Vehicle Cooling Systems for Reducing Fuel Consumption and Carbon Dioxide: Literature Survey 2010-01-1509

The number of vehicles in use is increasing from year to year. It causes more fuel/energy to be consumed, and more carbon dioxide or other exhaust gases are released to the environment. But the legislations on carbon dioxide emissions have become stricter than before. In the overall effort to achieve sustainability, advanced technological solutions have to be developed to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. More than half of the energy in vehicles is lost as heat to the different cooling systems (engine cooling system, air conditioning, frictional components cooling) and exhaust gas. Reducing the amount of energy lost in vehicle cooling systems will enhance the fuel efficiency of the vehicles. This paper presents a literature survey of different cooling systems in vehicles, which includes the engine cooling system, air conditioning of the compartment, the electronic cooling system and cooling of frictionally heated parts. The usage of exhaust gas in some cooling systems is also included. Some methods or factors are presented for these different cooling systems. Flow field and thermal management are important factors in designing the engine cooling system. Whereas the exhaust gas can be circulated back to the engine, or used for driving air conditioning units. Reducing the thermal resistance can improve the electronic cooling performance. The flow field will affect the cooling of the frictional components. This literature survey is offering a starting point for future research in the vehicle cooling systems.