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Thermal Comfort of Automobile Driver Based on Local Air Conditioning Vent Arrangement

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Abstract

When there is only one person in the car, the traditional air conditioning vent arrangement of the car will cool the whole cabin, which is a waste of energy. A new local air conditioning vent arrangement has been studied to solve this problem. Two local air inlet arrangements, namely the ceiling independent air inlet arrangement and the top and bottom mixed air inlet arrangement (case 5) were proposed, mixed air inlet arrangement is ceiling and floor air discharge from air-conditioner respectively, and four air inlet schemes were designed for the ceiling independent air inlet arrangement. At the same time, the thermal comfort of the driver is studied based on different inlets position, by using the CFD simulation method and according to the thermal comfort evaluation standard of equivalent temperature. The results show that although the ceiling inlet arrangement solves the problem of high energy consumption, it cannot meet the thermal comfort needs of driver. In the mixed inlets arrangement, the air velocity of the driver is between 0.13 ∼ 0.6 m/s, the air temperature distribution range around the driver is 21.2 ∼ 27.8 deg.C and the equivalent temperature curve is in the thermal neutrality zone, which can meet the thermal comfort requirements of the driver.

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Abbreviations

p:

pressure, Pa

T:

temperature, K

K:

thermal conductivity, W/(m·K)

c p :

specific heat capacity, J/(kg·K)

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Acknowledgement

National Key Research Program (Science and Technology Boosting Economy 2020) (No. SQ2020 YFF0423771) and Science and Technology Planning Project of Zhejiang Province (No. 2022C04022).

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Correspondence to Suifan Chen.

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Chen, S., Xue, D., Li, Q. et al. Thermal Comfort of Automobile Driver Based on Local Air Conditioning Vent Arrangement. Int.J Automot. Technol. 24, 945–954 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-023-0077-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-023-0077-7

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