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In the modern era of automotive industry, occupant comfort inside the cabin is a basic need and no more a luxury feature. With increase in number of vehicles, the expectations from customers are also changing. One of the major expectations from real world customers is quick cabin cooling thru all seasons, particularly when the vehicle is hot soaked and being used in summer conditions. Occupant thermal comfort inside the vehicle cabin is provisioned by a mobile air conditioning (MAC) system, which operates on a vapor compression-based cycle using a refrigerant. The main components of a direct expansion (DX) based MAC system are, a compressor, condenser, evaporator, and expansion valve. Conditioned air is circulated inside the cabin using a blower, duct system and air vents. The AC condenser is the most critical component in AC circuit as it rejects heat, thereby providing for a cooling effect inside the cabin.

The global and Indian automotive industry is transitioning from use of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles towards Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). BEV applications with high voltage (HV) battery require optimal thermal management to have a longer life, higher efficiency and to deliver superior year-round performance. In most electric vehicles, the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system operates thru a dual loop; one loop for maintaining desired cabin comfort and a second loop to ensure optimum cell temperature for HV battery operation at varying climatic conditions, which the vehicle experiences over different seasons of the year This paper evaluates the limitations of a baseline system, in which the HVAC system consists of two parallel low-pressure cooling lines, one for maintaining cabin comfort and another for the purpose of battery cooling.