Thermal Management System for a thermally controlled food delivery electric vehicle integrating heat pump, cold storage unit, solar panels and PCT resistors

The paper describes the development of a novel thermal system for all kind of low consumption electric vehicles. For the first time in our knowledge, a compact thermal system integrates a heat pump, a thermal storage unit, a photovoltaic panel and distributed high efficiency annular fans including PCT resistors in their centers. The vehicle is divided in three independent compartments: food storage, battery pack and cabin which are thermally managed with defined priorities in relation to whether the vehicle is plugged-in, in motion or parked unplugged. The implemented control strategies adapt themselves in relation to the outdoor temperature to minimize energy consumption. Phase Change Materials PCM are used to keep the battery pack temperature conditioned even when the vehicle is parked unplugged in the open air at extreme cold temperatures, in that case during the day the PMC material integrated in the battery pack accumulate the energy produced during the day by the solar panels and release heat during the night. Following simulations of various condition of operation rather advanced algorithms have been implemented into an electronic board so that the conditioning of the three compartments is made by autonomous decisions in practically all conditions of operations. The cold storage unit has been dimensioned in such a way that per the typical two-hour mission of a hot summer, the three compartments of the temperature controlled food delivery vehicle could be temperature and humidity conditioned using only the thermal energy storage. The system could also be monitored and activated by a smart phone. The temperature controlled food delivering vehicle integrating all developed technologies will be demonstrated in operation at the exhibition of TRA 2018.