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DEVELOPMENT THERMAL MANAGEMENT

Innovative HVAC Concepts

for Future Vehicles

© qpunkt

Emissions, energy consumption and CO 2 reduction are major drivers
in vehicle development. Especially due to the introduction of electrified
vehicles the significance of thermal management, which directly influences
the vehicles maximum driving range, strongly grows. In this article qpunkt
shows how the possibly resulting trade-offs could be solved.

NEW TRENDS ARE INFLUENCING with Heating, Ventilation and Air Condi- daily business. Nowadays the trend is to
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES tioning (HVAC) for the passenger com- reduce full vehicle prototype testing on
partment, taking into account all opera- road or in wind tunnels as much as pos-
The automotive industry is facing big tional and driving conditions. Heating sible and to substitute it by test bed
changes. The emissions scandal pushed and cooling of the passenger compart- measurements. One example is the
legislations to get harder, autonomous ment in order to optimise the passenger development of an air conditioning sys-
driving and the clearly noticeable boom comfort is likely to become even more tem at the A/C system test bed. The
of electrification strongly influence the important in future. The upcoming refrigerant cycle is build up on a rig with
development processes. The thermal trade-offs between comfort and con- all the components positioned similar to
management, the efficient control of all sumption need to be solved under con- the vehicle. In case of a hybrid or electric
energy flows within the vehicle and the sideration of smart thermal management vehicle with the battery cooling inte-
conditioning of the passenger compart- control strategies. grated into the refrigerant cycle, either
ment, has a significant impact to maxi- To be able to cope with the ever grow- the battery itself or a representative ther-
mum driving range, fuel consumption ing demands onto thermal management, mal capacity is implemented in the cycle.
and CO 2 emissions. The strategies for rethinking the development processes is A dynamic electric storage system which
heating and cooling of high voltage bat- necessary. Frontloading, taking simula- simulates the electric motor charges and
teries (HV batteries) of electric vehicles tion and testing as supplementary meth- discharges the battery, thus producing
need to be implemented in combination odologies, already found its way into our the waste heat corresponding to a given
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