TIFFE · Thermal Systems Integration for Fuel Economy

The project is devoted to the development of an innovative Integrated Vehicle Thermal System based on the integration of vehicle thermal systems to improve the on board thermal management and the energy efficiency. The major project contents are:-Dual loop air conditioning: one loop to transfer the cooling power and one loop to reject the heat-Two-levels temperature heat rejection system: one temperature to reject the high temperature heat (e,g. engine waste heat) and one temperature to cool locally the vehicle auxiliary systems-Innovative heat exchangers: new generation of compact fluid-to fluid heat exchangers and application of innovative technologies for fluid-to-air heat rejection-Use of innovative coolants (e.g. Nanofluids): to improve the heat rejection and redesign the heat exchangersTIFFE benefits can be summarised in a Cost Reduction (due to resize of the systems and their integration) and Fuel Economy increase of 15% on real use thanks to the:-improvement of the aerodynamics due the new front end design-increase of auxiliary systems efficiency thanks to the local cooling-engine overall efficiency thanks to a fine control of heat exchange, local cooling (turbocharge, fuel, ...) and improvement of the engine intake-the reduction of engine re-starts on Hybrid or Stop&Start vehicle due to cabin thermal comfort: the dual loop air conditioning with a designed thermal inertia guarantees thermal comfort when the thermal engine is off-compact Refrigeration Unit compliant with Low GWP refrigerants – R744 or flammables (e.g. R152a, R1234yf)Two prototypes will be realised and validated:•a gasoline passenger car with Stop & Start function•a diesel Light Commercial Vehicle with hybrid power trainBoth will undergo to a complete series of road and climatic chamber tests and a long range road test - e.g. from Catania (I) to Cape North (N) - to verify the reliability and effectiveness of the system and to promote its exploitation.