Thermal Modeling for Predication of Automobile Cabin Air Temperature

Thermal modeling of an automotive cabin was performed in this paper to predict the inside cabin air temperature. To implement this task, thermal and ventilation loads were estimated and the mass and energy balance conservation equations for dry air and water vapor with considering a new parameter (air circulation ratio) as well as the balance equations of internal components of a cabin were derived and solved simultaneously. The performance of the proposed thermal modeling of a cabin was compared with the data collected from hot room experimental tests. These tests were run for various design parameters such as evaporating cooling load and cabin size (air volume inside cabin). The comparison of experimental and numerical results showed a good agreement. Parametric analysis with three parameters namely, vehicle speed, number of passengers, and A/C air mass flow rate was performed to investigate the effects of these parameters on cabin air temperature.