Modeling Tool for System Integration of HVAC Systems

The proliferation of on-board electronics in modern military vehicles is creating a formidable thermal management problem. In many cases it is the thermal management issues that set the bounds on vehicle performance. Innovative and optimized heat removal strategies are required to solve these problems. In order to rapidly and accurately assess the impact of the strategies on the on-board HVAC system, a tool capable of performing an integrated system analysis of the HVAC system under all operating scenarios for the vehicle mission is required. ThermoAnalytics is proposing to add this capability to the thermal analysis and signature management code MuSES. We have identified and demonstrated the algorithms that are needed to simulate air flow circulated through a duct network by a fan between the refrigerator and the crew cabin, circulation of the cool air within the cabin, and the performance of the vapor-compression refrigerator under actual operating conditions, and have developed a plan to implement these algorithms in MuSES. The result will be a tool capable of modeling a full vehicle including an HVAC system integrated into the model, and predicting the cabin equipment operating temperatures and crew comfort, for a full range of anticipated ambient operating conditions.