Abstract
To reduce vehicle fuel consumption due to not only driving but also air conditioning, battery-operated non-starting conditioning systems with thermoelectric modules and without mechanical elements like compressors are being manufactured for use by hybrid heavy trucks in the near future. In this study, the voltage and current consumed by a thermoelectric module were measured to determine the required battery power, and the performance of the conditioning system with air temperature, and humidity of the inlet/outlet modules and inside/outside the cabin for a truck, was evaluated using experimental apparatus under actual conditions. The results showed that, the thermoelectric module can be continously operated for about 1.5 h using existing 24 V batteries. The coefficent of performance(COP) of the cooling and heating modes was calculated to be an average 0.8-1.32. As expected, the heating performance was 30% more efficient than the cooling performance, which is general characteristic of thermoelectric modules.