Thermal Management
Efficient Thermal Management for Modern Vehicle Systems
Thermal management and the direct drive train are the basis for an efficient, dynamic driving experience.
Whether for gasoline, diesel, hybrid or BEV propulsion, we work with you at all levels and in all areas to develop the thermal management system that is right for your particular application. With our interdisciplinary skills, we can develop cooling, heating and air conditioning subsystems as well as an efficient complete system, and adapt them to your specific case.
Temperature under control, success on the road: our Thermal Management.
Thermal Management - From Components to Complete System
Our interdisciplinary approach combines design, simulation, control, and testing to find the ideal solution for your challenges. We advise you, take on individual tasks, and design complete systems in all phases of the development process, in the virtual as well as the real world, around the globe.
Complete System
Working with you, we develop the ideal thermal management system for your application. In addition to “ground-up” designs, we can also examine and improve existing systems if needed.
- Creation of system architectures
- Circuit layouts
- Creation and optimization of control systems
- Simulative concept evaluation and functional testing
- Evaluation of thermal operating safety
- Confirmation through component and vehicle testing
- Partners: IPETRONIK
Cooling
In addition to the cooling of conventional drive concepts, the change from hybrid to purely electric drives results in an ever-increasing complexity: This is essentially due to the additionally integrated components. In addition, cooling is a factor that should always be taken into account when considering emissions, energy efficiency and the driving experience.
- Creation of cooling architectures
- Design and layout of circuits
- Virtual and real vehicle integration
- Evaluation of thermal operating safety
- Component selection and supplier management
- Creation and optimization of control systems
- Simulative concept evaluation and functional testing
- Confirmation through component and vehicle testing
Air Conditioning
Like with cooling, the shift in propulsion design is also driving changes in air conditioning. In addition to interior air conditioning for conventionally powered vehicles, where the air is distributed throughout the interior, now there is the need for battery air conditioning.
Interior concepts and thus passenger air conditioning requirements are also changing. Air conditioning, heating, and cooling furthermore have a significant influence on efficiency and range, which can be improved through the use of a heat pump, for example.
ARRK Engineering addresses these issues in many projects.
- Creation of cooling architectures
- Design and layout of circuits
- Virtual and real vehicle integration
- Component selection and supplier management
- Creation and optimization of control systems
- Simulative concept evaluation and functional testing
- Evaluation of thermal operating safety
- Confirmation through component and vehicle testing
Passenger Comfort
Passengers’ subjective comfort interfaces with air conditioning at many points.
Taking into consideration the results of our work on air conditioning, we can use our proprietary THESUES-FE software to draw initial virtual conclusions about comfort and temperature perceptions. In a second step, we can use our in-house developed passenger comfort dummy to validate and fine-tune the results in the actual vehicle, or to make benchmark measurements.
These methods form the basis for the development and evaluation of new air conditioning concepts.
- Virtual evaluation of passenger comfort using human models with THESEUS-FE
- Validation or benchmark measurements with the ARRK passenger comfort dummy
- Virtual and real comfort evaluations of new air conditioning concepts
Assurance, Testing, and Application
In addition to the virtual aspects of thermal management, ARRK’s expertise and that of its partners enable us to cover all the disciplines of real thermal management development, and provide you with all-in development proposals that meet your needs.
From measurement on your test vehicle or competitor vehicles, to acoustic measurements, to vehicle applications and vehicle data entry.
We can also plan, control, and run your tests to your individual specifications, using our experienced testing personnel.
- Acoustic measurements
- Benchmark measurements and analyses
- Application and data entry
- Function optimization and development
- Test planning, control, performance, and consulting
HVAC Comfort Dummy
Our HVAC measurement Dummy is completely in-house developed by ARRK Engineering. This physical measurement dummy records real environmental data such as temperature, humidity, air velocity, airflow direction and radiation. The measured results are then compared with simulation outputs to assess accuracy. Our HVAC Dummy is combined with our Software Theseus-FE - a finite element-based solver for analyzing thermal comfort in indoor and outdoor environments.
Technical Parameters:
- Number of sensors: up to 73
Measuring range:
- -20°C to +70°C (Air temperature)
- 0.1-5.0 m/s, Bidirectional (Wind speed)
- close to 0 – up to 2000 W/m² (Radiation)
- 0 to 95% RH, non-condensing (Relative humidity)
With our HVAC Dummy and Theseus-FE, we’re demonstrating how simulation and real-world measurement go hand in hand - all developed entirely in-house.
If you are interested in the capabilities of our Dummy please do not hesitate to contact us! We would be happy to inform you more detailed about all possible applications and configurations.
Theseus-FE software
Theseus-FE simulation software, which we developed ourselves and sell commercially, uses the finite element method as its basis and is essentially made up of the following components:
- a solver base for thermal simulations (heat conduction and radiation)
- a thermophysiological model to predict thermal comfort (e.g. inside vehicles or in buildings)
- a special module (oven) to predict bodywork temperatures in paint-drying ovens (including Abaqus user sub-routine for bodywork adhesives)
- a special module (e-coating) to simulate the thickness of the coat of paint in a cataphoretic painting container
- a powerful graphical user interface (GUI) for modelling and evaluation of results
- coupling tools, e.g. for CFD software such as Star-CCM+ and OpenFOAM
- a mapper to transmit results between different networks and result formats
THESEUS-FE is used primarily for customers in the automotive industry, but is also used by building physics and aerospace departments at universities and academic/scientific institutions. For more information about THESEUS-FE, go to http://www.theseus-fe.com
