Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: roadrunninMark]
#2945582
07/21/21 12:46 PM
07/21/21 12:46 PM
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IMGTX
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Fridges use very little compressors, condensers, & evaporators since the air barely circulates and is in a sealed box. Often the circulation inside the fridge is simply convection currents of hot cold air rising & falling. No fan inside at all.
As you increase the size of the box, i.e. Fridge, car, house, store, stadium, more air has to circulate to cool the area.
Small compressors & evaporators will not effectively cool air fast enough to be force blown across the evaporator and through the "box", so the sizing has to increase.
Combine that with the lack of insulation / greenhouse effect of glass windows in cars the size required to cool an area increases.
I believe that an electric AC unit in a car would work. It could be driven by electricity from an alternator and be more efficient BUT it would cost more to produce because while there would be a decrease in AC component costs it would require a sizable increase in electrical capacity and some modifications to the charge system to power the unit at idle. Car companies go for cheap.
I had toyed with the idea of using peltier coolers on a water cooled plate but got sidetracked. It could be a fully contained electric cooler (like they use in micro electric fridges) but I'm sure if it was feasible it would already be done by somebody smarter than I.
Yours is a good idea though, a compressor from a small window unit AC might be the best choice over fridge unit.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: roadrunninMark]
#2945603
07/21/21 01:12 PM
07/21/21 01:12 PM
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John_Kunkel
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Modern all-electric and hybrid cars don't have an engine-driven compressor, so the A/C power is all-electric. Why couldn't the system be retrofit into an older car?
The INTERNET, the MISinformation superhighway
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: John_Kunkel]
#2945621
07/21/21 01:44 PM
07/21/21 01:44 PM
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Andrewh
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: IMGTX]
#2945626
07/21/21 01:47 PM
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Andrewh
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: Andrewh]
#2945641
07/21/21 02:15 PM
07/21/21 02:15 PM
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moparx
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i was thinking about this [https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hot-rod-series-1] as well. i didn't click on the "purchase now" button, but if i remember when this was introduced a couple of years ago, it wasn't exactly moderately priced. however, in certain applications, it may be the best option. i have never been around anyone that has installed one of these kits, so i have no idea if they work reasonably well or not.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: John_Kunkel]
#2945647
07/21/21 02:25 PM
07/21/21 02:25 PM
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Modern all-electric and hybrid cars don't have an engine-driven compressor, so the A/C power is all-electric. Why couldn't the system be retrofit into an older car? I just replaced the compressor on an 07 Civic hybrid. it is both engine drive and electrically driven, depending on what mode it is operating in. The compressor is also not cheap.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: moparx]
#2945684
07/21/21 04:13 PM
07/21/21 04:13 PM
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NITROUSN
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i was thinking about this [https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hot-rod-series-1] as well. i didn't click on the "purchase now" button, but if i remember when this was introduced a couple of years ago, it wasn't exactly moderately priced. however, in certain applications, it may be the best option. i have never been around anyone that has installed one of these kits, so i have no idea if they work reasonably well or not. You had better have a healthy system before installing one of them. 38-46 amps nominal @ 12 Volts
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: roadrunninMark]
#2945732
07/21/21 06:41 PM
07/21/21 06:41 PM
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Joined: Jan 2006
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360view
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I have often looked at the PTO option on some of the 1994+ 2500/3500 Dodge Ram trucks and thought something like:
“If I had one of those PTO’s hooked to a 3 phase 120/240 generator, I would not only have a portable electrical generator station, I would also have a “DYNO” to test the engine fuel economy at various % throttle and rpms. Just generate and measure the electrical power fed to a resistance heater. I could predict ahead of time what MPG could be got with various gear ratios, because I can calculate aerodynamic and tire rolling resistance power.
Reading this post I can now add: You could add more air conditioning options for the truck cab too. Use the PTO/generator to supply power to one of the “portable room air conditioners” with a single hot air outlet house. (drain the condensate water through the floor of the truck cab.)
Another factor to consider: if the portable air conditioner developed a fault, quickly swap it out as a module.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if each “system” in a truck/car was a “quick swap module” if it was not too expensive?
The Hubble Space Telescope is a collection of modules ( except for the faulty Perkins-Elmer built main reflecting mirror, which should have been instead the correctly polished Corning Glass Company mirror, which NASA bought, paid for, and put in a warehouse... no kidding)
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: NITROUSN]
#2946005
07/22/21 12:15 PM
07/22/21 12:15 PM
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 19,521 north of coder
moparx
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i was thinking about this [https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hot-rod-series-1] as well. i didn't click on the "purchase now" button, but if i remember when this was introduced a couple of years ago, it wasn't exactly moderately priced. however, in certain applications, it may be the best option. i have never been around anyone that has installed one of these kits, so i have no idea if they work reasonably well or not. You had better have a healthy system before installing one of them. 38-46 amps nominal @ 12 Volts absolutely ! it would be interesting to see the installation sheet for this, and if they mention a minimum alternator size needed, as well as any needed mods to the electrical system.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: NITROUSN]
#2946359
07/23/21 01:32 PM
07/23/21 01:32 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318 Manitoba, Canada
DaytonaTurbo
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You had better have a healthy system before installing one of them. 38-46 amps nominal @ 12 Volts
More than that if you want any sort of cooling performance. I think my portable 12,000 BTU unit at home is rated at 10 or 12 amps running. That means 100-120 amps at 12v.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: tmef]
#2946408
07/23/21 04:42 PM
07/23/21 04:42 PM
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It's what we use in a lot of Cessna aircraft. Looks just like an automotive rotary pump driven by an electric motor. Both mounted on an aluminum pallet. Super simple. I wonder if one could use a starter motor to drive a rotary compressor for a cheap equivalent?
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: Sniper]
#2947259
07/26/21 10:48 AM
07/26/21 10:48 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
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DaytonaTurbo
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It's what we use in a lot of Cessna aircraft. Looks just like an automotive rotary pump driven by an electric motor. Both mounted on an aluminum pallet. Super simple. I wonder if one could use a starter motor to drive a rotary compressor for a cheap equivalent? A starter isn't made to do that sort of duty cycle. I think it would overheat and/or eat brushes.
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Re: Electric A/C ?
[Re: DaytonaTurbo]
#2947274
07/26/21 11:28 AM
07/26/21 11:28 AM
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Joined: May 2019
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It's what we use in a lot of Cessna aircraft. Looks just like an automotive rotary pump driven by an electric motor. Both mounted on an aluminum pallet. Super simple. I wonder if one could use a starter motor to drive a rotary compressor for a cheap equivalent? A starter isn't made to do that sort of duty cycle. I think it would overheat and/or eat brushes. Substantially less load though. Might be an interesting experiment, if I had a spare compressor and starter to us.
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