Thermal comfort performance monitoring for stationary vehicles under tropical climate

Abstract

The thermal comfort in an automobile is provided by the air conditioning system. Generally, in city running, an automobile air conditioner consumes nearly 10% of the fuel burnt by the engine. With the use of shading devices and by parking the vehicle under shades, the heat gain into the vehicle can be minimised. Especially in warm tropical climates, the minimisation of heat gain is of paramount importance as excessive heat gain will result in high interior temperatures, which in turn will demand higher load on the air conditioner while the life of the vehicle interior gets shorter.