New energy vehiclesThermal management technology is iterating in the direction of precision and intelligence. Under extreme weather conditions, the energy consumption of traditional air conditioning systems accounts for up to 40% of the vehicle’s electricity consumption, which has become the core pain point affecting the endurance and occupant comfort of electric models.
Wu Huimin, executive director of application engineering and project management of Jiewen Asia, introduced that Jiewen has decades of experience in the field of thermal comfort and aerodynamic comfort, and the ClimateSense system launched by the company not only considers the zoning control of traditional air conditioners, but also further links the seats, steering wheel and other heat exchange components that are in direct contact with the human body to achieve more refined temperature management. Through virtual sensor technology and real-time data feedback, the system can accurately calculate the seat surface temperature and link it with vehicle control to optimize energy consumption and improve occupant thermal comfort.
Wu Huimin mentioned that Jiewen also pays attention to battery thermal management and body temperature management technology in the medical field, which further enriches its knowledge base in human heat regulation and feeds back to the intelligent temperature control system. Through the wearable measurement system, Jetwin can evaluate the thermal comfort status of occupants in real time and provide data support for product optimization.
Wu Huimin | Executive Director of Application Engineering and Project Management for Jiewen Asia
The following is a summary of the speech:
The global layout and technology accumulation of the enterprise
As a global leader in thermal comfort, Jiewen Technology will have revenue of $1.4 billion in 2024, with 31 branches in 13 countries on three continents, 11 production bases and 14,000 employees. The company has been deeply involved in automotive thermal management for decades, cooperating with more than 70 OEMs covering 75 countries, and more than 500 patented technologies have been applied to more than 500 models. The Asian headquarters is located in Shanghai, with engineering centers located in Shanghai, Langfang and Jiangmen, and manufacturing bases covering Langfang, Tianjin, Shanghai, Henan and Japan and South Korea.
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The sustainable development strategy practices the four pillars of “people-oriented, caring for the earth, giving back to the home, and product innovation”, 92% of its production sites have passed ISO14001 certification, and its North American and European factories have achieved 100% renewable energy supply, and in 2023, it has been named the most responsible company in the United States by Newsweek. The core business focuses on five major areas: Climate Comfort (temperature-controlled seat/interior heating), ClimateSense, Pneumatic Comfort (pneumatic massage lumbar support), Battery Performance (battery heating film/fan), and Medical (patient temperature management), forming a technical closed loop driven by electronic software systems.
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Heat exchange mechanism and energy efficiency breakthrough principle
Electric vehicles face a sharp reduction in battery life in a -20°C environment, and the energy consumption of traditional air conditioning accounts for up to 40% because it only relies on a single temperature regulation mechanism of air convection. Human heat exchange actually includes four dimensional paths of conduction (seat contact heat transfer), convection (air conditioning supply), radiation (infrared radiation of heating equipment), and evaporation (sweat volatilization).
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Experiments have proved that the heat transfer efficiency is 70% higher than that of air conditioners through local equipment such as seats/steering wheels/armrests, and the ClimateSense system reconstructs the thermal management logic accordingly. The system uses 22 contact sensors and 14 EHT (equivalent uniform temperature) sensors to form a wearable detection network, collects temperature data from 32 areas of the occupant body surface in real time, and converts subjective thermal comfort into an objective OTS (overall thermal perception value) from -3 (ice) to +3 (overheated) through an algorithm model jointly developed by the Fraunhofer Institute, realizing the technological leap from “environmental center” to “occupant center”.
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Intelligent system architecture and core technology
The ClimateSense system achieves precise temperature control through deep collaboration between the hardware layer and the algorithm layer: the hardware layer integrates a five-zone microclimate actuator, including neck warming snood (peak 120W/steady-state 30-50W), seat heating and ventilation (dual-zone peak 220W/steady-state 60-90W), steering wheel heating (peak 200W/steady-state 50-70W), door armrest heating (peak 100W/steady-state 30-40W), and foot radiant heating (peak 100W/ steady-state 70-80W), the total peak power in a single zone is 600W, and the steady-state power consumption is optimized to 200-250W;
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The algorithm layer innovates virtual sensing technology, based on the heat conduction model, calculates the surface temperature of the heating component (accuracy ± 1-2°C) in real time through the LIN bus, replaces the physical sensor to reduce the complexity of the system, and at the same time, through the occupant thermal state management module, the vehicle environmental data (cabin temperature/sunshine intensity/geographical location), member sign data (dressing index/target temperature setting), air conditioning parameters (air volume/supply mode) and effector status are dynamically generated at a refresh rate of 50ms. Realize the closed-loop linkage control of 33 effectors and the air conditioning system.
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Verification of measured performance in harsh environments
In the actual test of the Volkswagen ID.3 model in -7°C environment (test time 30-60 minutes, 3,000 sets of data collected), the ClimateSense system achieved a double breakthrough in energy efficiency and comfort: in terms of energy efficiency, the total energy consumption under 60 minutes of working conditions was reduced by 30%, the average power in the steady-state stage was reduced by 47% (the traditional scheme was reduced from 6kW to 3.2kW), and the comprehensive energy saving for long-distance driving was 50%; In terms of comfort, the occupant thermal comfort achievement time is shortened by 40% (the perceived temperature reaches the standard within 5 minutes), the independent temperature control accuracy of the five zones reaches ±0.5°C, and the OTS thermal sensing value is more than 90% consistent with the subjective evaluation of the occupants.
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The test simultaneously verified three advantages – personalized comfort (supports the front driver to set 22°C and rear passengers to 28°C), energy efficiency (prioritizes seat heating instead of air conditioning heating), and silent experience (the air conditioning fan can still be turned off to maintain comfort through radiant heating).
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Mass production application and industry technology evolution
At present, the ClimateSense system has been mass-produced in Cadillac CELESTIQ (the world’s first four-zone microclimate electric vehicle with 33 effectors) and ESCALADE IQ (five-zone system, supporting independent temperature control in the first three rows), becoming a new standard for thermal management of luxury electric vehicles. The next stage of the industry needs to break through three major challenges: the multi-effector collaborative response delay needs to be compressed to less than 100ms to meet the safety requirements of L4 autonomous driving; The system is designed to meet the space constraints of compact models (the current module volume is about 12L); The generalization ability of cross-climate zone data models has been improved (full coverage from -30°C to 50°C).
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Jiewen Technology emphasized that in the future, it will be upgraded from Auto AC (automatic air conditioning) to Auto Thermal Management (occupant thermal management), and the ultimate goal is to achieve “one-click comfort” automatic adjustment for each occupant by uniformly scheduling hot components such as air conditioning, seats, and steering wheels.
(The above content is from Wu Huimin, Executive Director of Application Engineering and Project Management of Jiewen Asia, on June 18, 2025 at the third session of 2025.)New energyThe keynote speech on “Intelligent Temperature Control Effectively Improves Occupant Comfort” delivered at the Automotive Thermal Management Forum. ）
