By Josh Perry, Editor
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According to an announcement from CORDIS, which reports on developments in various European Commission research and development projects, researchers have developed a novel climate control system (CCS) that will extend the range of electric vehicles (EV), while ensuring passenger comfort.

An EU-funded project has developed a climate control system to extend the range of EV. (Wikimedia Commons)

The development comes from the Horizon 2020 XERIC project, a three-year, EU-funded research and innovation project.

“Consortium members developed a solution based on a hybrid system that combines a liquid desiccant cycle, which combats humidity, with a traditional vapour compressive cycle that deals with temperature,” the CORDIS report explained.

Rather than condensing water, as standard CCS do, the new approach removes water with a highly-compact, three-fluid-combined membrane contactor (3F-CMC) that works simultaneously with the air, a desiccant solution, and a refrigerant. The membrane captures the humidity in the air, allowing dry air to be circulated and reducing the impact on the battery.

“Researchers created modelling tools to predict the performance of the entire CCS as well as the 3F-CMC and carried out life-cycle analysis and life-cycle cost analysis assessments,” the article continued. “In addition, they developed polytetrafluoroethylene and polyvinylidene difluoride hydrophobic membranes with an average pore size of 0.2 micrometres. They also built an electronic control system based on a variable frequency drive compressor and a brushless direct current motor that is 85-95% efficient.”

Experiments were performed under various external air temperatures and the prototype demonstrated 50% reduction in the energy used for air heating, cooling, and dehumidifying in winter conditions, and 33% reduction in energy under extreme summer conditions.

Researchers believe that this innovation can be applied to traditional combustion engines, in addition to electric vehicles, to reduce fuel consumption and air pollution. There is even hope that this technology could be tailored to buildings to make air conditioning or dehumidifying more energy-efficient.

Commercialization is underway, and researchers are working with industrial partners to create a system that would work in various applications.