How can the Thermal Sensation be Objectively Determined in Order to Analyse Different Vehicle Air Conditioning Concepts?

As electro mobility and autonomous driving is advancing continuously, climate concepts are developed to meet the demands of energy efficiency and thermal comfort. The current problem concerning the travelling range of electric vehicles requests that available energy is used more efficiently. Air conditioning is the second highest consumption factor and thus has a large influence on the overall range. New climate concepts have to satisfy various requirements. The clients' expectation concerning the thermal wellbeing in a vehicle indicates the significance of thermal comfort as an interpretation factor. In several investigations presented in this paper various climate concepts were analysed and evaluated. The equivalent temperature according to ISO 14505-2 was used as the basis for the evaluation. The influence of surface heating systems as well as overhead ventilation systems were investigated in a vehicle mock-up in a climate chamber at different temperatures. Furthermore, the behaviour of an extended ventilation field on thermal comfort of a SUV was investigated. The investigations clearly showed that the equivalent temperature is a suitable evaluation factor since it reduces multiple environmental conditions to a single parameter.