PROOF OF CONCEPT: a Chilled Water Air Conditioning Prototype - DECOMMISSIONED.

I plan to use this 100watt compressor to chill water in an insulated tank while I'm at work. The energy for this will be via my home solar power system since I harvest a surplus of energy that I can't store for night use. I want chilled or iced water as the means to store that solar energy for later use. When I'm home at night I want this cold water pumped into the living room to provide cooling. This will reduce the drain from my solar battery bank since my air conditioner in that room is also solar powered.

Basically I want chilled water as the storage medium for my solar harvested energy.

The Chiller.

The cold side of this former ice maker I have dipped into a bucket of water. During the indoor heat today it took 5 hours to chill the water to 18C with an ambient of 30C.

Mind you this is a plain open bucket and the temperature difference achieved is very good. I plan to use an insulated tank to store the valuable cold water.

The Water to Air Exchanger.

I used a spare water pump to send cold water to an aluminum radiator with a 12volt pc fan attached. Clear pvc tubing was used to make the water loop.

Thermal Performance.

Starting from the compressor to the water to air exchanger, the cooling performance is pretty good for a small scale prototype. The blower air is the same temperature as the water in the bucket. This is perfect since I live in a really hot climate.

I plan to use a bigger air exchanger for better heat extraction for the room. I like the idea of chilled water since it can easily be hooked up without having to worry about refrigerant lines and the hassles that go with them.

Stay tuned for the next version of this chilled water air conditioning unit!