Relocating the A/C ... anyone got any creative ideas?

[cheekychimp]

Ever since I saw Curtis slot that Scirocco Radiator right into the A/C condenser spot, I have wanted to do it. Clean efficient, opens up lots of opportunities for real short route IC piping ...

BUT

I still need my A/C. What's more at this time of year the stock system struggles with 33-38 degrees and 100% humidity. Unless you use remote start to get the car fired up and cooled down before you get in, you are pretty much soaked in sweat before the system gets a grip on the environment.

So, I'm trying to think outside the box here. The condenser is just a heat exchanger right? So:-

(1) Can I go smaller and thicker and retain the same efficiency?
(2) Can I remote mount with a fan?
(3) Would efficiency be increased by relocating the condenser OUT of the engine bay away from all that heat? (thinking a la Japan circuit car trunk mount radiators with ducting)
(4) What about secondary cooling? If a remote mounted smaller condenser can't cut it can I use a remote mocal cooler using the engine coolant for second phase cooling?; OR
(5) Could I use a small PWR air to liquid intercooler as a refrigerant reservoir plus condenser? (no need for airflow except at the radiator)

Please discuss!

 

[Muskrat]

Do you know thermodynamics? To create a theoretical system that will work you're going to want to do some calculations and system modeling, before spending all the money.

These are my initial thought, drawing on my Heat Transfer and Thermo class from 3 years ago:

1) I don't know that they make a condenser like this, but the manufacturer should be able to provide the efficiency and if you can find it you can compare to other, more traditional cores.

2) Airflow might be an issue, as well as plumbing it up.

3) The lower the ambient temp the better. However, with the current location I doubt it see's much affect from engine bay heat anyway. Especially at speed. The fan/motion of the car draws air in from outside.

4)I doubt the engine coolant get's cold enough to pull heat out of the system.

5) This sounds like your best bet, honestly. But you're going to be adding a lot of complexity to the system. And weight to the car.

 

[cheekychimp]

Thank you. I kind of figured this might be an issue. I'm still interested to find out how hot the refrigerant gets and what sized heat exchanger is necessary to bring heat down. Perhaps a large mocal coler could do the same job as the PWR intercooler. Weight is not a huge issue, this will be a daily driver and it would be worth sacrificing a little performance for colder A/C.

 

[curtis]

Paul just move the condenser further forward in front of the radiator and use a passat radiator for a water to air core. there about 4 inches longer than the sirocco ones.

 

[cheekychimp]

You've lost me here, what do you mean?