Assessment of a Truck Localized Air Conditioning System with Thermoelectric Coolers

Abstract

In vehicles, the power consumption of the traditional air conditioning system used to cool an entire cabin reaches 3–4 kW. In general, there is only one driver in the vehicle, so adjusting the local thermal environment just around the driver can avoid much energy waste. A localized air conditioning system based on thermoelectric cooling (TEC) devices was constructed and assessed in an experimental study to analyze its working characteristics under practical operating conditions. The relationship between the refrigeration performance and the operating current of the devices was studied, and a bench test was carried out to evaluate the performance of the device and the accuracy of the simulation. A heavy-duty truck cab was selected for the application of the TEC system. The temperature distribution of the cab and the human body’s surface was analyzed by the method of computational fluid dynamics to predict the performance of the whole system. The driver’s thermal comfortwas analyzed based on equivalent temperature and thermal comfort deviation. Under given conditions, most body parts were in the comfort temperature range. The results indicated that the system can meet the thermal comfort requirements.