1. An innovative solution to a
passenger car cabin cooling
A concept study
AMITHVISHWANATH, AKSHAYV RAO,
NAGARJUNA N, ANAND RAVI
7th SEMTCE, BNMIT, Bangalore
2. Motivation
• Discomfort in handling hot car parts
while handling
• Vehicle battery begins to degrade
• The inside of the vehicle will not be
safe to sit in until it is cooled down by
outside air or air conditioning, which
will slowdown the vehicle
• Car cabin electronics could be
affected
• Food or drink in the car loses its
freshness
• Plastic water bottles in the vehicle
will be heated up and release
dangerous chemicals to the stored
water
3. A conventional solution
• A hot cabin can be cooled by convection
• Generally, a driver tends to open all windows of the car for
some time after moving the car. During this movement,
fresh air comes in to expel the hot air trapped
• This concept is simple. It can be made into a simple
mechanism by adding few vent fans which continue to be
operational when the car is parked and all windows closed.
• We can modify the car cabin air cooling system to keep car
fans running when the car is parked. This option might look
simple, but drains off the car battery soon and might result
in starting problem if battery drains too much.
• Radiated heat ??
• Car refrigeration system is a solution which required
engines to be ON when parked!!! operational.
• Green energy, economy and innovation???
4. How a car cooling system works
• Heat pump
• Condenser
• Compressor
• Expansion valve
• Thermodynamics
• Blower
• Thermal insulation
…..
….
….
Lets look differently as electronics students
5. Thermo-electric cooling devices
• Thermoelectric coolers (TECs), also known as Peltier
coolers, are solid-state heat pumps that utilize the
Peltier effect to cool
• Passing a current though aTEC transfers heat from one
side to the other.
• TECs are constructed using two dissimilar semi-
conductors, one n-type and the other p-type.The two
semiconductors are positioned thermally in parallel and
joined at one end by a conducting cooling plate
• The flow of DC current across the junction of the two
semi-conductors creates a temperature difference. As a
result of the temperature difference, Peltier cooling
causes heat to be absorbed from the vicinity of the
cooling plate, and to move to the other end of the device
• Bismuth telluride and their nano structures, magnesium
group 4 compounds etc are used asTEC devices
6. Advantages of solid state refrigeration
• No moving parts and hence little or no
maintenance.
• No refrigerants, such as potentially
harmful CFCs.
• Enables reduced low-noise operation
of cooling fans, while providing
greater cooling power.
• Suitable for manufacture in mass.
• Lightweight.
• Easy to control by voltage / current
• Quick response.
9. Conclusion & way ahead
• A proof of concept study has been made on building TEC system
• The car cabin is getting heated due to the solar energy. Usage of the
solar energy itself to cool the cabin would be a innovative solution.
There are two possible ways of implementing the same. Solar films on
cars is not a technology challenge
• Usage of solar power to obtain electrical energy and using this energy
to run a air conditioning system is well within the reach of current
technology .
• Use solar energy to produce a cooling effect directly:This requires
extensive work in the field of micro fluidics
10. References
• Datt, Ruddar; Sundharam, K.P.M. (2009). Indian Economy. New Delhi: S. Chand Group. p. 976.
ISBN 978-81-219-0298-4.
• M.F. Basar, M. Musa, M.Y. Faizal, N.H.A. Razik “Alternative Way in Reducing Car Cabin
Temperature Using Portable Car Cooling System (Car-Cool) ” International Journal of Innovative
Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE) ISSN: 2278-3075,Volume-3, Issue-3,August 2013
• Shekhar D.Thakre, Prateek D. Malwe, Rupesh L. Raut , Amol A. Gawali “Cooling of ATruck Cabin
byVapour Absorption Refrigeration System Using Engine Exhaust” IJRET: International Journal
of Research in Engineering andTechnology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308 Volume: 03
Issue: 05 | May-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 816
• Perrot, Pierre (1998). A to Z ofThermodynamics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-856552-6.
OCLC 123283342 38073404.
• M.H. Salah,T. H. Mitchell, J.R.Wagner and D.M. Dawson. (2009). A Smart Multiple-Loop
Automative Cooling System – Model, Control and Experimental Study. IEEE/ASMETransactions
on Mechatronics, Vol. 15, Issue 1, pp. 117-124.
• A. Mezrhab, M. Bouzidi (2004). Computation ofThermal Comfort Inside a Passenger Car
Compartment. AppliedThermal Engineering, 26 (14-15), 1697-1704.
• Hidrovo, C Goodson KE, 2008, “Active microfludic cooling of itergared circuits, in electrical,
optical, thermal interconnections for 3D integrated systems” , J. Meindl and M Bakir, eds,
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