[TheForge] OT Anyone out there knowledgeable about automobile air conditioners and/or 12VDC motors?

[Bruce .]

I'm asking this here because of the diversity of knowledge of the
participants in this forum.We can take this discussion off-line.
Please respond to me directly at freemab222 at gmail.com .

Did you see this:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/hizzoner_cold_feat_lYxDIMuat7x4PL7nUbdBEM
?

Well, that just struck me as dumb -- attaching a 120VAC window A/C to
pre-cool a car.  But then I noticed that some (or maybe ALL?) RV's
have "window-style" 120VAC A/C's mounted on them and I got to
wondering about it.  Of course, these RV's typically are parked at a
120VAC electrical hookup when not being driven, so the 120VAC A/C is
the simplest solution.  But what about for remote use?  Say, a person
who works out of his car in hot weather and finds he only has the
choice of running the engine or sweltering?

It seems to me that one could use the engine-driven A/C unit of a
vehicle to cool the vehicle without running the engine.  You'd need an
extra (12V?) motor to drive the compressor and you'd need a fan -- the
electric radiator fan might work -- to blow air over the A/C heat
exchanger.  You'd have to use the motor to drive the compressor.

As I understand it, a car A/C already has a slip-clutch on its
compressor pulley so that the compressor only runs when called upon to
do so.  Maybe the motor could be mounted directly to the compressor
shaft.  Or perhaps there's a better way, maybe involving a double
pulley or something..

Does this sound feasible?

Ignore for the moment space constraints -- like where could you FIT
the electric motor.  Also ignore power constraints -- like, how
quickly would the electric motor driving the compressor run the
battery down.  Those obviously are issues, but they're secondary to
the question.

Anyone?

-- 
Bruce
NJ