Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers

In commercial vehicles, the power consumption of the traditional air conditioning system used to cool an entire cab is high. In most cases, there is only one driver in vehicle, so adjusting the local thermal environment around the driver can reduce much energy waste. In this paper, a localized air c...

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Main Authors: Chu-Qi Su, Ze-Zheng Wang, Xun Liu, Xin Xiong, Tao Jiang, Yi-Ping Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-11-01
Series:Energy Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722020893
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author Chu-Qi Su
Ze-Zheng Wang
Xun Liu
Xin Xiong
Tao Jiang
Yi-Ping Wang
author_facet Chu-Qi Su
Ze-Zheng Wang
Xun Liu
Xin Xiong
Tao Jiang
Yi-Ping Wang
author_sort Chu-Qi Su
collection DOAJ
description In commercial vehicles, the power consumption of the traditional air conditioning system used to cool an entire cab is high. In most cases, there is only one driver in vehicle, so adjusting the local thermal environment around the driver can reduce much energy waste. In this paper, a localized air conditioning system based on thermoelectric cooling (TEC) devices was constructed, and its performance characteristic were studied to find the optimal operating conditions in practice. The relationship between the refrigeration power and the operating current of the device was studied. A bench test was carried out to evaluate the performance of the device and the accuracy of the simulation. This paper selected a commercial vehicle cab for the application of the TEC system. The thermal comfort of human body in cab and the economy of local air conditioning system was analyzed by the method of computational fluid dynamics. The driver’s thermal comfort was analyzed based on equivalent temperature and thermal comfort deviation. The results show that when the cooling power is 3000 W, the overall thermal comfort deviation of human body under local thermoelectric refrigeration is 7.94% higher than that under traditional refrigeration. When the duty ratio of the centrifugal fan governor is about 40%–60%, the semiconductor cooling device has excellent refrigeration performance and low energy consumption, which can not only ensure the thermal comfort of the driver but also reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioner.
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spelling doaj.art-c3e99756cafd4f678d9ce70380c582ac2023-01-16T04:08:32ZengElsevierEnergy Reports2352-48472022-11-018795803Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolersChu-Qi Su0Ze-Zheng Wang1Xun Liu2Xin Xiong3Tao Jiang4Yi-Ping Wang5Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaCorresponding author at: Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China.; Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaIn commercial vehicles, the power consumption of the traditional air conditioning system used to cool an entire cab is high. In most cases, there is only one driver in vehicle, so adjusting the local thermal environment around the driver can reduce much energy waste. In this paper, a localized air conditioning system based on thermoelectric cooling (TEC) devices was constructed, and its performance characteristic were studied to find the optimal operating conditions in practice. The relationship between the refrigeration power and the operating current of the device was studied. A bench test was carried out to evaluate the performance of the device and the accuracy of the simulation. This paper selected a commercial vehicle cab for the application of the TEC system. The thermal comfort of human body in cab and the economy of local air conditioning system was analyzed by the method of computational fluid dynamics. The driver’s thermal comfort was analyzed based on equivalent temperature and thermal comfort deviation. The results show that when the cooling power is 3000 W, the overall thermal comfort deviation of human body under local thermoelectric refrigeration is 7.94% higher than that under traditional refrigeration. When the duty ratio of the centrifugal fan governor is about 40%–60%, the semiconductor cooling device has excellent refrigeration performance and low energy consumption, which can not only ensure the thermal comfort of the driver but also reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioner.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722020893The cabThermal comfortEconomyAir supply parametersThe thermoelectric coolingThe numerical simulation
spellingShingle Chu-Qi Su
Ze-Zheng Wang
Xun Liu
Xin Xiong
Tao Jiang
Yi-Ping Wang
Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
Energy Reports
The cab
Thermal comfort
Economy
Air supply parameters
The thermoelectric cooling
The numerical simulation
title Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
title_full Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
title_fullStr Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
title_full_unstemmed Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
title_short Research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
title_sort research on thermal comfort of commercial vehicle and economy of localized air conditioning system with thermoelectric coolers
topic The cab
Thermal comfort
Economy
Air supply parameters
The thermoelectric cooling
The numerical simulation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722020893
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AT xinxiong researchonthermalcomfortofcommercialvehicleandeconomyoflocalizedairconditioningsystemwiththermoelectriccoolers
AT taojiang researchonthermalcomfortofcommercialvehicleandeconomyoflocalizedairconditioningsystemwiththermoelectriccoolers
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