Portable Air Conditioning

My car's air conditioner broke and it is incredibly expensive to repair, so I decided to improvise! This is a great way to cool down a hot car.

It works on a car's cigarette lighter, with two easy to find computer fans and a common cooler. It took me a couple hours to make, and that was including the failures that you don't have to suffer through, thanks to this guide.

Step 1 Get cooler, "fix" it.

I went with a small from Target that was only $13. The cooler must be hard, and this one had a swinging lid.

The first thing I did was use a Dremel to remove the lid (keep this, you'll need it). Then I cut two square holes, one in each side of the cooler, for mounting the fans. I already had two different sized fans, so I made different sized holes.

Comments

[prose_flower]

I am going to make it, please tell me will it really coll my car if outside temp is 45C? Please specify the size of fan you used, and your results.

[Power23432432]

haven't tried fabricating this, but... at 45C(113F?) Your best option would be to ... roll down your window :). Awesome instructable thou but it's more of a novelty than a portable ac.... A simple test, go to McDonalds order a large ice tea w/ no tea... Take that cup(of ice) and put it in your cup holder. That's about how long the slow mist of cooling will last. Grant it it's not in a cooler, but you got 2 holes in the side you will have little insulation to keep your ice cool... it wont last long. Infact the only insulation would be to keep the hot air in. If you want to make it , i wouldn't even put 2 fans... It's not a sealed container so the one fan would be plenty to suck the cold air out of the cooler, the one sucking the hot air in would just speed the melting of ice. Or if you really want 2 fans, you could put the one sucking on top, and the one blowing on bottom it that way the air on top the cooler would be about 110 degrees so it will cool the 113 degree air before it hits the 32 degree ice and blows it out at you at 32 degrees reaching you at around 114 degrees.

[macyrlivyed]

I wouldn't recommend putting ice right next to electricity.... It sounds really cool though. I would try putting the fans on the top of the ice box in stead of on the bottom of it that way it would still cool your car without the risk of the ice melting onto the fans.

[LowCostCrap]

But it works on the principle of cold air falling... The water is a bit of a problem so I got "ice blankets" which are lots of tiny ice packs attached together.

[Power23432432]

For clarification, the cooler being smaller your temps will be similar, 4 inches wont make a noticeable difference.

[Power23432432]

Heat transfers from hot to cold, Warm air is lighter, but your talking about a cooler not a building... Also, if you dont have a way to vent that heavier air on top it will be like a sauna in there so your ice wont last very long anyway

[harttiffgraphic]

Although the principle of falling cold air is correct, you'll face with water getting to the fan & power connections. i would suggest the correct position should be ice below & fan on top, this suction effect is greater that wat u have initial thought of air convection. an ideal design will be an opening for air inlet & fan outlet for drawing the cooled air out. Thanx.

[tommymac]

I work with peltier (thermo electric modules) coolers and this would be a perfect way to eliminate the ice in this project. They do draw considerable current, they are pricey, and require a specialized high frequency modulated control circuit to extend their life, but they would be a great step up from the ice. they are solid state and if controlled properly will last quite a long time.Check them out on ebay or the net as to their function and availability.

[Power23432432]

Or you could put the ice in a zip lock bag so all u have to really worry about is condensation.

[LMF5000]

Hold on, are you absolutely sure you need a high frequency modulated circuit to extend their life? Seriously, I just bought one from ebay (it's still in the mail), and I was going to run it from a 12V DC supply or a lead acid car battery... will it end up dying after a short time? I thought solid state electronics lasted (nearly) forever?

[pdub77]

They draw a lot of current, they're expensive and they're hard to work with, but other than that. . . ; P

[appatula]

Great suggestion! I remember trying to find a way to adapt a peltier as a CPU cooler....I ended up going with water cooling as the downside to a peltier is the opposing side creates heat.

[LMF5000]

You could water cool the hot side of the peltier. With a peltier cooler, you will be able to get the CPU temperature to below ambient temperature since the cold side is, after all, a fridge...

[puffm]

Or you could use "dry ice" (frozen carbon dioxide) because it turns straight into gas and the gas from dry ice falls! You can get dry ice from fish shops because normally they use dry ice to keep the fish frozen or if you know someone who works whith blood and have to put it into boxes and test it and stuff like that more than likley they will be able to get some dry ice because that is what they use to transport the blood!!! I'm going to put up my own design using dry ice soon but I still need to finilize the design.

[Ev]

Why cool the air in a hot car? The only "thing" uncomforable is your body, so cool only the body. Here's how I do it! 

www.instructables.com/id/Too-Hot-Remove-heat-from-your-body-with-the-Back-/

[macyrlivyed]

What about the small amount of condensation that comes off of the ice blankets. I am not trying to criticize your idea. Trust me I am only giving suggestions to help make your idea a little better.

[CameronSS]

Looks familiar...

[farhanians]

maybe the same as fog cooler?

[lilpunk1302]

Damn, That's awesome. If I were you, I'd add some form of drainage system to the equation, the ice does, after all, melt.

[LowCostCrap]

The melting ice pools in the bottom of the cooler with no problem. I forgot to mention that sometimes water condenses on the fan and it drips, so I glued a sponge on the outside right below the fan to catch any water that leaks out.