A vehicle thermal management system is required to increase the
operating efficiency of components, to transfer the heat
efficiently and to reduce the energy required for the vehicle.
Vehicle thermal management technologies, such as engine compartment
encapsulation together with grille shutter control, enable energy
efficiency improvements through utilizing waste heat in the engine
compartment for heating powertrain components as well as cabin
heating and reducing the aerodynamic drag .
In this work, a significant effort is put on recovering waste
heat from the engine compartment to provide additional efficiency
to the components using a motor compartment insulation technique
and grille shutter. The tests are accelerated and the cost is
reduced using a co-simulation tool based on high resolution,
complex thermal and kinematics models. The results are validated
with experimental values measured in a thermal wind tunnel, which
provided satisfactory accuracy. A control strategy is implemented
to actuate the grille shutter according to the specific conditions
and a sensitivity study is introduced using the most important
parameters affecting energy management performance. Using different
conditions (test cycles and environmental temperature), the
simulation results reveal a moderate potential fuel consumption
reduction of up to 2.5% on FTP-75 at -7°C. An analysis of the
results shows how the improved aerodynamic properties compare to
the warming-up affect on the fuel consumption.
