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Car Heating and Cooling System AbstractThis paper describes the design and implementation of a senior project involving a car heatingand cooling system. During the summer and winter times, for cars parked outside, the interiortemperature can become very high or very low causing discomfort for the driver andpassengers. Therefore a device is needed to keep the vehicle interior at comfortabletemperatures while standing on the parking lot or on the driveway.The goal of this project was to build a light weight compact car heater and cooler. The carheating and cooling system allows car users to maintain a reasonable temperature while sittingat home or in a parking lot. The designed system can fit in a back window. The system runsusing a 12V DC power source powered through a solar panel that is mounted on the backwindow of the vehicle. This location was chosen because the exposure to light is greater in therear and allows the solar panel to recharge faster and more efficiently. All components used inthis system are rated 12VDC, with the exception of the microcontroller; an additional 5V DCregulator is used to power the Arduino microcontroller. Using a thermistor, the microcontrollertracks the temperature inside a vehicle. When a high temperature (i.e. temp > 70°F) condition isdetected by the thermistor, the microcontroller l enable s a power relay to apply power to boththe fan and the cooling element, based on a peltier and heat sink. This process continues untilthe temperature is within the specified range (i.e. 66°F ~ 70°F) or until user disables the system.In the same manner, when a low temperature (i.e. temp < 66°F) is detected by themicrocontroller through the thermistor, a power relay is enabled to apply power to both thefan and the heating element, also based on a peltier and heat sink. This process continues untilthe temperature is within the specified range (i.e. 66°F ~ 70°F) or until user disables the system.As an additional feature, an air freshener pump is also included in the system that can beactivated at 30 minute intervals and will continue until user disables the system. All featuresand temperature measurements are tracked and displayed on the LCD which is connected tothe Arduino microcontroller. The paper covers the details of the design of hardware andsoftware components of the system.
