Page 97 - rise 2017

Design and Develop a Hot Air Extractor for Vehicle Cabin

Ahmad Zhafran Bin Yusof1

Politeknik Kota Bharu, Kelantan

zhafran.poli@1govuc.gov.my

Abstract
This paper will discuss about the greenhouse effect caused by direct sunlight into the vehicle cabin.
This phenomenon will create an uncomfortable situation which can affect the lifetime of the vehicle’s
interior and accessories such as seats, dashboards and door panels. The solution of this problem is by
sucking out the hot air from vehicle compartment to the environment. This will reduce the
temperature inside the vehicle and the device is called as a hot air extractor for vehicle cabin. Firstly,
we have use an Autodesk Inventor Professional 2010 in order to design a prototype of the product.
Then we build a real product based on the design requirement. The device is being placed in the
window opening while the temperature sensor is turned on and the car’s temperature is measured.
After that, the temperature inside the cabin is observed until it stabilizes. The temperatures are
recorded every 10 minutes until one hour and the device is turned on. All the data are recorded and
temperatures versus time graphs are plotted for different car’s conditions. The testing was conducted
in three conditions which are with and without hot air extractors and existing product by using non-
tinted window’s car.The car has been parked at the open area and the testing was running twice to
obtain more accurate result due to weather condition. From the results obtained, the design product
give low temperature distribution (45.7°C) in the cabin compared to non-using hot air extractor
(49.9°C). Hence, we can conclude that our device work properly in order to extract the hot air from
the car cabin.
Keywords: heat transfer, hot air extractor, greenhouse effect, ventilation system

Introduction
With our nature hot climate in Malaysia, it will give us a hard time when we want to park our car
outside especially during a blazing hot day. For instance, after we finished shopping, we will have to
leave the air-conditioned confines of the local mall to return to our car. Since the parking garage was
full, we have to take another alternative way which is to park our car on a vast plain of sweltering
asphalt. Then, as we open the driver's side door, we can feel that the escaping heat is so thick that it
actually casts shadows on the pavement. Due to this reason, we will have to endure with the hot heat
that burning our bare legs and shoulders before the air conditioning cool down the situation. In
addition, our lungs will have a difficulty to breathe in the furnace-like air and it also can affect our
health in the future.
This phenomenon occurs similarly to the greenhouse effect which make the temperature
inside the car is higher than outside temperature. Even on a moderately warm day, a car's interior
temperature can reach as high as 71 degrees Celsius (Vartabedian, 2006). Thus, one way to overcome
this problem is by installing a vehicle ventilator system or also known as a hot air extractor. The
working principle of this device is by using an external fan to suck the hot air out from the vehicle and
transfer it outside into the atmosphere by using a proper design port (Parker, n.d).
Even though that may not sound like much, however on hot days those 15 degrees celsius can
give a lot difference since temperatures above 38 degrees celsius has often proven fatal to children
and pets left alone in cars (Vartabedian, 2006). Some of the car manufactures such as Audi and Benz
have provide this integrated ventilation system to their customers. However, if we cannot afford to
buy these cars we can purchase a portable ventilator system for our own vehicle.