Engineers at TRW Automotive say they’ve developed a climate control system that could save fuel and improve comfort for drivers while simplifying the engineering process and reducing wind tunnel time for auto companies.
Known as Efficient Comfort Control (ECC), the new technology combines infrared (IR) sensors and humidity sensors with a “comfort software algorithm” to create a system that uses less energy while keeping occupants more comfortable. The system is said to be particularly good at reducing air conditioning loads in vehicles.
“If you look at vehicles today, the number one ancillary load is always the cooling,” notes Dave O’Neill, chief engineer for TRW. “So if you’re going to try to find a place to save fuel, why not look at the air conditioning or the temperature control?”
The key to doing so lies in the software algorithm, say TRW engineers. Using an equation based on a physics model, the algorithm predicts an occupant’s comfort level in the car by employing data from the sensors. The equation uses three main parameters -- conduction, convection, and radiation – to make its calculation. TRW engineers say those parameters provide better results than systems based solely on cabin air temperature, which has been the input parameter of choice for climate control up to now.
“It all comes back to a simple question: ‘How do you model how a person feels’” O’Neill says. “We base it all on three fundamental heat transfer methods.”
As a result, the new system is able to maintain an occupant’s comfort while performing energy-saving activities, such as re-heating the car’s evaporator.
“If you allow your evaporator to warm up, then you don’t have to turn on my compressor as often,” O’Neill says. “So we’ll keep warming up the evaporator and reducing the load on the air conditioning compressor.”
At the same time, TRW says that the equation enables vehicle engineers to dramatically cut the development time of climate control systems. Because the ECC system’s core algorithm remains the same from vehicle to vehicle, it simplifies the engineering process.
“Engineers typically spend months in the climate chamber, tuning and tweaking,” O’Neill says. “And every time they make a change to the tooling or the duct work, they have to tune and tweak all over again. With our comfort equation, we can completely characterize the vehicle and tune it for comfort within three eight-hour shifts.”
TRW also says that the ability to tune the vehicle’s climate system so quickly enables development engineers to use less wind tunnel time.
Most important, the ECC system reportedly is able to respond to more efficiently respond to the occupants’ needs. Says O’Neill: “We believe the consumer ends up with a more comfortable vehicle.”
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 TRW has integrated rain, humidity, in-cabin and glass temperature sensing, as well as infrared and daylight sensing to its Efficient Comfort Control system. |
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