Thermal comfort and energy saving in a vehicle compartment using a localized air-conditioning system

Myoung Su Oh, Jae Hwan Ahn, Dong Woo Kim, Dong Soo Jang, Yongchan Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    76 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A localized air-conditioning system is expected to decrease energy consumption by avoiding extra cooling on the vacant seats. However, the energy saving of the localized air-conditioning system with satisfactory thermal comfort has seldom been quantified. In this study, both thermal comfort in the vehicle compartment and energy saving of the localized air-conditioning system with the front and ceiling vents were investigated. Thermal comfort in the vehicle compartment with the front and ceiling vents was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics with empirical correlations for thermal indices. In addition, the performance of the air-conditioning unit was measured at various air flow rates and air temperatures. The energy consumption of the localized air-conditioning system with the optimized front and ceiling vents decreased by 20.8% and 30.2%, respectively, against the baseline, while satisfying the neutral thermal comfort at the vent air temperature of 9. °C.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)14-21
    Number of pages8
    JournalApplied Energy
    Volume133
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014 Nov 15

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by the Korean Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (No. 10035530) and the Human Resources Program in Energy Technology of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant with financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20124010203250).

    Keywords

    • Automobile
    • Energy saving
    • Localized air-conditioning
    • Thermal comfort

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Building and Construction
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • General Energy
    • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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