Design and Testing of a Thermal Storage System for Electric Vehicle Cabin Heating
Abstract
Without the waste heat available from the engine of a conventional automobile, electric vehicles (EVs) must provide heat to the cabin for climate control using energy stored in the vehicle. In current EV designs, this energy is typically provided by the traction battery. In very cold climatic conditions, the power required to heat the EV cabin can be of a similar magnitude to that required for propulsion of the vehicle. As a result, the driving range of an EV can be reduced very significantly during winter months, which limits consumer acceptance of EVs and results in increased battery costs to achieve a minimum range while ensuring comfort to the EV driver. To minimize the range penalty associated with EV cabin heating, a novel climate control system that includes thermal energy storage has been designed for use in EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The system uses the stored latent heat of an advanced phase change material (PCM) to provide cabin heating. The PCM is melted while the EV is connected to the electric grid for charging of the electric battery, and the stored energy is subsequently transferred to the cabin during driving. To minimize thermal losses when the EVmore »
- Authors:
-
- MAHLE Behr Troy Inc.
- ORNL
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). National Transportation Research Center (NTRC)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1261301
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2016 SAE World Congress, Detroit, MI, USA, 20160412, 20160416
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- phase change material; vehicle cabin heating; thermal energy storage; electric vehicles
Citation Formats
Wang, Mingyu, WolfeIV, Edward, Craig, Timothy, LaClair, Tim J, Gao, Zhiming, and Abdelaziz, Omar. Design and Testing of a Thermal Storage System for Electric Vehicle Cabin Heating. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web.
Wang, Mingyu, WolfeIV, Edward, Craig, Timothy, LaClair, Tim J, Gao, Zhiming, & Abdelaziz, Omar. Design and Testing of a Thermal Storage System for Electric Vehicle Cabin Heating. United States.
Wang, Mingyu, WolfeIV, Edward, Craig, Timothy, LaClair, Tim J, Gao, Zhiming, and Abdelaziz, Omar. 2016.
"Design and Testing of a Thermal Storage System for Electric Vehicle Cabin Heating". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1261301.
@article{osti_1261301,
title = {Design and Testing of a Thermal Storage System for Electric Vehicle Cabin Heating},
author = {Wang, Mingyu and WolfeIV, Edward and Craig, Timothy and LaClair, Tim J and Gao, Zhiming and Abdelaziz, Omar},
abstractNote = {Without the waste heat available from the engine of a conventional automobile, electric vehicles (EVs) must provide heat to the cabin for climate control using energy stored in the vehicle. In current EV designs, this energy is typically provided by the traction battery. In very cold climatic conditions, the power required to heat the EV cabin can be of a similar magnitude to that required for propulsion of the vehicle. As a result, the driving range of an EV can be reduced very significantly during winter months, which limits consumer acceptance of EVs and results in increased battery costs to achieve a minimum range while ensuring comfort to the EV driver. To minimize the range penalty associated with EV cabin heating, a novel climate control system that includes thermal energy storage has been designed for use in EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The system uses the stored latent heat of an advanced phase change material (PCM) to provide cabin heating. The PCM is melted while the EV is connected to the electric grid for charging of the electric battery, and the stored energy is subsequently transferred to the cabin during driving. To minimize thermal losses when the EV is parked for extended periods, the PCM is encased in a high performance insulation system. The electrical PCM-Assisted Thermal Heating System (ePATHS) was designed to provide enough thermal energy to heat the EV s cabin for approximately 46 minutes, covering the entire daily commute of a typical driver in the U.S.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1261301},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}