Solar powered A/C?

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LTLFTcomposite

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Comments about being stuck in traffic on a hot day with A/C running impacting range got me to wondering... Covering the roof with solar cells wouldn't do a lot to improve the range (although perhaps pick up a few miles of driving a day) but how close would it come to powering the A/C ? If it did you would eliminate most of the impact the A/C has on range. The beauty of this approach is the A/C load is somewhat proportional to the sun shining on panels.

Any idea what the wattage is on an automotive electric A/C compressor? You also have the fan. The fuse/breaker rating for the AC on a Prius or Civic hybrid would give a high end of the estimate.
 
garygid said:
A 3' x 5' solar panel might produce 250 watts, and the A/C might use 1000 watts or more?

How about fold-out solar arrays like a satellite that you could deploy when you're parked or stuck in a traffic jam? :lol:
 
Yes, a 2-panel 6' x 5' array, with 2 more that come out forward and rear, for 12' x 5' ... about 1000 watts, would be enough to be useful.

The trick is trying to "contain" them "inside" an aerodynamic shape.

The "magic" PV paint might work.

Also, they are not very "dependable" due to shade, clouds, etc.
 
garygid said:
Yes, a 2-panel 6' x 5' array, with 2 more that come out forward and rear, for 12' x 5' ... about 1000 watts, would be enough to be useful.

On a $ basis, increase in battery capacity will be cheaper than any equivalent capacity PV solution ...
 
garygid said:
Yes, unless adding batteries is difficult (and expensive), and the PV "paint" really works (and is inexpensive to add).

Haven't seen any stats on PV paint - but I'd guess it is low efficiency. Also not sure it is professional car paint quality.
 
garygid said:
Yes, a 2-panel 6' x 5' array, with 2 more that come out forward and rear, for 12' x 5' ... about 1000 watts, would be enough to be useful.

The trick is trying to "contain" them "inside" an aerodynamic shape.

Those hard top convertibles like the Mercedes are some pretty ingenious engineering. Maybe something along those lines that unfolds, or maybe even unrolls like a window shade. Don't some satellites use roll up solar panels? If it did so in such a way that it provided a little shade canopy to keep the car cool in a parking lot... now that would be neat!
 
My current biggest driving problem with respect to heat is that I'm always driving west around 3 and the sun is always beating on me. If I could have a shade for those conditions that would rock, especially since tints are illegal in Virginia!
 
My window A/C is rated at 535 watts ... full sunlight is 1,000 watts per square meter ... and thin film solar panels tend to be around 10% efficient. (Crystalline solar panels reach 20% efficiency, but they're not flexible like thin film). So, it seems there would be not quite enough surface area on the car's roof. Using space-grade solar cells should do it, but those are extremely expensive.
 
Running air conditioning on solar power? No. Running an air cooling system? Absolutely.

Back in the 1990s, Audi had a small solar panel on the roof of the Audi A8 which ran a very simple air cooling system in the car - basically extracting hot air from near the roof of the car and pulling cool air into the bottom of the car, through an air filtration and simple air cooling system.

It was a small system: the panel probably generated no more than 5-8 watt-hours of electricity, but the system used hardly any power to actually work. I think there were five fans, each rated at under one watt, plus a very low powered pump.

Of course, it wasn't as good as proper air conditioning, but it didn't need to be: this system ran all the time. So whilst your car was parked up, the air cooling system continued to work. If the sun shone, the system ran faster, if you were in the shade, it ran slower. Which, actually, if you think about it, is pretty near perfect.

When you returned to your car, you didn't enter an oven - you entered a car that was no warmer than outside, and often a couple of degrees cooler than the ambient temperature. When you switched on the air conditioning, the air con didn't have to do so much cooling. From a LEAF perspective, that would mean you could have your air conditioning on LOW rather than HIGH to get the same results.

As far as I am aware, Nissan have nothing like this on the LEAF, but I would not be at all surprised if this technology isn't being planned for an electric car by some manufacturer somewhere. It would make perfect sense.
 
Yes, getting into a 120º car would be better than 170º (in AZ).

Here in CA, 90º would be better than 140ºF, for sure.

Also, not hard to implement, if included in the car's design.

But, people will add things, like:
Big-rig trucks are no longer allowed (some, many places?) to idle their engines to provide A/C (like while sleeping at night), so they are having to add additional "oil"-fueled generators to run their A/C.

More laws, and more ways to get around them.
 
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