Utah Teens Invent Better Air Conditioner

Carl Youngblood writes "Two recent Utah high school graduates won the first-ever Ricoh Sustainable Development Award for inventing a better car air conditioner based on the Peltier effect. The peltier chips used in the device are more energy-efficient, last between 20 and 30 years, are solid-state, and don't harm the environment with ozone-depleting freon like today's car air conditioners."

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[j00bar]

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No ozone depletion from hfc134a either

[name_already_taken]

Freon is trademark used for a variety of nonflammable gaseous or liquid fluorinated hydrocarbons which are no longer used as motor vehicle refrigerants.

The current refrigerant, hfc134a contains no chlorine (the ozone damaging part of R12) and has an ozone depletion potential of zero.

The idea of using Peltier devices is interesting, because there'd be no mechanical parts to wear out, or refrigerants to leak out, so the system should be much more reliable, but I thought Peltiers would require a huge amount of current to do as much cooling as a car A/C system delivers.

Re:No ozone depletion from hfc134a either

[alienw]

I thought Peltiers would require a huge amount of current to do as much cooling as a car A/C system delivers.

The car's electrical system is not suited to supplying significant amounts of power. A typical alternator tops out at about a kilowatt of power (80A or so). Due to the low voltage, ridiculously large currents are necessary.

Of course, a peltier is much less efficient than a compressor system. A compressor typically has a coefficient of performance (COP) of around 3, meaning that it removes 3 units of heat for every unit of supplied work. For peltiers, this value is around 0.4, which is a huge difference. Thus, the peltier would consume about 7x more energy to supply the same cooling capacity. This is the main reason cars don't use peltier A/Cs.

Re:/.ed

[pcmanjon]

Ahh, I "read the fucking article" and now I understand. The main article makes you think a couple of chips save the day, and makes A/C's last longer. They do, in a way, but the article on ./ here should have quoted the real article, instead of trying to paraphrase.

"Today, the young inventors say, U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners, which draw power from the engine. By adopting their contraption - which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air - they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, or about $10 billion based on current gas prices."

Re:Freon isn't used in new cars!

[ErichTheWebGuy]

OK, allow me to put some things into perspective. In addition to being a MCSE, A+, etc. certified geek, I also hold EPA certification to handle refrigerants and to service and install refrigeration systems in commercial, residential, and automotive applications.

The parent poster is absolutely correct, R134a is a greenhouse gas. However, that statement should be qualified: it is only a greenhouse gas when it is released into the atmosphere. Modern technicians use recovery equipment to remove refrigerants from cooling systems (everything from your freezer to your central A/C). The refrigerant is either recycled, or disposed of properly.

As long as we are all conscious about our environment (and we all should be, lest anyone turn us in to the EPA, causing us to have to fill out the reams of paperwork!) there is no problem. Oh, and there is always that pesky thing about preserving the planet for generations to come :)

I, for one, am quite sick of people blowing things out of proportion when there is no real problem. Having said that, kudos to the two teens for their inventive spirit. Maybe with some refining, the invention will prove more efficient and ultimately prove commercially useful!

Re:/.ed

[rogerzilla]

Except that car alternators are surprisingly efficient - up to 90%. In fact, if it wasn't for the power supply difficulties (a typical 4kW unit would draw 333A at 12V), electrically-powered car a/c would have a huge advantage - it doesn't need expensive servicing every 2 years because there are no shaft seals open to the outside, hence no refrigerant leakage.

Domestic fridges are the most reliable applicances in the home because they are built as a completely sealed unit.