ECOQUEST · Efficient Cooling Systems for QUieter Surface Transport

An important subsystem in surface transportation vehicles (rail bound, automotive and heavy duty) is the cooling unit. Present European standards for interoperability of rail bound traffic require low noise levels while manufactures need to meet the vehicle performance and energy efficiency requested by the operators. The stringent EU6 emission limits expected to come into effect will increase dramatically the demand for cooling power in road vehicles without accepting a noise penalty. Manufactures need innovative methods for reducing costs of development and testing and thus further improving their competitiveness in the global market.The objectives are innovative contributions towards novel cooling units with reduced noise radiation and decreased CO2 emissions. We aim at new compact lay outs, innovative heat management strategies and low energy/noise components. Intermediate objectives concern (i) implementation of an integrated simulation platform for noise mechanisms, scattering and propagation; (ii) development of design procedures for thermally and acoustically optimal cooling units; (iii) research on innovative fan designs and new passive noise control measures and their integration into novel cooling units. Mass produced automotive units and large locomotive systems produced at small numbers are considered simultaneously - strong synergies and cross-fertilization are expected.The project is structured in five work packages. WP1 deals with the project co-ordination. WP2 focuses on the acoustical models and their integration, WP3 takes into account realistic train and automotive environments, WP4 deals with full scale vehicle tests and WP5 concludes the projekt with an assessment. and and an exploitation plan and dissimation. Being an upstream-research oriented project, a majority of the person-months and budget, especially within WP 2 and WP3, are committed to 3 universities and a research establishment. WP4 and 5 are performed primarily by industrial partners to enable immediate exploitation of the results.