Development of Ceramic Humidity Regulator (CHR) Using Honeycomb Type PTC Heater to Improve Electric Vehicle Driving Range in Winter

With Rapid growth of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the market, challenges such as driving range, charging infrastructure, and reducing charging time needs to be addressed. Unlike traditional Internal combustion vehicles, EVs have limited heating sources and primarily uses electricity from the running battery, which reduces driving range. Additionally, during winter operation, it is necessary to prevent window fogging to ensure better visibility, which requires introducing cold outside air into the cabin. This significantly increases the power consumption for heating and the driving range can be reduced to half of the normal range. This study introduces the Ceramic Humidity Regulator (CHR), a compact and energy-efficient device developed to address driving range improvement. The CHR uses a desiccant system to dehumidify the cabin, which can prevent window fogging without introducing cold outside air, thereby reducing heating power consumption. A desiccant system typically consists of two main components: the adsorbent carrier and the heating source. Main challenge includes component size and heat loss due to heating the air for warming the adsorbent carrier. This study integrates the adsorbent carrier and the heating source and optimizes the heating of the adsorbent using Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) materials for the heating source. The structural design directly heats the adsorbent and maintains a uniform temperature, allowing the adsorbent to be heated and regenerated with the minimum amount of energy. Vehicle tests confirmed that the CHR could suppress window fogging in recirculation mode and reduce heating power by 35-42% compared to auto air conditioning mode. This could potentially improve the driving range by 16-23%. In conclusion, the research presents the CHR as a promising solution for improving range.