Feasibility of Using Air Curtains in Urban Buses

In tropical countries, the HVAC system of electric vehicles consumes a significant amount of electric power reducing their driving range. This consumption is exacerbated for urban electric buses due to an additional thermal load caused by the infiltration of heat through the doors of the vehicle at bus stops with increased dwelling duration. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to develop methods that minimize thermal loads in the cabin and hence increase the efficiency of the vehicle. One method is to install air curtains that form a jet of air at the door to minimise the heat exchanged between the interior of the vehicle and the outside environment. This paper investigates the heat exchanged through the doors of an urban electric bus during dwelling, and the effects of air curtain installation on the cooling requirements of the vehicle. The influence of the air curtains on the heat infiltration was evaluated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. These results were used in a thermal cabin model to evaluate the reduction of cooling requirements with the air curtain. The use of air curtains showed a reduction in the cooling requirements by 1.6 kW for a 5.5 m vehicle and 0.5 kW for a 12 m vehicle.     «

In tropical countries, the HVAC system of electric vehicles consumes a significant amount of electric power reducing their driving range. This consumption is exacerbated for urban electric buses due to an additional thermal load caused by the infiltration of heat through the doors of the vehicle at bus stops with increased dwelling duration. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to develop methods that minimize thermal loads in the cabin and hence increase the efficiency of the vehicle. One m...     »