This work develops a back-cooling system for a car seat using seat embedded heat pipes to improve passenger comfort. The heat pipe system utilizes the temperature difference between the passenger back and the car cabin air to remove heat from the human body and enhance the comfort state. The developed seat heat-pipe model was validated experimentally using a thermal manikin with controlled constant skin temperature mode in a climatic chamber. Good agreement was found between the measured and the numerically predicted values of base panel temperature. By integrating the validated heat pipe with a bio-heat model, the back segmental skin temperature as well as the overall thermal comfort was predicted and compared with the conventional seat case without the heat pipe system. The heat pipes were able to reduce the skin temperature by 1 °C and to increase the overall thermal comfort of the body by 30 percent. In addition, a parametric study was performed to determine the optimal number of heat pipes that ensure the thermal comfort of the passenger.
Description:
Thesis. M.E. American University of Beirut. Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017. ET:6593
Advisor : Dr. Nesreene Ghaddar, Professor, Mechanical Engineering ; Co-Advisor : Dr. Kamel Abu Ghali, Professor, Mechanical Engineering ; Member of Committee : Dr. Mohammad Ahmad, Professor, Chemical Engineering.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 26-28)
