Mark wrote:
 >
 > Paul,
 >     - No offense taken if you deem this one too far off topic but:
 >
 >    - I've been wondering if there's not some way to get some cool

air

into

 > the cockpit without the weight and complexity of a conventional
 > automobile-style A/C system.  It's moist where I am in the

southeast, so

 > evaporative cooling is out.  I've been wondering if using ice might

not

 > work.  Bring about 5 lbs of ice cubes with me to the airplane in a

cooler.

 > Dump them in a hopper in the cocpit followed by a cup or two of

water.

The
 > water is cooled by the ice, flows into a heat exchanger in my

cockpit

 > vent/blower system, the water keeps recirculating around and

melting the

ice
 > while the air passing through cools down and blows on the

pilot/passenger.

 > I wonder if this might not bring down the temps a noticable amount

during

 > those hottest minutes of taxi and climbout to altitude.
 >    - I can work the numbers on how much heat the phase change would

"drain"

,
 > but the real question is how cool the air would be coming out of

the

vent.

 > If we figure the water is approx 34 deg F. and the ambient air is

100

 > degrees, is it reasonable to think there's a way to get 75 deg F.

air

from

a
 > reasonable size heat exchanger?
 >
 > Mark

Last year at Oshkosh there was a vendor selling what amounted to an ice

chest

with a ventilation fan that ran air up into a tube that exhausted into

the

pilot/copilot's head area. Would hold up to 20 # of ice if i recall

correctly.

Bill Schertz
KIS Cruiser #4045

The stock car guys use cool suits as I recall. Probably available
off the shelf.

Paul Lamar

Mark wrote:

Bill,
    This ice-chest approach might be simpler than what I had in mind, and
the whole thing could come out when it's not needed.   If I can find a place
to put it, this might be a viable approach.

Thanks to all for the idea.  What I need to do is some experimenting.

VR
Mark

 
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