A Dynamic Programming Approach for Thermal Comfort Control in Electric Vehicles

Abstract

The HVAC system represents the main auxiliary load in electric vehicles (EVs) and requires efficient control approaches that balance energy saving and thermal comfort. In fact, passengers always demand more comfort, but on the other hand the HVAC system consumption strongly impacts the vehicle driving range, which constitutes the major concern in EVs. In this paper, dynamic programming is applied to develop an HVAC system supervisor that optimizes the thermal comfort on a given journey, for given climatic conditions and energy available. The electric vehicle model and the optimization approach are presented. Two test- cases, corresponding to hot climate, are simulated. In the first one, the energetic cost of improved comfort is quantified, while in the second one the trade-off between driving speed and thermal comfort is analyzed.