Air Cooling for EV Thermal Management (AIRCOOL)

The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are an energy intensive and present a challenge to all vehicles. This is exacerbated when power electronics and motors form a key part of the propulsion system such as in EV's. The HVAC system typically consumes between 20% - 40% of an EV's range depending on the HVAC system efficiency which can differ across different vehicles.

This 6-month project builds on a recent IDP-14 feasibility study aiming to validate modelling work undertaken by the University of Brunel and small-scale in-house bench tests. The objective of this study is to run FeTu's novel Air-Cycle, a refrigerant free cooling system, in a purpose-built test rig that simulates an electric vehicle thermal management system. Previous work suggests FeTu's air-cycle can compete against traditional Vapour Compression Systems whilst using an environmentally friendly working fluid in air. With the additional benefits of fewer parts, less complexity and reduced parasitic losses.

Potential additional applications would be widespread in built environment, defence and other transportation sectors, strong exploitation will lead to a high Return on Investment (ROI).