Assessment of Thermal Comfort in Different Vehicle-Classes – The Suitability of ISO 14505-2:2006-12

Future mobility is changing so that new requirements concerning air conditioning in vehicles arise. With the increase of electric- and the development of autonomously driving vehicles, classical air conditioning concepts ought to be adapted to fulfil new requirements. During the development of new climate concepts, the thermal wellbeing of the occupants in the vehicle need to be kept in mind. New air conditioning concepts will only prevail if they ensure adequate thermal comfort with reduced energy consumption. Objective evaluation methods are currently used to a limited extent during the application process for vehicle air conditioning. In the following investigation the interior climate for two vehicles (mid-range and upper-class) is objectively assessed and compared for a wide range of ambient temperatures from −20 °C to + 40 °C. During this investigation the ISO 14505-2:2006-12 is tested to find out whether it is suitable to assess and evaluate the thermal perception by measuring the equivalent temperature. When evaluating the results according to the comfort zone diagrams of ISO 14505-2:2006-12 the mid-range vehicle has a better interior climate than the upper-class vehicle. This paper will show that it is necessary to adapt the comfort zone diagrams to demographic differences that influence the thermal perception of humans.