ICT2014 Abstracts

Ford, along with project partners Halla-Visteon, Gentherm, NREL, and Ohio State University recently completed a 4-year DOE cooperative agreement to develop, build, test, and demonstrate a zonal thermoelectric auxiliary HVAC system.  The system was demonstrated in a 2011 Lincoln MKZ HEV sedan during climactic wind tunnel testing and field testing in Michigan, California, and Washington DC.  Major goals of the project were to reduce the energy consumption of the main HVAC system, maintain equivalent occupant thermal comfort, and demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of using thermoelectric-based devices for heating and cooling a vehicle cabin.  The system employed eight liquid-to-air thermoelectric units embedded in the seats, and two 1KW liquid-to-air thermoelectric units providing overhead cooling.  The system was also supplemented with several prototype resistive heating elements, such as a heated steering wheel.  The large thermoelectric devices were able to demonstrate COP of 1.3 in cooling and 2.3 in heating, while providing 150 m³/hr of conditioned air at a delta-temperature of around 20°C.  By calibrating these units to work closely in conjunction with the central HVAC system of the vehicle, the team was able to demonstrate a reduction in overall energy usage in low vehicle-occupancy use cases under both hot and cold ambient conditions.  This presentation will describe the work performed to achieve these results and discuss the potential of the system for commercial applications, as well as present several challenges needing to be addressed, including cost and performance.