Fuzzy Controller for Thermal Comfort in a Car Cabin

This paper presents two fuzzy logic based systems, developed by Valeo Thermal Systems and PSA Peugeot-Citroën, for controlling the thermal environment in a car cabin. This study aimed to simplify the control systems set up, while improving the cabin passengers comfort by taking into account the subjectivity of thermal sensation.

The first system regulates the internal cabin temperature from a temperature fixed by the user on the climate control panel. The second system proposes a new “intelligent” control panel in order to ensure a better thermal balance for the car passengers.

The two systems were installed and tuned on a Peugeot 605 vehicle, on which a standard automatic controller is already available. So, it was possible to compare the fuzzy and the classical series controllers on the same vehicle. The results show good regulation performances and demonstrate that the use of fuzzy logic reduces the development time.