In this study, passenger comfort and the air pollution status of the micro-environmental conditions in an air-conditioned bus were investigated through questionnaires, field measurements, and a numerical simulation. As a subjective analysis, passengers' perceptions of indoor environmental quality and comfort levels were determined from questionnaires. As an objective analysis, a numerical simulation was conducted using a discrete phase model to determine the diffusion and distribution of pollutants, including particulate matter with a diameter air quality and dissatisfactory thermal comfort conditions in Jinan's air-conditioned bus system. To solve these problems, three scenarios (schemes A, B, C) were designed to alter the ventilation parameters. According to the results of an improved simulation of these scenarios, reducing or adding air outputs would shorten the time taken to reach steady-state conditions and weaken the airflow or lower the temperature in the cabin. The airflow pathway was closely related to the layout of the air conditioning. Scheme B lowered the temperature by 0.4? K and reduced the airflow by 0.01? m/s, while scheme C reduced the volume concentration of PM 10 to 150? ??g/m 3 . Changing the air supply angle could further improve the airflow and reduce the concentration of PM 10 . With regard to the perception of airflow and thermal coA system of air-conditioning using Lithium Bromide absorption system is used as an alternative refrigerant that will not pollute the atmosphere. Lithium Bromide is a chemical salt soluble in water. 


There is a big difference between vapour compression system and LiBr 2 absorption system. The absorption air conditioning system is made of a generator, a condenser, an evaporator and an absorber with necessary pumps and piping. When LiBr 2 solution is heated under low pressure, water will evaporate first, while LiBr 2 will remain in the solution and will become more concentrated. The water is the refrigerant in this system. The generator, where the water is vapourised, is heated using an electric heater or solar energy. The LiBr 2 weak solution under low pressure in the generator is heated and the water evaporate into vapour. The vapour produced is then cooled in the condenser and then expanded into the evaporator. The refrigerant (water) in evaporator change phase from liquid to vapour by absorbing heat from cooling water, which flow in the coil in the evaporator. The chilled water obtained is then pumped into the fan coil, which will be used in conditioning the passenger area of the bus. The water vapour from the evaporator is absorbed into LiBr 2 solution in the absorber, forming a weak solution of LiBr 2 . the weak solution from the absorber is then pumped back to the generator to regenerate. The absorption system does not use compressor, but requires pumps that need lower input power compared to that of a compressor. The system is considered as a new application for the bus. This will have great potential and will be environmentally friendly. The model in this study will be used for calculation of the cooling load for the bus.


Comfortable journey with commercial buses is an essential goal of transportation companies. An air-conditioning system can play an important role for this comfortable journey but it can put extra load on the engine and extra cost in the fuel consumption. The purpose of this work is to increase the performance of air-conditioning system of the buses by reducing the load on the engine and fuel consumption. Using a two-phase ejector as an expansion valve can increase the coefficient of performance (COP) of the air-conditioning system. An improvement in the COP can reduce the empty vehicle weight and fuel consumption of buses. Two-phase ejector dimensions can be determined using the empirical methods available in the literature. In this paper, the two-phase ejector dimensions of air conditioning system for a bus are calculated using the analytical and numerical methods. First of all, the thermodynamic analysis of the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle with a two-phase ejector is performed, and then the ejector dimensions are subsequently determined. The cooling loads of the midibus and bus with R134a as a refrigerant are assumed to be 14? kW and 32? kW, respectively. The total length of the two-phase ejector for the midibuses and buses due to these cooling loads, are computed to be 480.8? mm and 793.1? mm, respectively. Also, an experimental setup is installed on a truck air conditioner to turn it into the ejector air conditioning system to validate theoretical results with the experimental study. - Highlights: a€￠ Determination of two-phase ejector dimensions of a bus air-conditioning system. a€￠ Thermodynamic analysis of the two-phase ejector cooling system. a€￠ Experimental study on a midibus air conditioner using two-phase ejector.


A novel control strategy to improve energy efficiency and to enhance passengers' thermal comfort of a new roof top bus multiple circuit air conditioning (AC) system operating on partial load conditions is presented. A novel strategy for automatic control of the AC system was developed based on numerous experimental test runs at various operating conditions, taking into account energy saving and thermal comfort without sacrificing the proper cycling rate of the system compressor. For this task, more than 50 test runs were conducted at different set point temperatures of 21, 22 and 23 C. Fanger's method was used to evaluate passenger thermal comfort, and the system energy consumption was also calculated. A performance comparison between that of the conventional AC system and that of the newly developed one has been conducted. The comparison revealed that the adopted control strategy introduces significant improvements in terms of thermal comfort and energy saving on various partial load conditions. Potential energy saving of up to 31.6% could be achieved. This results in a short payback period of 17 months. It was found from the economic analysis that the new system is able to save approximately 20.0% of the life cycle cost. A novel control strategy to improve energy efficiency and to enhance passengers' thermal comfort of a new roof top bus multiple circuit air conditioning (AC) system operating on partial load conditions is presented. 


A novel strategy for automatic control of the bus ac parts was developed based on numerous experimental test runs at various operating conditions, taking into account energy saving and thermal comfort without sacrificing the proper cycling rate of the system compressor. For this task, more than 50 test runs were conducted at different set point temperatures of 21, 22 and 23 deg. C. Fanger's method was used to evaluate passenger thermal comfort, and the system energy consumption was also calculated. A performance comparison between that of the conventional AC system and that of the newly developed one has been conducted. The comparison revealed that the adopted control strategy introduces significant improvements in terms of thermal comfort and energy saving on various partial load conditions. Potential energy saving of up to 31.6% could be achieved. This results in a short payback period of 17 months. It was found from the economic analysis that the new system is able to save approximately 20.0% of the life cycle cost.


Air-conditioners (AC) usually consume the most electricity among all of the auxiliary components in an electric bus, over 30% of the battery power at maximum. On-board passengers carried by the electric bus are important but random heat sources, which are obsessional disturbances for the cabin temperature control and energy management of the AC system. This paper aims to improve the AC energy efficiency via passenger amount variation analysis and forecast in a model predictive control (MPC) framework. Three forecasting approaches are proposed to realize the passenger amount variation prediction in real-time, namely, stochastic prediction based on Monte Carlo, radial basis function neural network (RBF-NN) prediction, and Markov-chain prediction. A sample passenger number database along a typical bus line in Beijing is built for passenger variation pattern analysis and forecast. A comparative study of the above three prediction approaches with different prediction lengths (bus stops in this case) is conducted, from both the energy consumption and temperature control perspectives. A predictive AC controller is developed, and evaluated by comparing with Dynamic Programming (DP) and a commonly used rule-based control strategy. 


Simulation results show that all the three forecasting methods integrated within the MPC framework are able to achieve more stable temperature performance. The energy consumptions of MPC with Markov-chain prediction, RBF-NN forecast and Monte Carlo prediction are 6.01%, 5.88% and 5.81% lower than rule-based control, respectively, on the Beijing bus route studied in this paper.


This paper presents a test method for determination of energy consumption of bus HVAC units. The energy consumption corresponds to a bus engine fuel consumption increase during the bus hvac parts operation period. The HVAC unit energy consumption is determined from the unit input power, which is measured under several levels of bus engine speeds and at different levels of testing heat load in the laboratory environment. Since the bus engine fuel consumption is incrementally induced by powering an HVAC unit, the results are subsequently recalculated to the unit fuel consumption under the defined road cycles in terms of standardized diesel engine. The method is likewise applicable either for classic or electric HVAC units with a main consumer (compressor or high voltage alternator) mechanically driven directly from the bus engine and also for electric HVAC units supplied from an alternative electric energy source in case of hybrid or fully electric buses.