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Numerical study on a vehicle driver’s thermal comfort when using water thermal seats during summer and winter

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Abstract

In this paper, a water thermal seat is proposed to increase thermal comfort in automobiles. In order to confirm the applicability of a water thermal seat, a numerical study was conducted on the driver’s thermal comfort according to the use of the basic seat and water thermal seats (hot and cold water seats) in the car cabin under summer and winter conditions. As a result, after an elapsed cooling time of 30 min under summer condition, the predicted percentage of dissatisfaction (PPD) using the cold water seat was reduced by 23.4 % compared with that when using the basic seat. In winter, a slight dissatisfaction with the PPD (10.1 %) was presented for the basic seat, compared to 7.8 % in the initial 5 min when the hot water seat was used. Therefore, it was confirmed that the simultaneous use of HVAC and water thermal seats during summer and winter could significantly reduce the discomfort of the driver at the beginning of driving.

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Abbreviations

CMH :

Cubic meter per hour, (m3/h)

f cl :

Clothing surface are factor

\(\overrightarrow{g}\) :

Gravitational body force

I :

Unit tensor

keff :

Conductivity (W/m·K)

p :

Static pressure

PMV :

Predicted mean vote

PPD :

Predicted percentage of dissatisfied

S h :

Total energy per unit mass

S2S :

Surface to surface

T :

Temperature (°C)

ta :

Air temperature (°C)

v :

Velocity (m/s)

va :

Relative air velocity (m/s)

W :

Effective mechanical power (W/m2)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

μ :

Viscosity (kg/m·s)

\(\overrightarrow{T}\) :

Stress tensor

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020R1A2C2008248) funded by the Ministry of Science.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Chosun University, Gwangju, 61452, Korea

    Minjung Lee

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju, 61452, Korea

    Veerakumar Chinnasamy & Honghyun Cho

  3. Green Energy Institute, Mokpo-Si, Jeollanam-do, 58656, Korea

    Yunchan Shin

Authors
  1. Minjung Lee
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  2. Veerakumar Chinnasamy
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  3. Yunchan Shin
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  4. Honghyun Cho
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Honghyun Cho.

Additional information

Minjung Lee is in Ph.D. course of mechanical engineering, Chosun University. She received M.D. from Chosun University in 2020. Her interest includes heat and mass transfer in the solar collector, application of bio-signals in the thermal system, etc.

Veerakumar Chinnasamy is a Postdoctoral researcher of mechanical engineering, Chosun University. He received his Ph.D. in Green Energy Technology from Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India, in 2019. His research interest includes thermal energy storage, phase change materials, thermal comfort and renewable energy technologies.

Yunchan Shin is a Researcher in Green Energy Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Chosun University in 2021. His interest includes the performance improvement of solar collector, thermal comfort in automobile air-condi-tioning system, and the performance improvement in the HVAC system technologies.

Honghyun Cho is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chosun University. He received Ph.D. from Korea University in 2005. His interest includes the heat pump system with renewable energy, alternative refrigerant HVAC system, thermal comfort using bio signals heat and mass transfer in the heat exchanger, thermal storage technologies.

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Lee, M., Chinnasamy, V., Shin, Y. et al. Numerical study on a vehicle driver’s thermal comfort when using water thermal seats during summer and winter. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 2593–2606 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0434-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0434-5

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