Numerical study on thermal performances of 2.0 kW burner for the cabin heater of an electric passenger vehicle

This study used a numerical method to investigate the thermal performance of a 2.0 kW burner in heating the cabin of an electric passenger vehicle. The thermal performance (including temperature distribution, velocity distribution, heat flux, burner efficiency) and fuel performance (including species variation, NOx concentration) with the fuel types, mass flow rates and the inlet temperature were investigated with a numerical simulation using the standard k-ε, RNG k-ε and realizable k-ε turbulence models. The results were validated within 8% that of experimental data obtained by the Korea Institute of Energy Research, Republic of Korea. The standard k-ε turbulence model with the eddy dissipation combustion model showed a close agreement with the experimental data, compared to the RNG k-ε and realizable k-ε turbulence models. As a result, a maximum heat flux of 2171.5 W was observed for butane at a fuel mass flow rate of 0.000057 kg/s and an air inlet temperature of 0 °C. The maximum burner efficiency of 96.7% was observed for methane at a fuel mass flow rate of 0.000030 kg/s and at an inlet air temperature of 0 °C. A minimum NOx concentration of 5.5 ppm was observed for propane at a fuel mass flow rate of 0.000030 kg/s and inlet air temperature of −20 °C. In addition, the butane fuel could be suggested to be effective for the 2.0 kW burner to heat the cabin of an electric passenger vehicle.