Vehicle Cabin Thermal Control for Personalized Comfort Setpoints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional motor vehicle thermal management systems fail to adapt to individual passenger profiles, metabolic activities, and clothing variations, resulting in suboptimal thermal comfort, as they are set for an average person, leading to discomfort when passengers have different build, dress differently, or engage in varying activities.
Innovation Solution
A thermal management system that adjusts the operative comfort temperature in real-time based on corpulence, clothing level, and metabolic activity using a processing unit and sensors to determine the optimal temperature setpoint, accounting for variations through defined coefficients and sensor data from cameras, air temperature, and humidity sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the thermal management system uses a fixed average comfort temperature setting, then the system complexity is low and ease of operation is maintained, but thermal comfort for individual passengers with different profiles, clothing, and metabolic activities deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically changes the operative temperature setpoint parameter based on detected variations in passenger BMI, clothing insulation, and metabolic activity. The processing unit calculates personalized temperature adjustments by modifying the base comfort temperature according to measured physiological and environmental parameters, enabling adaptation without complex system architecture.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the thermal management system incorporates multiple sensors and processing units to detect passenger profile, clothing, and metabolic activity, then adaptability to individual passengers improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The processing unit performs multiple functions: it detects passenger presence, determines BMI from sensor data, identifies clothing type through image processing, estimates metabolic activity from physiological parameters, and calculates the operative temperature setpoint. This multi-functional approach consolidates complex operations into a single control unit, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces direct mechanical or manual adjustment mechanisms with automated optical and electronic sensing. Cameras and sensors detect passenger characteristics non-contactly, and the processing unit automatically computes temperature adjustments, eliminating the need for manual thermostats or physical controls by each passenger.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system adjusts temperature based on real-time detection of BMI, clothing, and metabolic activity, then thermal comfort for diverse passengers improves, but the computational processing requirements and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial real-time processing by continuously monitoring essential parameters like temperature and presence while updating less critical parameters like clothing detection and metabolic estimation at lower frequencies. This selective updating reduces computational load and energy consumption while maintaining adequate responsiveness for thermal comfort adjustment.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a thermal management system for a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, the system comprising a processing unit designed to determine an operative temperature setpoint TOC(t), also referred to as the operative comfort temperature, at a given time, and to use this operative temperature setpoint to manage the thermal comfort in the passenger compartment, said operative temperature setpoint TOC(t) at the given time (t) being a function of a reference operative temperature value (TOCRef), a variation DeltaCORP(t) of a physical build value CORP(t) of a person at the time (t) relative to a reference physical build value, a variation DeltaCLO(t) of a clothing value CLO(t) at the time (t) relative to a reference clothing value and a variation DeltaMET(t) of a value of the metabolic activity MET(t) at the time (t) relative to a value of the reference metabolic activity.