Thermal comfort

Thermal comfort is mainly influenced by air temperature, surface temperature of the surrounding surfaces, humidity and flow velocity.

The interaction between these parameters is essential to human well-being, since people are often not capable of determining which of the parameters is responsible for thermal comfort or discomfort. By taking into account all influencing factors it is possible to create conditions in which the highest possible percentage of people in a room feel comfortable.

Environmental simulation

Both vehicles and individual components can be subjected to functional tests under extreme climatic conditions in order to investigate their reliability along with technical and safety parameters. Functional tests can be divided according to the testing conditions required, for example:

• Extreme temperatures: testing of mechanical, electrical and electronic components
• Rain: e.g. weather tightness testing of windows and doors, windshield wiper tests
• Wet snow: e.g. couplings, current collectors, doors, brakes
• Dry snow: e.g. testing of air intakes, gangways
• Ice: testing of components subject to mechanical stress, e.g. current collectors, doors.

Aerodynamics

Climatic wind tunnels are of course also suitable for aerodynamic measurements. These tests essentially involve force measurements for the determination of drag values and lift coefficients as well as measurements of pressure and flow distribution around the object.

Components such as current collectors and windshield wipers can usually be tested directly, while models are used for measurements on the entire vehicle, as for example the effect of side wind or flow characteristics of the air conditioning unit (fresh air intake, condenser exhaust air).