The Function of PTC Air Heater
The role of PTC heaters in new energy vehicles is, as the name implies, to heat them up. Fuel vehicles generate a lot of heat when the engine is running, so automotive engineers use the heat to heat them up, and the heat for functions such as air conditioning, glass defogging and defrosting comes from the engine.
However, new energy vehicles often do not have an engine, so the PTC heater assumes the responsibility of heating and heating. Most of the PTC heaters of new energy vehicles are installed in the air conditioning system, which will generate electricity by itself after power on. The corresponding heat will heat the air when it passes by, and then blow it out from the air outlet of the air conditioner. This is the source of warm air for most new energy vehicle air conditioners.
Advantage
1. High security
The thermal resistance of the PTC heater is smaller than that of other heating elements, and under no circumstances will there be any redness on the surface of the heater such as the electric heating tube, and when the blower fails, the PTC heater will not be able to dissipate heat sufficiently. Automatically shut down to avoid further temperature rise, which is less likely to cause a fire.
2. Low cost
Most PTC heaters are composed of ceramic heating elements and aluminum tubes, which have the advantages of simple structure and low price. Even if the PTC heater of the vehicle is damaged, the subsequent replacement and maintenance costs are also very cheap.
Shortcoming
1. High power consumption
The PTC heater needs a large current to generate enough heat. Take the Weilai ES8 equipped with two PTC heaters as an example, its rated power is 9.2kW, and the power battery pack capacity of the vehicle is 70kWh. If two PTC The heater runs at the rated power at the same time, and it needs to consume 13% of the battery power in one hour. Although other new energy vehicles are not so exaggerated, turning on the heater will definitely consume a lot of power.
2. Short service life
The PTC heater is composed of multiple metal parts, and most of the parts are planar, with a large area in contact with the air. Metal parts are prone to oxidation reactions with air in high temperature environments, which in turn will affect the service life of the PTC heater.
