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Pros and Cons of running actual AC refridgerant through IC core?

6K views 29 replies 10 participants last post by  eschaider 
#1 ·
Been wondering if this would work or not to sufficiently cool the blower discharge air leaving the intercooler.

Basically it would be the stock ac set up with a diverting valve after the expansion valve to circulate the regridgerant through the iC core. I would block the path to the cabin ac coil for racing and reopen to circulate through both while norml driving.

One drawback I see is running the ac compressor full time.

This is just a crazy thought in my headd so I wwould like to hear from others.

Thanks,
Ken
 
#2 ·
Well as you mentioned the con is you've have to run the AC all the time to get the benefit of any intercooler functionality. Long term the AC isn't going to last. Something like the Killer Chiller, which cools the water/coolant in the system, doesn't have this drawback because the intercooler functions normally. FYI, the parts to make your own Killer Chiller aren't hard to obtain.
 
#3 ·
MY question is condensing water, is your plan to put an evap right in the blower air stream? Look at the evap inside the car or for that matter your home, it has water condense on it and drains under the car or into a pan and out of your home. Where is the condensing water going to go??? NOT IN THE MOTOR!!! that would be bad.
 
#8 ·
Not that I think it's a great idea, but how is the OPs ided any different than a KC delivering 35 degree water to the IC core? You generally wouldn't get condensation since the air has been heated so much. Unless you can bring that air back below it's dew point (which you won't even with a 35 degree IC core temp) there will be no condensation. If you started you car cold on a warm humid day and turned on the system right away, I could see you getting some condensation on the core. Anything that dripped would end up in the PCV system at the bottom of the lower intake. You wouldn't hyrdolock your engine, that's for sure.

I think there's some merit in the idea, but I wouldn't want my only source of IC cooling to be from my AC compressor as Ken mentioned above. You'd also need to mount a sensor that tells the compressor to kick on/off (located in the heater/ac box) into the lower intake manifold.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Its kind of funny you say that, back in the day you used to be able to get water injection kits for carbed cars before meth kits were available, a small amount of water misted into the intake can control combustion temps and detonation. Of course this is kind of an apples to oranges comparison to what we are talking about here, there would be no way to regulate the condensation going into the motor. I just thought this was kind of cool, no pun intended lol!

http://www.alcoholinjectionsystems.com/a11/116+-Octane-With-Water-Injection!/article_info.html
 
#5 · (Edited)
I have recently installed a KC drag kit and even though im still trying to iron out a few details to get the most out of it i am very impressed so far. I have a Canton reservoir which holds 2.5 gallons and about 3 to 3.5 gallons total in the system and it is only taking about 6 minutes of idle time to take the IC fluid from an ambient temp of 75'F down to 48'F!
 
#6 ·
Killer Chiller works great I have put one on my bros car and it's great how the IAT temps on an average is 30 degrees cooler......
 
#13 ·
Sounds like a really good idea to maximize the use of a KC, if i were more ambitious i would be all over this! Maybe after i get my car all sorted out i will come back and revisit this idea. Just one more reason this site rocks... all the rocket scientists/brain surgeons that are in house. lol
 
#14 ·
That is a sick idea!
 
#15 ·
To bad you can't build a small self contained refrigeration system like say a small fridge would use only for 12v and mount it in the trunk. Mount both tanks In the trunk an plumb insulated lines for supply&return.
 
#22 ·
This is a very cool (no pun intended) idea, Ken. The thing I like most about it is the ability to run the killer chiller independent of the A/C pump/system. That way if someone wanted to eliminate the A/C they could still use the KC, clean up the pass side front of the engine and put an HD Powerstroke alternator down where the A/C pump used to be.

My guess is we would need to have a fairly robust electrical system to feed that and the PCM w/o starving the PCM for power. With some of the 300A alternators that are starting to appear and a suitably robust battery this should be relatively easy.

I think those guys are the ones used in boating and go about $1-1.5K depending on which cooling capacity you opt for.

Ed
 
#20 · (Edited)
I know we are just bench racing here but how well would this two circuit system work if i just modified my current Canton battery tray reservoir that holds about 2.5 gallons? I know the shape isnt ideal but still wondering because modifiying my current reservoir and adding a second pump and lines wouldnt be very difficult and easy on the wallet also.
 
#21 ·
It would work John but the tubular column is a better solution because it allows a taller column of coolant with a reduced cross-sectional area. To see the benefit of the geometry lets go to extremes with each geometry. If I used a rectangular reservoir with a 1 inch depth when I added the hot IC coolant it would immediately warm the small quantity of cool coolant in its immediate vicinity. At the extremes of the reservoir I would still have cold IC coolant but now I would need multiple pickups and pumps to get it - one at each end of the reservoir.

If I used a small diameter tall column, the hot coolant at the top would have a small cross-sectional area to transfer its heat through to the cooler fluid below it. The pickup at the bottom of the column would never be in danger of drawing warm coolant because of the tall column of coolant above it.

Either one of these fictitious reservoirs will not work in the car so we end up with a compromise. The trick is to minimize the amount of compromise and try to retain as much of a cylindrical column and as tall of a cylindrical column as we can fit in the space available. The more the reservoir looks like a column the more effective it will be. The more it looks like a box the less effective it will be. In the end the reason we are doing this is for increased cooling efficiency.

Ed
 
#26 ·
My guess is your not talking about after a 10-11 second WOT run, mine usually went thru 30-40 lbs of ice in three to four 1/4 passes.

- - - Updated - - -

Along with my KC drag kit i installed a temp guage on the outlet of the intercooler so i can monitor the temps at the hottest point in the system. When i get my tune straight and can drive the car hard i will be able to report back some real world temp figures post intercooler.
 
#27 ·
I am talking from experience after a full 1320 pass. Even though the AC turns off at WOT, the killer chiller core is still a nearly frozen metal core chilling the intercooler fluid. Your ice melts so quickly because it is circuilating continuously with nothing to cool it down as you pull up to the lane, do your burnout etc.

I could be wrong, but the talk of dual tank setups makes no sense at all. why store the chilled fluid in a 2nd tank which will warm very slightly before sending it to the intercooler? why not just send it from the chiller directly to the intercooler? the 2nd tank isn't going to cool the fluid any more than the KC core would...Again, I could be way off base here. I welcome you to try it. We've been surprised by out of the box thinking before. I always knew the killer chiller was a great idea but others never believed it would be effective(some still don't even after proof).
 
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