Well, if you learned a lot more about A/C you could fix your car, get a 609 cert and make money fixing auto A/C! Seriously, good luck with those bootstraps.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

What fun is it if everything works perfectly? If everything worked perfectly, there would be no reason to tear it down and attempt to make it better. Heck, I sometimes build things knowing full well they won't be better than what I already have. It is all about the journey, not the destination.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

The important thing right now.... is this equation....
Houston Texas ----- Summer Arriving-----no funds......
This equates to==== Take No Chances.....

this wont help you directly, but the racers use a cool vest, there should be a way to do a cool hat. this would help some since the brain is the first priority for the body.

dont worry you'll get there financially. we all (well most of us) started out poor. i remember driving my '60 simca for about a year with a dead generator. i hooked it up to a battery charger every night. wasnt too bad around campus and town but the trip home for christmas was a real bummer. it ended with my dad and brother in law rescuing me and my wife. we drove the last 20 miles with my dad's battery sitting on the rf floor and jumper cables running through the vent window to the battery. (just having a vent window tells you how long ago that was).

also a wet t shirt helps on a summer day.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

On whom, you or the wife???

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

depends on whether you want to be cool or hot.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

looks like these guys got it to work, at least to enough of an extent to impress Ricoh:

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2841984#cool

You have to remember that this is a science fair project...they have a great idea and a prototype, but that is not exactly real world results.

The following sentence makes zero sense... "which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air".

I'm guessing the fans plus some monster heatsink on each TEC remove heat and allow the TEC's to continue cooling efficiently. Nevertheless I am seriously curious how they think this "can be minimized in size to about 2 inches in width". Heat pipes are not yet effiecient enough, H2O systems are fairly bulky and air-cooling is probably the most bulky and least efficient.

Not to mention they called LDS people "open-minded".

Another thing they did not specify is what the power draw and output BTU capacity of "The Beast" was, Obviously running air through a series of peltiers will produce cold air....but enough to cool a small car? large car? SUV?? Even the smallest of peltiers consume massive amounts of power, especially at 12v....your typic PC CPU peltier is only a couple inches in size, but can easily require its own 450-550 watt PC Power Supply just to operate If they are taking a 4-5hp load off the engine through the compressor loss, they're putting it back with a 500+amp alternator.... Maybe its even viable as a home A/C unit or something, I'd just not see it working in cars. Not to mention how hot the opposite side of a peltier gets....in the PC world its a problem that many have to solve by adapting a liquid cooling system to the heatsink on the hot side, if not that, a ginormous and extremely loud/powerful fan.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

A good friend of mine is working on an ice cube tray that he swears will make ice in about thirty seconds -- IN A MICROWAVE OVEN! Somebody 'splain this bit of magic to me, because he refuses to.

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1980 300SD 146K miles.

not. he is going to patent it and never work another day in his life. i laugh but i suppose it is possible.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Do a search on e-bay motors for "Swamp Cooler." There are usually a few listed....apparently, they used to be popular before A/C was common. It's a large tube looking thing that you put water in it.....hang in onto your passenger window ...and drive. Air is forced through some wet pads inside. It cools due to evaporation........I'm not sure how effective they are....the humidity on the east coast is too high and the cooling effect will be minimized. I think the humidity where you live would make it somewhat effective.

....You'll just have to get used to people pointing at you and asking "What is that?"

Good luck!
Keith

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1983 300SD "Helga"

Swamp coolers might produce cool air in a dry climate, like Lubbock or Phoenix, but in Houston the evaporation effect of a swamp cooler would be zero. Too much humidity.

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1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

Here is an idea someone needs to refine and develop: http://www.billzilla.org/ideas7.htm

Just think, solid state cooling!

Use exhaust for the heater, which in hot weather would be activated immediately. Usually, the trick is heat exchanger efficiency both the "hot" side and the "cool" side of any system. Someone needs to run with the idea. After all, automobile cooling technology is now 60+ years old!

(Dupont may be breathing down your neck if someone proved it feasible.)

Here is more: http://optics.org/articles/ole/10/6/4/1/OLEopt1%5F06%2D05

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Houston has high humidity? I didn't realize that.....

Keith

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1983 300SD "Helga"