A/C and intercoolers

[subsonic]

I was just bouncing this around in my head.  Could you use the stock a/c in your car and some how tie it in to the intercooler?  Not really sure how you would do it.  Could you use something like a air to liquid intercooler but somehow tie in the freon instead of water?  I just figured if the a/c was designed to pull heat out of air, then it seems like a perfect match up with what the intercooler is trying to do.
Any of you engineer type guys think this is somthing that is possible?
If it is possible, could this translate into the possibility for more HP?
 :?:  :?:

[Black Smokin' Diesel]

The idea itself isn't bad but it would be hard to do. I think the main culprit is the compressor itself. The drag it creates on the engine limits the overall gain from such setup.

Fabrication wise the hardest part would be the "air to AC" intercooler and the AC piping. AC piping has to sustain anywhere from 30 to 150psi of pressure so rubber hoses won't cut it.

You would also have to find a way to override the "low outside temp" sensor. AC systems won't engage if outside temps are below 10 celsius because the freon won't do it's job properly.

[jtanguay]

there's a reason the a/c system won't turn on when it's really cold out... your a/c system would not last very long.

as libbybapa said the a/c system itself will draw 5hp, so you will need to make 10 hp to gain 5 hp...

one system I could see being good for *possibly* a drag race would be a sort of system that could store a large amount of compressed refrigerant.  the compressed refrigerant will be stored at around 300 psi or so, so fittings/hoses must be good and strong... go with hydraulic hoses.. and find a container and clean it out!  it must be spotless with NO dirt in it or any of your lines.  it might give you about 1 minute of spray... which IMO would be extremely efficient.  you would need to get one of those air/water intercoolers, and then have the water connections fitted for the a/c evaporator valve/regulator and return hose.  you could switch that valve to run off a switch on your dash or something...  the valve will spray the refrigerant into the heat exchanger (don't worry.. it's low pressure here)

but... this system obviously has drawbacks... who wants to be carrying around a bunch of 300 psi refrigerant? i can guarantee that it won't be pretty if you get into an accident.. unless you store it in an oxygen tank..
maybe a propane tank???

the cooling effect would be pretty serious though...

or go with the thermoelectric generators using the seebeck effect.  i was reading on a site where some guy put a whole bunch on the exhaust side of a big mack truck and was making 1 kilowatt of power just from the heat...  you could pretty much get rid of the alternator with that much juice.  but our cars don't emitt as much heat...

[Vincent Waldon]

In the old days drag racers used blocks of dry ice.... sometimes to chill the fuel for maximum density, and sometimes as part of an intercooler system.

[rwest1]

subsonic

Your concept can be implemented to increase the engine power output for a short period of time. Back in my hot rodding days I often designed (only in my mind) a system to degate the A/C clutch and channel the cool air charge in the cabin back through the evaporator and to the intake at WOT. I don’t know the specifics of the Ford design (see URL below) but would imagine its based upon the same basic idea (bet it won’t pop everyone’s ears like my kluge probably would have) However, in the final analysis there is no free lunch, energy (extra) is consumed in advance to create the source of cool air for your short burst of power. And after the burst you have to expend energy to get ready for next burst. In very hot climates where the A/C is on most of the time this might make more sense, otherwise running the compressor all the time just to be ready for some stoplight adventure is pretty inefficient. Regards

http://www.motortrend.com/features/performance/112_0309_2004_ram_srt10_lightning_svt/engine.html

[Fisher]

You could also set up a water mist spray on the Intercooler, would only be affective in dry weather though.

[Kudagra]

You could also set up a water mist spray on the Intercooler, would only be affective in dry weather though.

I was thinking the best way would be to spray the outside of an intercooler with say a 50 shot of nitrious and a 50 shot into the impeller on the turbo...but Im not sure how it would take that cold shot after being warmed up. That set up has been used on 2.3 fords for a while. I think I would just stick to the spraying the intercooler set up.

[jtanguay]

if you could manage to find a system capable of spraying liquid nitrogen, i think that would be pretty cool... the charge temps would get pretty damn low with that type of setup!

[vwmike]

if you could manage to find a system capable of spraying liquid nitrogen, i think that would be pretty cool... the charge temps would get pretty damn low with that type of setup!

I think things would get broken in a hurry  

[burn_your_money]

yeah and then you'd have an engine like this



The turbo exploded