To investigate detailed flow characteristics under recirculation cool vent-mode inside automotive passenger’s compartment related with HVAC system, quantitative flow visualization study is carried out using numerical method. Through pre-study on sim...
To investigate detailed flow characteristics under recirculation cool vent-mode inside automotive passenger’s compartment related with HVAC system, quantitative flow visualization study is carried out using numerical method. Through pre-study on simplified passenger’s compartment, the variation of flow structure is investigated with respect to grid and timestep change. Advanced study based on real vehicle and human FE model is also carried out under real operational condition. To simulate initial cool down process in a hot sunny day, initial condition is set as 60℃. And thermal condition at every timestep is monitored to evaluate thermal comfort for overall cooling process. Through the numerical study, flow inside passenger"s compartment shows various complex flow pattern. The flow momentum observed in front of panel vent and it"s structure is continuously delivered to back seat. Since the exhaust vent is located at the right side with respect to center plane, asymmetrical velocity field is formed around passenger"s compartment and temperature distribution is known to be nonuniform. Through PMV(predicted mean vote) analysis, cooling effect at each passenger"s seat is closely discussed . Brief-study on defrost mode is also mentioned in this paper. Conclusively, flow characteristic inside passenger"s compartment is quantitatively analyzed using numerical method, and this results will be provided as useful fundamental data with related to additional study.