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In an automotive power train system, the differential gear system plays a vital role of enabling the vehicle to transfer the engine torque to the wheels. The differential system consists of complex system of gears which are meshed with each other. Effective lubrication of the differential system ensures that the metal to metal contact between the gears is avoided. In addition, the lubricants also acts as a thermal medium to effectively dissipate the heat produced due to frictional resistances. For dipped lubrication system, the use of lubrication oil leads to a loss of transmission power, and the loss increases with increasing rotational speeds. Prediction and an understanding of the transmission loss inside the differential system is important as it provides a means to increase the power transmission efficiency. In addition, it provides insights to optimize the lubrication methods, gear profile, and gear housings.

Passenger comfort and safety are major drivers in a typical automotive design and optimization cycle. Addressing thermal comfort requirements and the thermal management of the passenger cabin within a car, which involves accurate prediction of the temperature of the cabin interior space and the various aggregates that are present in a cabin, has become an area of active research. Traditionally, these have been done using experiments or detailed three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis, which are both expensive and time-consuming. To alleviate this, recent approaches have been to use one-dimensional system-level simulation techniques with a goal to shorten the design cycle time and reduce costs. This paper describes the use of Modelica language to develop a one-dimensional mathematical model using Modelica language for automotive cabin thermal assessment when the car is subjected to solar heat loading.