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Old 07-27-2011, 05:23 PM   #59 (permalink)
graydonengineering
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 147

Frontier 2wd 2.4L 5 speed - '98 Nissan Frontier XE
90 day: 27.87 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic View Post
Ever noticed how cool the steel under the carpets stays even on a hot day? I have a lot of exposed steel floor in the former backseat/trunk area. I keep noticing how cool it feels all day. I wonder about some sort of thermal exchanger in the car.
Never really thought about it, but it makes sense that the underside of the car would say cool. No sun from above or below and steel is a poor heat conductor so the heat from the top and sides will not soak into the bottom. You could take advantage of that with a heat sink of copper or aluminum and fan mounted to it to radiate that into the air (think processor heat sink) or even passive (no fan like a stereo reciver) but it would take some serious number cruntching and/or trials to fingure out if you could cool enough to make a noticeable difference. You could disengage it durring cold weather so you have an air gap in the cool weather so the car does not get cold. You got me thinking on that one. It would work, I am sure, just don't know if it would work to the point that it would be practical.
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Best 15-mile commute city/highway mix: 37.7 mpg
Best tank so far: 31 mpg
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