WMG has unveiled a special Thermal Management Testbed, to allow holistic investigation of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) and other vehicle sub-systems under real-world conditions.

The Testbed, which is a world-first, was funded by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and is located at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus. It is designed specifically to develop and evaluate efficient thermal management systems for electric vehicles; including cabin climate control; thermal management of energy storage and electric machines; and the impact on the overall performance of the vehicle.

Truong Quang Dinh, Associate Professor of Energy System Management and Control at WMG, explains: “Effective heating and cooling of vehicle sub-systems is indispensable to ensure safety, reliability and comfort. Our unique thermal management testbed integrates a highly flexible HVAC rig and a hybrid physical-virtual powertrain for the holistic investigation of thermal management systems and other vehicle sub-systems under real-world conditions. This enables real-time tests from vehicle components, sub-systems, to entire systems at lowest time, cost and effort.”

One project that will be exploring the capabilities of the new Thermal Testbed is Cit-E-Van, - a collaboration between WMG, CoolVan and GAH, funded by Innovate UK. Cit-E-Van will look to develop an energy efficient electric refrigerated vehicle with an optimised electric transport refrigeration unit and retrofit the electric propulsion system with advanced thermal-energy management features.

In the coming months WMG experts will be working with more industry partners to develop HVAC solutions.

For further information about the testbed or HVAC solutions in general contact Truong Quang Dinh at: t.dinh@warwick.ac.uk