Thermal Modeling of Electronics Inside a Truck Cabin
Ladda ner
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Mobility engineering (MPMOB), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Roy, Ashik
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Electronic Control Units(ECUs) are critical components in trucks, which are required to be operated within specific temperature ranges to minimize its failure
rates. Some of the ECUs have integrated safety functions, and failure of these could
result in the breakdown of the vehicle. These are often mounted underneath the
Instrumentation Panel(IP), a confined space that also houses other heat sources,
complicating their thermal management. Therefore, to understand the thermal behavior of ECUs under various conditions, Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) was
used.
The CFD model was used to study the effects of factors such as ambient temperature, recirculation, and vehicle velocity on the ECU’s thermal performance. A
Proportional-Integral(PI) controller was modeled to regulate the air temperature
through the HVAC(Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) ducts to maintain
the cabin temperature at 22◦C. To prevent oscillations while solving, the temperature of air through the HVAC was updated every 50 iterations.
Recirculation, which enhances the mixing of air inside the IP, was shown to decrease
the temperature of the ECU. The extent of this temperature reduction was found
to be influenced by the ambient temperature. Based on the understanding of the
operation of the HVAC system, it was concluded that the cooling performance of
the ECU is critical in cold ambient conditions. It was observed that at an ambient
temperature of 0◦C, increasing the recirculation fraction from 0 to 0.8 reduced the
ECU’s maximum temperature by approximately 7◦C.
Based on the study’s findings, several cooling strategies were proposed to improve the
thermal management of ECUs. Utilizing the existing fan of the ECU to enhance the
mixing of air within the IP was shown to reduce the ECU’s temperature by around
5
◦C. While, incorporating an additional fan provided an even greater reduction,
lowering the temperature by approximately 8◦C.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
CFD , ECU , HVAC , airflow , electronics , cabin , heat transfer , thermal management