Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango Charlie
Anyway...
I ran across this today;
THE HILSCH VORTEX TUBE
It's a VERY intriguing concept. I'm wondering if this design would work at a lower psi. Could you optimize the dimensions and make it work off of ram air pressure from the front of the car? Or would it require too big of an inlet and destroy your Cd?
How about an electric blower? Or would you just be trading compressor drag for alternator drag?
Or maybe operate it off a high pressure carbon fiber air tank. Sounds expensive. I do have an aviator's breathing oxygen tank sitting in my shed that I removed from a Cessna 401 several years ago... But it's pretty heavy.
Hmmm... |
Sorry - nice try, but it won't work. Points for original thinking, though. Vortex coolers work by recapturing the heat of compression of the compressed gas (air in this case) as it expands. As the gas expands from its compressed state it cools. I've used vortex coolers to cool workers in environmental suits working in hot temperatures. Unfortunately you need an endless supply of compressed air which is not available in a car. No blower or ram air is going to supply nearly enough compression, and your compressed air tank would not hold enough air to provide cool air for more than a few minutes.
Neither could you use a compressor attached to the engine to continuously provide compressed air because you would 1)just be trading the low pressure AC coolant compressor (efficient) for a high pressure air compressor (inefficient), and 2)be heating up the compressed air just to cool it down to the original temperature when its pressure is dropped, with no gain.