Model Development for Air Conditioning System in Heavy Duty Trucks

This chapter presents a modelling approach for the air conditioning (AC) system in heavy duty trucks. The presented model entails two major elements: a mechanical compressor model and a thermal AC model. The compressor model describes the massflow of the refrigerant as well as the mechanical power requested from the combustion engine. The thermal AC model predicts how ambient air flow cools down when it passes the AC system. This model also includes the latent heat emerging from water condensation. Both elements of the model have been validated with experimental data. The compressor parameters follow from hardware-in-the-loop experiments where the AC compressor is measured under various load profiles. Validation of the thermal AC model is done by climate chamber testing with a DAF XF heavy duty truck on a roller dynamometer.