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The B-COOL project, funded by the European Union, is devoted to the development of low cost and efficient R-744 system for small cars. In the framework of this initiative a Fiat Panda and a Ford Ka prototype have been realized adopting two different R-744 systems and a testing procedure has been identified and adopted to qualify the vehicles in terms of fuel consumption and thermal comfort performance. The Project started in March 2005 and ended in November 2008, this paper presents the major project outcomes on R-744 mobile air conditioning systems (efficiency and related fuel consumption and LCCP, costs, architecture) synthesizing the remaining technology open issues

The purpose of the work is the representation of heat transfers in an automotive car cabin by a geometrical and physical simplified model. This one is represented by plane elements receiving a variable solar flux in direction and intensity. The significant heat transfers (conduction, convection, mass transfer and radiation) are taken into account. The aeraulic phenomena are represented by a zonal approach based on the volume split up in small volumes. Calculation estimates in parallel the view and transfer factors, as well as internal and external solar flux density. Results are surface temperatures of the car cabin, in-vehicle air temperature at different levels and also heating or cooling capacity to reach an acceptable comfort level. Experiments have been performed for the validation of calculations. In this paper, validation of the natural convection heat transfer is only described. Results are in good agreement with the experiment.

Valeo Climate control is developing a software package for the design and simulation of car air-conditioning systems. This software package aims to improve Valeo's response to customer requirements concerning delays for design and sizing car air-conditioning systems performances and cost reduction. Further it shall help to capitalize our competence and expertise on the A/C systems. The comparisons between simulation and tests give a good level of accuracy. The software consists of three modules: A first module for car cabin thermal simulation in dynamic and stationary conditions. A second module for the determination and optimization of the A/C system components. A third module is under development for the dynamic simulation of the A/C system in non-standard operating conditions.

This paper is dedicated to a complete car cabin model for climate control and the expected experimental validation based on a comparison between wind tunnel tests and calculation results. Climate control system developments have to be improved in terms of time and quality by introducing calculation tools during project phases. This approach is related to some others presented the last two years (SAE papers Nos. 950019, 960813, 960961). SAE papers No. 960961 specifically presented a new meshing tool for car cabin geometry and its place in HVAC system development. In addition to this unusual, but powerful method of meshing, a new calculation tool «ACOZ» (flow, convection, conduction and radiations) has to be validated before being used in a real project. This validation is composed of three major parts. The first part is the meshing work based on a CAD-CATIA file treated with «Maille» through IGES transfert, with its major functionality (anamorphic stretching).