ac unit for intercooler

Will you get back the energy that you have to put in?

Did hear of a hill climb car that would finish every climb with his CO2 fire extinguisher strangely empty.
Went like a rocket up the hill.......

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Hi qubert,

Sort of related, I remember my old uncle telling me stories when he was alive about making copper coils inside crude eskies and filling the eskies with dry ice.

They'd then run the fuel through the copper coil to cool it and make it denser as a means of increasing horsepower.

Good theory, should work. My only concern is as above, would the power increase exceed the power required to drive it.

I love a good bit of aussie innovation. Should be more of it!

Geoff

"the evaporator being just before the intake manifold and gas pumped around by small compressor. thoughts anyone"

The theory's good, but I think the size of the unit would need to be calculated against the load on the evaporator, in this case the air that is being cooled for the turbo. Then there is the minimum air flow across the evaporator, like at low speed or stopped at lights etc......... there still needs to be air flow across the evaporator or the refrigerant within the system won't get boiled off, resulting in a condition called liquid flood back to the compressor. I would guess that a fan unit will be required to ensure there is enough air movement to prevent this. (Although I am versed in commercial air and refrigeration, auto air is something I try to avoid, so it may well be that auto air compressors are designed to cope with the stresses that result from flooding.) Also there still needs to be a condenser for the system, so it would have to be mounted somewhere as well.

I have noted a few times how well my turbo diesel responds to cool/cold days driving, not that we get too many cool/cold days here in SE Qld, but give the diesel a cold intake and she gallops along the road.

I like this idea, would love to see someone run with it, even in theory to see if it's worthwhile. There are few other Fridgies on EO.... anyone else care to have a think about it??

Cheers

Brian

The old rule of thumb was that for every 1 degree increase in air temp you lost 1 HP in a turbo car.

Based on that would the aircon system draw more power than the compensating air temp drop it would cause?

Based on using thermometer I find the air from an A/C comes out at 4 degrees even on a 35 degree day. Hence a supposed 31 HP advantage. I strongly doubt an A/C unit uses 31 HP.

BUT

I'll take a wild guess and suggest that the automotive geniuses are much smarter than my humble self and have deduced that the power drawn exceeds the power gained.

BUT (again) perhaps it is a concept yet to be thorougly researched.

Jim.

The sheer volume of hot air generated by the turbo would far exceed the capacity of a vehicle air con unit to control that heat.
The Laminova water to air intercoolers we are building apparently can run air con gas through them but I'm skeptical of whether it would work in real life.
Ford in the USA introduced a clever system on their Lightning pickups where they used a water to air intercooler system but had a separate reservoir of fluid super cooled by the air con unit. Under the right conditions of wide open throttle and full boost it would release this extra cold fluid for extra cooling but it was only for a short time. When the throttle position returned to normal the "now hot" fluid in the reservoir was then cooled again by the air con unit in readiness for the next full throttle run.
Below are some pics of the Laminova water to air units we're playing with at the moment. The last couple of pics are of a 12 core unit going on a supercharged LS1 in a 1952 Ford Mercury, we'll see how it goes then may twin turbo it if we want more power.
Regards Andrew.

Air conditioning systems like to have a bludge, they cant sustain 100% duty cycle, or they overheat. You would need to build the system twice the size you calculate it would need to be to keep up in the first place. Turbo air is usually 60-150 degrees....the idea of cooling coolant below ambient by having a store in the ac system available upon full throttle application is a great idea.....theoretically you would sacrifice some comfort for some power in that instance.
Andrew

What about the principle of the old kerosene fridges?
All they had is a heat source ie wick to warm part of the gas which when evaporated cooled inside the fridge.
No moving parts.
Now all we have to do is find a heat source under the bonnet.

Honky