Air Quality and Comfort Characterisation within an Electric Vehicle Cabin in Heating and Cooling Operations.

Luigi Russi,Paolo Guidorzi,Davide Aguiari,Giovanni Semprini,Beatrice Pulvirenti,Giovanni Pau

doi:10.3390/s22020543

Abstract

This work is aimed at the experimental characterisation of air quality and thermal profile within an electric vehicle cabin, measuring at the same time the HVAC system energy consumption. Pollutant concentrations in the vehicle cabin are measured by means of a low-cost system of sensors. The effects of the HVAC system configuration, such as fresh-air and recirculation mode, on cabin air quality, are discussed. It is shown that the PM concentrations observed in recirculation mode are lower than those in fresh-air mode, while VOC concentrations are generally higher in recirculation than in fresh-air mode. The energy consumption is compared in different configurations of the HVAC system. The novelty of this work is the combined measurement of important comfort parameters such as air temperature distribution and air quality within the vehicle, together with the real time energy consumption of the HVAC system. A wider concept of comfort is enabled, based on the use of low-cost sensors in the automotive field.

Highlights

One of the major barriers to electric vehicle adoption is due to the limited amount of energy stored in the batteries and needed for traction and auxiliary systems
This work is aimed at the experimental characterisation of air quality and thermal profile within an electric vehicle cabin, measuring at the same time the HVAC system energy consumption
The combined measures of air quality and comfort parameters, together with the energy consumption by the electric car are shown and discussed in different seasons, in order to show the differences in relation to the operational mode for the air conditioning

Summary

Introduction

One of the major barriers to electric vehicle adoption is due to the limited amount of energy stored in the batteries and needed for traction and auxiliary systems. Reducing the energy consumption of the HVAC system, as well as other auxiliary systems, is of paramount importance in the era of migration to electric powered transportation; the major challenge being to achieve this while maintaining high levels of comfort inside the cabin. Internal air quality (IAQ) related quantities inside the vehicle’s enclosure are affected by outside weather conditions as well as by the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) settings. From this perspective, every improvement of the cabin thermal management must be IAQ aware [5,6,7,8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion