Influence of Phase Change Materials on the Insulation of an Automobile Cabin

The increase in usage of personal vehicles increased around the world due to COVID-19. This increased the research into the efficiency of the vehicles. One such component is the heating, ventilation, and cooling system in the automobile. In the present study, a hollow black box of dimensions 30x30x30 cm was manufactured and it can be used as a replacement of the car. The box has steel as the outer layer, another layer of steel, and a leather layer. Each layer has a space in between. Two sets of experiments were done with PCM in both spaces and a combination of PCM and foam layer. The temperature outside and inside the box were measured for both experiments. The experiment was simulated using ANSYS to study the inner temperature of the cabin. The temperature of the cabin was reduced by 23% due to the usage of the PCM layer when compared to the arrangement with the foam layer.