Search Results

Development of new passenger-car climate control systems that contribute to improved comfort and decreased fuel consumption requires quantitative evaluations of thermal sensation and comfort. Therefore, a new evaluation method of the transient and non-uniform passenger-compartment thermal environment has been developed. Vehicle occupant's local thermal sensations are evaluated by using the local standard new effective temperature (SET*) that is calculated using a human thermoregulation model. The occupant's whole-body thermal comfort is then evaluated by local thermal sensation. The theory of the method and some example application results are introduced in this paper.

Customers tend to require more comfortable climate control in vehicles. This paper is concern with a new infrared sensor that detects surface temperature at six separate locations, and a climate control system that incorporates the sensor. In a conventional system using an air temperature sensor and solar radiation sensor, climate conditions are usually controlled according to the thermal load. It is believed that more comfortable climate control can be realized by using an infrared sensor to detect passengers' surface temperature. The sensor consists of a lens, an IC with six thermopiles, a circuit and a case, and has been improved to detect in-cabin surface temperature accurately even under severe environmental conditions. The HVAC system controls the outlet air temperature and mode individually for each seat according to detected temperatures.