Dear fellow pilots,
In the frame of a non-aeronautical project, I’m looking for a lightweight airconditioning compressor (car-like).
I guess our favorite airframers must have found solutions. I looked at the SR20/22 IPC and found ref P/N 21119-007 but there is no hint about the weight of this unit.
Would anybody have the technical sheet of this compressor or equivalent hardware?
Thank you
Regards
I think all GA aircon systems are car systems, and probably using parts from an era a long time ago e.g. the 1970s.
The stuff isn’t lightweight.
The GA air-conditioning market is “owned” by Keith Products, now Air Comm :
Keith Products has 40 air conditioner Supplemental Type Certificates for a wide variety of aircraft and is also a major supplier of type-certificated systems to original equipment manufacturers, including Beechcraft, Cessna, Eurocopter, Learjet, Piaggio, Pilatus, Korea Aerospace Industries and Sikorsky Aircraft.
As Peter pointed out, they use compressors developed for the Auto Industry
Electrically powered air conditioning
BTW, some aircraft use electrically powered compressors.
Which ones?
The W&B schedule in the POH will have the weight (or mass for those sticklers)
There has been a lot of work donate produce lightweight and efficient aircon units in the car industry. Some electric vehicles are using heat pumps for heating/cooling now, some electric compressors.
These will be far ahead of the aircraft industry.
An electric retrofit unit is here:
http://www.kellyaerospace.com/thermacool-aircraft-air-conditioning.html
The mustang uses electric A/C. Can be run off GPU or a single engine on the ground.
It looks rather contrived for some of the applications shown in the video, but the fact that it has in and out hoses suggests it could be easily installed in an aircraft, and probably in a “temporary” manner i.e. avoiding certification issues.
In practice it is likely to need a power source (especially as one may not fancy the huge lithium battery in an aircraft) but again that can be done with a power connector installed as a Minor mod, via a CB.
Standard aircon solutions for piston GA are mostly horrible, heavy, unreliable contraptions based on hardware from vehicles from the 1970s.
Nice. Even with just the battery, it could be an interesting way to cool down the cockpit during preflight, often that’s enough to make a big difference to pax comfort.
