Heating Performance Enhancement of High Capacity PTC Heater with Modified Louver Fin for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles use positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heaters and heat pumps to warm the vehicle cabin. High-capacity PTC heaters are needed because heat pump performance decreases sharply in the winter months due to low outdoor temperatures. The weight of PTC heaters is an important heater d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2019-07, Vol.12 (15), p.2900
Main Authors: Park, Myeong Hyeon, Kim, Sung Chul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Contact angle
Design
Differential pressure
Durability
efficiency
Electric contacts
electric vehicle
Electric vehicles
Energy efficiency
Experiments
Fins
Heat
Heat transfer
Heaters
Heating
heating density
heating performance
high capacity
Manufacturing
Mass production
modified louver fin
Numerical analysis
positive temperature coefficient heater
Pressure
Radiation
Radiators
Screen printing
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Summary:Electric vehicles use positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heaters and heat pumps to warm the vehicle cabin. High-capacity PTC heaters are needed because heat pump performance decreases sharply in the winter months due to low outdoor temperatures. The weight of PTC heaters is an important heater design factor for improving the single-charge travel distance of electric vehicles. A fin shape is necessary to improve the heater’s heat transfer performance in comparison to its weight. To develop a 6 kW class high-capacity PTC heater for electric vehicles, this study presents a numerical analysis of heat flow according to a modified louver fin’s geometric shape variables and evaluates heating performance. Based on the geometric shape of an initial plate-shaped fin prototype, a numerical analysis was performed on the width, position, height, and angle to develop a modified louver fin while considering heat transfer performance and ease of manufacturing. An improved prototype was built using the developed modified louver fin, and its heating performance under standard conditions was evaluated. The improved prototype had a heating performance of 6.05 kW, an efficiency of 98.0%, a pressure drop of 18.3 Pa, and a heating density of 3.81 kW/kg. Compared to the initial prototype, its heating performance and heating density were improved by approximately 15.7%.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en12152900