When your car is capable of reaching unconventional speeds such as over 400 km/h (248+ mi), the conventional way of doing things might not work. Everything needs to be re-thought and redesigned so that even the nuts and bolts remain only shaken but not stirred. That sounds like an obvious thing to say, but even the air conditioning system of a Bugatti is not something you see in an everyday car.
Julia Lemke at work
The responsibility of designing an efficient air conditioning system that works perfectly even at speeds of over 400 km/h, falls on Julia Lemke, who specializes in thermodynamics.
She explains that the air conditioning and ventilation need to be particularly well controlled to ensure that the air supply works properly even at maximum speeds. Unlike conventional systems, the air flow in Bugatti cars such as Chiron and Divo, changes with speed.
Pressure distribution in the intake area of the air conditioning system
The air is forced into the cabin only up to about 250 km/h (155 mph). From this point onwards, there is a switch to negative pressure: a sophisticated control system with an additional ram air flap and an optimized blower ensures that the air flow continues into the cabin.
And since the aforementioned Bugattis have almost flat windscreens with an inclination of 21.5 degrees – resulting in a large surface area, the interior heats up quickly in the sun. The Sky View glass roof option makes it worse. Which is why these fast hypercars also need a powerful compressor.
The structural elements of Bugatti’s air conditioning system
The air conditioning system on the Chiron and Divo boasts a powerful compressor with a cooling capacity of up to 10 kW and two air conditioning condensers – claimed to be powerful enough to cool an apartment in Europe measuring approximately 80 square metres. Approximately 3 kg of coolant per minute can be compressed from a pressure of about 2 bar to a high pressure of up to 30 bar, Bugatti said.
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