There's gotta be a better way

[Christ]

Change the location of the air intake through the cabin air filter to a place under the car, preferably in front of the engine compartment so you're not getting heat-soaked air.

Basically, the air under the car is supposedly the coldest air there is, and where your cabin intake is right now, you're getting heat-soaked air under pressure (it's probably at the windshield cowl).

If you're getting cooler air initially, this makes it so that you can just turn the blower on, remove access to the heater core (turn the selector to cold) and that air (especially at highway speeds) would be sufficient to cool you.

[Vwbeamer]

On my old truck, I experimented with an adjustable pressure switch for the AC unit.

The AC on the truck would cut on when the pressure in the evaporator had risen to a certain PSI.

The PSI was set too low for long trips, the air would get too cold, so that told me the compressor was running too much, once the AC had cooled off the cab. Moving the temp select switch didn't make the compressor run less, it only mixed hot air with the cold air.

The pressure switches in this model ( 1979 Chevy) are adjustable, so i was able to adjust the switch so that it would not run the compressor as much.

Problem was it took to long to cool off with the switch adjusted for best economy.

Solution, I ran two pressure switches, one adjust high, the other low. Inside i had a double pole toggle switch that I used to pick which pressure I wanted to use to control the compressor.

On those long highway rides when the air got to cold, I simply switched to the "economy" pressure switch and enjoyed the gas savings.

[instarx]

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.

[instarx]

Originally Posted by dentprone

"I said no swamp coolers, you ice-totin' freaks!!!" THUD THUD THUD! ***sound of Tango beating us over the heads with an old heater core***

But frozen ice containers aren't swamp-coolers. In fact, as the humid air blew over the cold containers its humidity would drop as its temperature dropped. Having said that - waaaay too much ice needed and too much energy expended to freeze it.

I'm stealing from a post in another thread, but buy a fishing vest, drop frozen Blue Ice containers into its pockets, and then put a wind-breaker on over it. Voila - a nice cool DIY environmental suit for your body.

[instarx]

Originally Posted by Christ

Basically, the air under the car is supposedly the coldest air there is, and where your cabin intake is right now, you're getting heat-soaked air under pressure (it's probably at the windshield cowl).

I always thought the air under the car was the hottest there was. There is a very hot, sun-baked asphalt heat-sink down there. I'm pretty sure the higher the intake, the cooler the air.