which strives to simulate thermal comfort by modeling realistic blood flow,
Solar load on the glass and on the cabin interior of a takes into account the layers of body tissue and clothing in addition to other
full-size SUV
descriptive characteristics of the body (e.g., height, weight, age, etc.). This data is
used to calculate the equivalent homogenous temperature (EHT) [1, 4], which is
plotted together with the comfort limits [2, 3] that have been established for differ-
ent body parts. In general terms, the EHT attempts to account for both the physio-
logical and psychological states of a person in order to assess thermal comfort in a
non-uniform environment. Accurate prediction of EHT values for an occupant
depends on the accuracy of predicting the cabin interior thermal environment,
which includes the solar load, air velocities, breath level temperatures, and sur-
rounding interior surface temperatures in the cabin.

In the VTCE process, FLUENT is used to predict the airflow, temperature, and humidity
distribution around the vehicle occupants. These values are then used as boundary con-
ditions for the human physiology model. The human physiology model computes the
surface temperatures of the occupants, as described above, and passes these back to
Air flow distribution in a full-size SUV cabin FLUENT so that the airflow can be recomputed. The exchange of data occurs at spec-
ified time intervals during the CFD analysis. For the case considered, the SUV solution
converged very quickly since the thermal interaction between the occupants and the
cabin thermal environment was not strong. Despite the weak thermal interaction, how-

s4 Fluent News · Summer 2005


CLIMATE CONTROL

EACC 2005
SUV
Summer ride
ever, the occupants in the cabin significantly affected the overall flow and air Comfort range (90% satisfied)
Head
temperature distribution.
Chest
Back
The EHT calculations from the VTCE process were validated against test data Pelvis
using a full-size SUV during both summer and winter driving conditions. Left Upper Arm
Right Upper Arm
Thermal comfort ratings were supplied by human subjects during soak and
Left Forearm
cool-down/warm-up vehicle comfort test rides. The overall predictions for Right Forearm
occupant thermal comfort for the summer and the winter rides were within Left Hand
Right Hand
a quarter scale accuracy compared to the human subject data.
Left Thigh
Right Thigh
Beyond the validations, VTCE was subjected to a series of sensitivity studies, in Left Calf
which passenger compartment climate conditions such as solar loading and Right Calf
Left Foot
air velocity were varied to discern the effect on the EHT values. For the base- Right Foot
line case of a summer ride, a direct solar intensity of 1000 W/m2 and a diffused 15 20 25 30 35
EHT °C
solar intensity of 50 W/m2 were specified with an incidence angle of noon time
(90° altitude and 0° azimuth). Due to the vertical solar incidence angle, most EHT index for 16 body segments for the baseline case near the end of the
of the occupant body surfaces were blocked from direct solar load by the roof summer comfort ride.
of the vehicle. Only occupant hand and feet areas were impacted by direct
solar load. For the case of the 45° altitude, -45° azimuth solar incidence angle,
the right lower arm and the left upper arm areas had fairly high EHT values
(33°C and 29.5°C respectively) due to direct solar heating. 9
Comfort votes
8
The effects of the air velocity were simulated by assuming that the other ther- Prediction
OEM’s comfort rating

7
mal environment variables were the same as the baseline case. The air velocity
6
was increased and decreased by 0.5 m/s to assess the effects of the air veloci-
ty on the thermal comfort. The increase of air velocity by 0.5 m/s influenced 5

most of the body segments except the back and near the pelvis, which direct- 4
ly contacted the seat. The average EHT for the body segments increased by 3
roughly 1°C when the air velocity decreased by 0.5 m/s and decreased by
2
roughly 2°C when the air velocity was increased by 0.5 m/s. A large effect of
1
air velocity was found on the head, arm, and hand body segments. Very little Soak City 30 mph 60 mph Idle
effect occurred for pelvis, back, and thigh because these body segments were driving (recirculation) (outside air)
Summer weather driving cycle
in contact with the seat. As expected, the comfort ratings were improved as
the air velocity magnitude increased around the occupant. Prediction of the comfort ratings during the summer comfort ride

Overall, VTCE was found to be suitable for the evaluation of heat load and
occupant thermal comfort in a vehicle cabin. This simulation tool allows for the
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rapid assessment of various parameters with respect to thermal comfort during Comfort votes
the early stage of vehicle development without the need for time-consuming 8
Prediction
OEM’s comfort rating

vehicle level tests.  7

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References: 5
1 Currle, J. Numerical Study of the Flow in a Passenger Compartment and Evaluation
of Thermal Comfort of the Occupants; SAE Paper 970529, March 1997. 4

2 Currle, J.; Maué, J. Numerical Study of the Influence of Air Vent Area and Air Mass 3
Flux on the Thermal Comfort of Car Occupants; SAE Paper 2000-01-0980, March
2
2000.
3 Bohm M.; Browen, M.; Holmer, I.; Nilsson, H.; Noren, O. Evaluation of Vehicle 1
Soak 25 mph 38 mph Idle
Climate with a Thermal Manikin – The Relationship between Human Temperature (recirculation)
Experience and Local Heat Loss; Swedish Institute of Agricultural Engineering. JTI- Cold weather driving cycle
Report 123, 1990.
Prediction of the comfort ratings during the winter comfort ride
4 Wyon, D.P.; Larsson, S.; Forsgren, B.; Lundgren, I. Standard Procedures for Assessing
Vehicle Climate with a Thermal Manikin; SAE Paper 890049, 1989.

Fluent News · Summer 2005 s5

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