Thermal Comfort in the Passenger Compartment Using a 3-D Numerical Analysis and Comparison with Fanger’s Comfort Models

Saboora Khatoon and Man-Hoe Kim
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Saboora Khatoon: School of Mechanical Engineering & IEDT, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Man-Hoe Kim: School of Mechanical Engineering & IEDT, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: The paper presents the human thermal comfort inside a car cabin using three-dimensional numerical analysis and state of the art comfort models. Vehicular thermal comfort is a must concern factor in modern car manufacturing industries. Numerical simulations have been performed to accurately predict the temperature inside the car cabin and velocity of airflow. The numerical results are then compared using Fanger’s model, the equivalent temperature model and the modified Fanger’s model. A link has been developed using a general thermal comfort index for the considered human thermal comfort models. The general thermal comfort index takes into consideration all the investigated parameters that affect the vehicular thermal comfort thereby evaluating the whole car environment. The thermally comfortable conditions for the driver and passengers in a vehicular cabin are also addressed based on some of the thermal comfort indexes available in literature. In addition, the solar load has also been added using a surface radiation model to consider the environmental heat load effect on cabin thermal comfort.

Keywords: human thermal comfort; car ventilation; solar load; Fanger’s model; equivalent temperature; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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