New ventilation schemes of car cabin evaluated by CFD simulations

Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to investigate new ways of air conditioning of a car cabin during summer conditions. Three different schemes of ventilation were considered: classical mixing ventilation (dashboard vents), large-area ceiling vents, and underfloor vents delivering air under the seats. The Star-CCM+ was used to carry out unsteady RANS simulations and resulting temperature and velocity fields were compared. Furthermore, the draft risk and age of air were evaluated for each scheme. For air conditioning of the cabin, mixing ventilation had the best results.