A Novel Approach to Make an Efficient Thermal Management of a Solar Electric Four-Wheeler through Model-Based System Simulation

The objective of this paper is to determine and design an optimized thermal management system for a solar electric four-wheeler while considering system influence. The major systems that will be analyzed and optimized include the HVAC, solar system, and battery. The HVAC system imposes a challenge to the designers to fulfill the passenger’s comfort and to operate it efficiently under a wide range of external loads from solar radiation, ambient temperature & and humidity, human metabolic activity, and other loads like the propulsion system temperature on the cabin. From the literature, it is found that the air conditioning system reduces on average 14% of the total battery capacity whereas the heating system reduces it by 18% [1], which makes the HVAC system design a crucial aspect to consider for the system influence. The battery car voltage changes significantly to meet the power demand and because of this, the battery system produces a large amount of heat while discharging which will overheat the battery system and can lead to hazardous chemical reactions or even the efficiency will get seriously compromised if the thermal management system is not properly designed. The solar power system being an additional source of power must be effectively designed with all the required power electronic controllers such that the additional power produced from the solar compensates for the thermal losses at the system level and provides an additional range to the battery. To achieve this system-level optimization, a model-based system simulation approach with a genetic algorithm will be applied to optimize the thermal variables for the system. The variables will be selected considering the trade-offs between performance, efficiency, and comfort. The expected outcome of this project is an efficient and optimized thermal management system that will enhance the range of the solar electric four-wheeler.