Research on Non-isothermal Jet Air Supply Method for Human Thermal Comfort Regulation in Commercial Vehicle Based on Localized Air Conditioning System

Abstract

Uneven heating of the human body in the cabin is one of the main reasons for poor thermal comfort. In this study, five small thermoelectric cooling devices were used to build the automobile localized air conditioning system to improve body temperature uniformity by the method of multi-point air supply. The cooling capacity of each thermoelectric cooling device can be changed independently so the localized air conditioning could work with a non-isothermal jet air supply method to optimize each thermoelectric cooling device outlet temperature based on thermal simulation analysis results aimed at better body heat flux balance and lower power consumption. The air temperature and skin temperature test were done to verify the simulation as well. The maximum deviation of the predicted stable air temperature was 0.82 ℃. The maximum deviation of the predicted skin temperature was 1.83 ℃. The subjective evaluation experiment of human thermal comfort was carried out, and the average overall thermal comfort vote of the volunteers was changed from 1.02 to − 0.44 after the localized air condition turning on, which showed that the temperature adjustment had a good effect on improving the heat balance and the thermal comfort of the human body.