State-of-the-art thermal comfort models for car cabin Environment

Abstract

The automotive industry has recently seen significant advancements, making cars a dominant form of urban transportation. This development has led to increased focus on thermal comfort within vehicles. This paper reviews past research on automotive thermal comfort, starting with a literature review that highlights the non-uniform and transient nature of cabin environments. It then details the primary evaluation methods for thermal comfort: field surveys and model predictions. The paper discusses various models within the predictive framework, including environmental indices, and physiological and psychological models, outlining their applications and prediction accuracy. Given the importance of cost-effectiveness and convenience in vehicle air conditioning design, this paper supports the use of numerical simulation as a future direction. It introduces the numerical simulation method, discusses its accuracy and potential errors, and examines emerging techniques like machine learning and EEG testing in thermal comfort assessment. Additionally, it suggests three future directions for numerical simulation and suggestions for air conditioning design in new energy vehicles.