An Intake Temp Cooling Idea

[mickq]

Ok, so here is how it goes.

Ages ago I used to play with these things. Forgot about them for a decade or two, and then I was sussing out a photo of a rally car's dash, saw the keyword, and then thought "holy sh1t, I cant believe I didnt think of doing that....".

They are called peltier coolers. If you have a portable fridge (like for camping) that uses 12v power, then chances are there is one in there.

In effect they are a flat sheet with two wires connected. You generally feed in 12v DC to the wires so they are perfectly matched to most cars electrical systems.

Technically they are heat pumps not coolers - they actually pump heat from the cold side to the hot side. To the point that things can freeze on the cold side.

When you connect the power, they tend to do the following

1) Connect it up and one side turns very hot, while the other gets icy cold - and I do mean icy. It will freeze stuff and you will get ice forming pretty quickly. (At room temp)

2) You can swap the voltage around (reverse polarity) and the opposite side gets cold while the other side gets hot.

So imagine this: its a hot day. Your intercooler is struggling and intake temps are rising, and it all results in power-sapping results.

So you flick a switch on your dash. One or more peltiers are then turned on. They are mounted on your intercooler in the right places (Not blocking airflow).Within minutes they are producing a freezing cold - literally icy - effect right on your intercooler. Intake temps drop, power increases, and everyone is happy.

This is why the rally car dash I saw had a switch mounted on it labelled "peltier". The rally car was an STi Spec C Group N, and you can see the same photo I saw on page 94 of the December Wheels magazine.

I just checked and they are easily available on ebay. You can buy them locally but they are more expensive. Only about US$16 for a large one (62mm square, 350w draw - not sure how the car will like 350w so smaller may be better). They may even be too strong as a 55w one will form ice in a few mins. 1-4 of them (I havent gone and specced out my intercooler to ensure they will fit somewhere nice as its night time) and you should be able to very quickly be able to just about freeze your intercooler if you wanted to.

So as long as the hot side is facing forward to have the air take away the heat, your intercooler will be getting very cold.

Now this is where it can get interesting. Peltiers have a temperature differential - the difference between the hot and the cold side. The more you can "cool" the hot side, the colder the cold side will be. You can do this a few ways: you can mount heat sinks (metal fin type things) to the hot side to help draw out the heat, or you can run pipes which cart away hot (water or similar) and circulate cooler water onto the peltier. Sort of like a pump to a mini reservoir of coolant or similar to keep circulating the hot coolant away and replacing it with cooler stuff. Both of them would assist the air rushing past in taking heat away from the hot side - and thus make the cold side colder.

If you do this, and for example (on a cool day) drop the hot side to just 10 degrees, the cold side will be around -60 degrees - now that is cold! And that's just with one. You could go even lower with several in one area. Even on the hottest of days Id imagine your intake would still be nice and cool.

Even on a 30 degree day they should get pretty cold when the car is moving.

So there you go....Im amazed I didnt think of this sooner, but something for people to explore. I know I would LOVE to get rid of the heat drain I get when summer temps come around - and this may just be the way.

Thought there may be a few people interested here....make a nice summer experiment to see if it can be made to work ok.

[Kimberley Scott]

I dont know what to say.

[jetute]

an interesting concept.... now how long would it take to cool?? would it be as affective or more affective then a water spray kit??

[RAPHOON]

  jetute said:

an interesting concept.... now how long would it take to cool?? would it be as affective or more affective then a water spray kit??

Very interesting.

The effectiveness would depend on how it is connected to the IC. How about around the end tanks??

[turbotrana]

Excellent idea.

[G6ET8U]

I've read it twice... and am still confused...

I think it may be the unknown amount of beer I have had and the fact it is 2am...

Though anything to keep inlet temps down will be a good idea...though this idea sounds very time consuming...

Jack

[fordboy1981]

I think you would find that the current drawn would put such a load on the alternator that the extra couple of horsepower you would gain would be sapped up by the alternator...

Dave.

[Guest]

  fordboy1981 said:

I think you would find that the current drawn would put such a load on the alternator that the extra couple of horsepower you would gain would be sapped up by the alternator...

Dave.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Spotonkers mate

vik...no free lunches in this world

[F6 UTE]

mm, interesting idea..

The biggest problem is the fact they are only small..

Depending on how the cool air radiates thru the cooler would determin how many you would need.

current draw during the day would match your headlight high beam draw at night, and at night, you shouldn't need it running, so I can't see how power loss thru alternator load would be significant.

maybe 3 placed on the end tank??

[NT TURBO]

May as well run a bypass valve in the a/c line and have another evaporator intermeshed with the intercooloer......Hmmmm wheres that roll of copper.