Experimental validation of a dynamic lumped parameter model of an automotive cabin

The objective of this work is to propose a thermal model for predicting the average air temperature inside the passenger cabin of a small-sized car that uses an HVAC system. The adopted model is a lumped parameter model that accounts for nine heat sources acting on the cabin. Additionally, the model presents a methodology for calculating the temperature at the evaporator outlet considering a linear temperature drop between its inlet and outlet as a function of sensitive heat, latent heat, evaporator input temperature, absolute humidity, enthalpy and specific heat. Sixteen experimental tests were con-ducted on a commercial vehicle under various operating conditions to validate the presented model. The maximum average relative deviation between the experimental and theoretical results was 17.73%.

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1. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.

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2. Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki (2025).