BTU's of A/C

[secondarychaos]

How many BTU's does a typical truck a/c remove?
Thanks,
Dan

[Ultramagdan]

Is this a test question? There are a lot of variables on the answer. Temp, humidity, efficiency,time, and volume of air through the condenser. Since it can cool a 100+degree cab below 80 degrees in a couple of miles at highway speeds it's removing enough to cook your lunch.

[lsrx101]

IIRC, most automotive MVAC systems are rated in the 20-30,000 BTU range.
It's higher than you would think, since a typical small window AC is only 5-8,000 BTU. The operating conditions are drastically different, though

[secondarychaos]

Originally Posted by Ultramagdan

Is this a test question?

No, i assure you it's not.
I want to do an air conditioned intercooler, to get my intake temps down.
And ya, 20-30K btu's??? wow! I would have guessed more like 5-10, like a window air conditioner
What would it take to Wire a A/C compressor and a Water pump to come on and shut off with the engine? Is the A/C clutch computer controlled?
Thanks,
Dan

[lsrx101]

Originally Posted by secondarychaos

No, i assure you it's not.
I want to do an air conditioned intercooler, to get my intake temps down.
And ya, 20-30K btu's??? wow! I would have guessed more like 5-10, like a window air conditioner
What would it take to Wire a A/C compressor and a Water pump to come on and shut off with the engine? Is the A/C clutch computer controlled?
Thanks,
Dan

I've seen this discussed many times before and the consensus is that it wouldn't even come close to working. The simple explanation is: The amount of power needed to run a compressor/AC system at that load would far outstrip any power gain.

It would take a massive system to drop the temp of the needed volume of incoming air enough to even make a difference in an air/air system.
In an air/liquid application, the cooling tank would be huge and the weight would outstrip the power gain aside from the power consumption by the huge refrigeration system.
I think I remember some rough, off the cuff calculations finding a figure close to 3200 BTU/Hr on an air/air system. (Discounting the huge number of variables from idle to full throttle, load conditions, evaporator size, etc.). I suspect it would be much higher in practice.
Basic physics says that you can't get something for nothing.

Someone at one point mentioned a passive system consisting of a ducted box in the intake path that you could put a chunk of dry ice into before a drag strip run. That seemed a bit more plausible than a compressor driven system. CO2 doesn't burn well, though.
The laws of physics really suck, I think they should be repealed.

[secondarychaos]

Originally Posted by lsrx101

The laws of physics really suck, I think they should be repealed.

Ya, if only.
The only thing that would make me think it would have worked is the fact that my intake temps are along the lines of 350 degrees farenheit at full throttle.
Turbo flows 750CFM, plus or minus at full boost.

[secondarychaos]

Ya, after remembering my High school Chemistry, my math comes out to roughly 200,000 Btu/hr...
Scrap that idea!

[Ultramagdan]

Originally Posted by secondarychaos

.
Scrap that idea!

But keep thinking up new ones. It's what makes the world go round.

[secondarychaos]

Originally Posted by Ultramagdan

But keep thinking up new ones. It's what makes the world go round.

Most definately true.
If i were to compress the hot side to a higher PSI, that would make the system remove more BTU's, wouldnt it?

[Corey872]

Just squirt your intercooler with bottled CO2 or Naws! - like they do on Fast and Furious.

[secondarychaos]

Originally Posted by Corey872

Just squirt your intercooler with bottled CO2 or Naws! - like they do on Fast and Furious.

The only problem with that is the reason im wanting colder and colder intake temps is to keep my EGT's down on long tows. CO2 and NO3 are great but only for short bursts.