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The operation of air conditioning (A/C) systems is a significant contributor to the total amount of fuel used by light-and heavy-duty vehicles. Therefore, continued improvement of the efficiency of these mobile A/C systems is important. Numerical simulation has been used to reduce the system development time and to improve the electronic controls, but numerical models that include highly detailed physics run slower than desired for carrying out vehicle-focused drive cycle-based system optimization. Therefore, faster models are needed even if some accuracy is sacrificed. In this study, a validated model with highly detailed physics, the “Fully-Detailed” model, and two models with different levels of simplification, the “Quasi-Transient” and the “Mapped-Component” models, are compared. The Quasi-Transient model applies some simplifications compared to the Fully-Detailed model to allow faster model execution speeds.

It is widely understood that cold ambient temperatures increase vehicle fuel consumption due to heat transfer losses, increased friction (increased viscosity lubricants), and enrichment strategies (accelerated catalyst heating). However, relatively little effort has been dedicated to thoroughly quantifying these impacts across a large set of real world drive cycle data and ambient conditions. This work leverages experimental dynamometer vehicle data collected under various drive cycles and ambient conditions to develop a simplified modeling framework for quantifying thermal effects on vehicle energy consumption. These models are applied over a wide array of real-world usage profiles and typical meteorological data to develop estimates of in-use fuel economy. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this integrated testing/modeling approach may be applied to quantify real-world, off-cycle fuel economy benefits of various technologies.

Electric drive vehicles (EDVs) have complex thermal management requirements not present in conventional vehicles. In addition to cabin conditioning, the energy storage system (ESS) and power electronics and electric motor (PEEM) subsystems also require thermal management. Many current-generation EDVs utilize separate cooling systems, adding both weight and volume, and lack abundant waste heat from an engine for cabin heating. Some use battery energy to heat the cabin via electrical resistance heating, which can result in vehicle range reductions of 50% under cold ambient conditions. These thermal challenges present an opportunity for integrated vehicle thermal management technologies that reduce weight and volume and increase cabin heating efficiency. Bench testing was conducted to evaluate a combined fluid loop technology that unifies the cabin air-conditioning and heating, ESS thermal management, and PEEM cooling into a single liquid coolant-based system.

Annual fuel use for sleeper cab truck rest period idling is estimated at 667 million gallons in the United States, or 6.8% of long-haul truck fuel use. Truck idling during a rest period represents zero freight efficiency and is largely done to supply accessory power for climate conditioning of the cab. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s CoolCab project aims to reduce heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) loads and resulting fuel use from rest period idling by working closely with industry to design efficient long-haul truck thermal management systems while maintaining occupant comfort. Enhancing the thermal performance of cab/sleepers will enable smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective idle reduction solutions. In addition, if the fuel savings provide a one- to three-year payback period, fleet owners will be economically motivated to incorporate them.

When operated, the cabin climate control system is the largest auxiliary load on a vehicle. This load has significant impact on fuel economy for conventional and hybrid vehicles, and it drastically reduces the driving range of all-electric vehicles (EVs). Heating is even more detrimental to EV range than cooling because no engine waste heat is available. Reducing the thermal loads on the vehicle climate control system will extend driving range and increase the market penetration of EVs. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have evaluated strategies for vehicle climate control load reduction with special attention toward grid-connected electric vehicles. Outdoor vehicle thermal testing and computational modeling were used to assess potential strategies for improved thermal management and to evaluate the effectiveness of thermal load reduction technologies. A human physiology model was also used to evaluate the impact on occupant thermal comfort.

Accurate evaluation of vehicles' transient total power requirement helps achieving further improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency. When operated, the air-conditioning (A/C) system is the largest auxiliary load on a vehicle, therefore accurate evaluation of the load it places on the vehicle's engine and/or energy storage system is especially important. Vehicle simulation models, such as "Autonomie," have been used by OEMs to evaluate vehicles' energy performance. However, the load from the A/C system on the engine or on the energy storage system has not always been modeled in sufficient detail. A transient A/C simulation tool incorporated into vehicle simulation models would also provide a tool for developing more efficient A/C systems through a thorough consideration of the transient A/C system performance. The dynamic system simulation software MATLAB/Simulink® is frequently used by vehicle controls engineers to develop new and more efficient vehicle energy system controls.

Beside performance, handling and styling the sound characteristic of a motorcycle is a very important feature for the acceptance of the product by the customers and therefore the commercial success of a new product. Creating a special brand sound becomes more and more important to create a product that can be easily distinguished from competitor products and is therefore considered to be something special. On the other hand the legal limits in terms of pass - by noise allow for a very little margin for the creation of a special sound. During the product sound design phase the different perceptions of the rider wearing a helmet and pedestrians have to be considered. In passenger cars sound design has been known for a long time and the creation of a special sound for the driver inside the passenger compartment can be achieved with little influence on the exterior noise and therefore on the noise which is limited by legislation.

A new type of solar-reflective glass that improves reflection of the near-infrared (NIR) portion of the solar spectrum has been developed. Also developed was a prototype solar-reflective paint that increases the NIR reflection of opaque vehicle surfaces while maintaining desired colors in the visible portion of the spectrum. Both of these technologies, as well as solar-powered parked car ventilation, were tested on a Cadillac STS as part of the Improved Mobile Air Conditioning Cooperative Research Program (I-MAC). Significant reductions in interior and vehicle skin temperatures were measured. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) performed an analysis to determine the impact of reducing the thermal load on the vehicle. A simplified cabin thermal/fluid model was run to predict the potential reduction in A/C system capacity. The potential reduction in fuel use was calculated using a vehicle simulation tool developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The air-conditioning (A/C) compressor load significantly impacts the fuel economy of conventional vehicles and the fuel use/range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) vehicle performance analysis shows the operation of the air conditioner reduces the charge depletion range of a 40-mile range PHEV from 18% to 30% in a worst case hot environment. Designing for air conditioning electrical loads impacts PHEV and electric vehicle (EV) energy storage system size and cost. While automobile manufacturers have climate control procedures to assess A/C performance, and the U.S. EPA has the SCO3 drive cycle to measure indirect A/C emissions, there is no automotive industry consensus on a vehicle level A/C fuel use test procedure. With increasing attention on A/C fuel use due to increased regulatory activities and the development of PHEVs and EVs, a test procedure is needed to accurately assess the impact of climate control loads.

A critical element to the success of new propulsion technologies that enable reductions in fuel use is the integration of component thermal management technologies within a viable vehicle package. Vehicle operation requires vehicle thermal management systems capable of balancing the needs of multiple vehicle systems that may require heat for operation, require cooling to reject heat, or require operation within specified temperature ranges. As vehicle propulsion transitions away from a single form of vehicle propulsion based solely on conventional internal combustion engines (ICEs) toward a wider array of choices including more electrically dominant systems such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), new challenges arise associated with vehicle thermal management. As the number of components that require active thermal management increase, so do the costs in terms of dollars, weight, and size.

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conducted outdoor vehicle thermal soak tests in Golden, Colorado, in September 2002. The same environmental conditions and vehicle were then tested indoors in two DaimlerChrysler test cells, one with metal halide lamps and one with infrared lamps. Results show that the vehicle's shaded interior temperatures correlated well with the outdoor data, while temperatures in the direct sun did not. The large lamp array situated over the vehicle caused the roof to be significantly hotter indoors. Yet, inside the vehicle, the instrument panel was cooler due to the geometry of the lamp array and the spectral difference between the lamps and sun. Results indicate that solar lamps effectively heat the cabin interior in indoor vehicle soak tests for climate control evaluation and SCO3 emissions tests. However, such lamps do not effectively assess vehicle skin temperatures and glazing temperatures.

This paper describes the need for dynamic (transient) simulation of automotive air conditioning systems, the reasons why such simulations are challenging, and the applicability of a general purpose off-the-shelf thermohydraulic analyzer to answer such challenges. An overview of modeling methods for the basic components are presented, along with relevant approximations and their effect on speed and accuracy of the results.

The air-conditioning system can significantly impact the fuel economy and tailpipe emissions of automobiles. If the peak soak temperature of the passenger compartment can be reduced, the air-conditioner compressor can potentially be downsized while maintaining human thermal comfort. Solar reflective film is one way to reduce the peak soak temperature by reducing the solar heat gain into the passenger compartment. A 3M non-metallic solar reflective film (SRF) was tested in two minivans and two sport utility vehicles (SUV). The peak soak temperature was reduced resulting in a quicker cooldown. Using these data, a reduction in air-conditioner size was estimated and the fuel economy and tailpipe emissions were predicted.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has conducted a series of chassis dynamometer and road tests on the 2000 model-year Honda Insight. This paper will focus on results from the testing, how the results have been applied to NREL's Advanced Vehicle Simulator (ADVISOR), and how test results compare to the model predictions and published data. The chassis dynamometer testing included the FTP-75 emissions certification test procedure, highway fuel economy test, US06 aggressive driving cycle conducted at 0°C, 20°C, and 40°C, and the SC03 test performed at 35°C with the air conditioning on and with the air conditioning off. Data collection included bag and continuously sampled emissions (for the chassis tests), engine and vehicle operating parameters, battery cell temperatures and voltages, motor and auxiliary currents, and cabin temperatures.

The energy used to air condition an automobile has a significant effect on vehicle fuel economy and tailpipe emissions. If a small reduction in energy use can be applied to many vehicles, the impact on national fuel consumption could be significant. The SCO3 is a new emissions test conducted with the air conditioner (A/C) operating that is part of the Supplemental Federal Test Procedure (SFTP). With the 100% phase-in of the SFTP in 2004 for passenger cars and light light-duty trucks, there is additional motivation to reduce the size of the A/C system. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is investigating ways to reduce the amount of energy consumed for automobile climate control. If the peak soak temperature in an automobile can be reduced, the power consumed by the air conditioner may be decreased while passenger comfort is maintained or enhanced. Solar reflective glass is one way to reduce the peak soak temperature.

As part of a U.S. Department of Energy supported study, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has benchmarked a Toyota Prius hybrid electric vehicle from three aspects: system analysis, auxiliary loads, and battery pack thermal performance. This paper focuses on the testing of the battery back out of the vehicle. More recent in-vehicle dynamometer tests have confirmed these out-of-vehicle tests. Our purpose was to understand how the batteries were packaged and performed from a thermal perspective. The Prius NiMH battery pack was tested at various temperatures (0°C, 25°C, and 40°C) and under driving cycles (HWFET, FTP, and US06). The airflow through the pack was also analyzed. Overall, we found that the U.S. Prius battery pack thermal management system incorporates interesting features and performs well under tested conditions.

How much fuel does vehicle air conditioning actually use? This study attempts to answer that question to determine the national and state-by-state fuel use impact seen by using air conditioning in light duty gasoline vehicles. The study used data from US cities, representative of averages over the past 30 years, whose temperature, incident radiation, and humidity varied through time of day and day of year. National surveys estimated when people drive their vehicles during the day and throughout the year. A simple thermal comfort model based on Fanger's heat balance equations determined the percentage of time that a driver would use the air conditioning based on the premise that if a person were dissatisfied with the thermal environment, they would turn on the air conditioning. Vehicle simulations for typical US cars and trucks determined the fuel economy reduction seen with AC use.

Utilizing heat-generated cooling in vehicles offers the opportunity to reduce the amount of fuel used today for air conditioning. The U.S. uses approximately 7.1 billion gallons of gasoline each year for air conditioning in vehicles. By using waste heat as the primary energy source for heat-generated cooling, we have the potential to reduce the national fuel use by 7.1 billion gallons. An engine operating at a 30% thermal efficiency releases the remaining 70% of the fuel energy as waste heat through the coolant, exhaust gases, and engine compartment. Waste heat available for a representative 115-kW engine varies from 20 to 400 kW across the engine map, with an average value over the FTP cycle of 23 kW. Temperatures of the waste heat range from 200°C surface temperatures to 600°C gas temperatures. Therefore, the magnitude of energy currently wasted is significant, and a large opportunity exists to utilize this waste heat for productive purposes.

Proper electric and thermal management of an HEV battery pack, consisting of many modules of cells, is imperative. During operation, voltage and temperature differences in the modules/cells can lead to electrical imbalances from module to module and decrease pack performance by as much as 25%. An active battery management system (BMS) is a must to monitor, control, and balance the pack. The University of Toledo, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed a modular battery management system for HEVs. This modular unit is a 2nd generation system, as compared to a previous 1st generation centralized system. This 2nd generation prototype can balance a battery pack based on cell-to-cell measurements and active equalization. The system was designed to work with several battery types, including lithium ion, NiMH, or lead acid.

The objective of this study to introduce the newly developed Discrete Channel Method (DCM) as a fast and efficient method for the prediction of the 3d and transient behavior of honeycomb-type catalytic converters in automotive applications. The approach is based on the assumption that the regions between the channels are treated as a reactor with a homogeneously distributed heat source due to chemical conversion. Therefore, each radial direction can be described by a center, a boundary and only a few intermediate channels between them. The discrete channels are described by transient, 1d conservation equations that characterize the behavior of channels at different radial positions. The heat entering and leaving each discrete channel is evaluated by the gradients of the temperature field in conjunction with the heat conductivity of the substrate. The approach is validated by experimental data and serves as a module in the thermodynamic and engine analysis design tool BOOST.