A Study of Flow Analysis Within a Tractor Cabin with the Goal of Determining the Best Vent Location and Glazing

Abstract

This study aims to improve the thermal comfort inside a tractor cabin by determining the position of the air conditioner vent location. This is obtained by maintaining the cold air flow inside the cabin by means of the air conditioning vents and proper HVAC systems. The concept of glazing on windows with different materials was also used to improve the thermal comfort of the tractor cabin by reducing the thermal conductivity. Variations in thermal comfort were tested by creating a 3D model of the tractor cabin with different vent locations as per the model of actual tractor cabin with vent locations as follows, dashboard and side pillars. To evaluate the thermal comfort, the anticipated mean vote (PMV) and expected percentage of unsatisfied were utilized, and the temperature, air velocity, and humidity for calculating PMV were simulated. The temperature and PMV measurement sites were chosen based on the SAE J1503 temperature measuring positions. Using suitable data, CFD simulations were performed on commercial simulation software (STAR-CCM+). Based on the result of the analysis, it was observed that maximum thermal comfort was obtained by placing the air conditioner vent on the dashboard which helped in cooling the tractor cabin in less time than the other vent locations. Considering the correct air conditioner vent location together with the spectral solar radiation effect, the average cabin temperature was, which waslower than other vent locations. When exposed to hot temperature conditions, a vehicle's structure can absorb a large quantity of heat. 50-70 percent of this heat passes through the glazing and boosts the internal cabin air temperature as well as the temperature of the interior trim surfaces. When driving away, the air conditioning system must be capable of quickly eliminating this heat, allowing the occupants to return to a comfortable state in a reasonable amount of time. (124). We achieved optimum comfort and a desirable temperature range, we improved working conditions of the operator in a tractor. By using different glazing material, we aim to study and improve operator’s thermal comfort. A 3D based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software will be used to analyze climate in the tractor vehicle cabin.