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In this study, the air flow through the complete HVAC system (Heating-Ventilation-Air-Conditioning system) together with the flow field in the passenger compartment of a new Mercedes is calculated using the commercial CFD program STAR-CD. Two operating conditions of the HVAC system have been considered, namely the standard winter heat-up and summer cool-down mode. The computational model consists of around 6 million cells and includes all parts of the HVAC system (inlet plenum chamber, fan, filters, air distribution chamber with evaporator and heater, air ducts and vents) together with a detailed description of the passenger compartment containing four occupants.

This paper compares numerical results of the flow through an axial fan with measurements. A typical nine bladed engine driven fan is modeled using grid refinement techniques in order to maintain good resolution at the fan blades while also including the extent of the test fixture. In the calculations a multiple reference frame approach, a transient moving mesh and a body force model are investigated. At a fixed fan speed discharge and pressure rise were measured in the test facility and a series of numerical simulations were made over the same range of conditions. A comparison of the two discharge curves shows fairly good agreement.