Design a Control System for the Thermal Comfort Maximization in Electric Vehicles

With the increase in car sales due to the need for more people to drive more and at longer distances, car manufacturers aim to increase the comfort and the autonomy of the cars. For the comfort problem, people are subjected to continuous stress while driving, for example due to heavy traffic and thermal discomfort. While the first is not controllable, the second could be decreased. The more a person drives, the more comfort they need, so as to reduce stress and the probability of an accident. The new vehicles, in particular Electric Vehicles (EVs), have a huge number of controllers that control the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) in order to obtain the best thermal environment inside the passengers' cabin. However, increasing the thermal comfort reduces the car's autonomy due to the use of more controllers and electronic parts that require more power and increase the mass of the vehicle. For the autonomy problem, nowadays, traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines generate a huge amount of waste heat. This heat can be used by the vehicles to heat up the passengers' cabin. With the evolution of technologies and the goal of decreasing CO2 emissions as much as possible, EVs are starting to have more and more importance in the transport market. However, this waste is not available due to the high efficiency of the traction motor. In order to heat the passenger compartment, modern heating technologies use the Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) inside the HVAC. For this thesis project, Etched Foil Heaters have been used and controlled in order to maximize the thermal comfort inside the passengers' cabin.