That's Cool!... And Cheap, Too

As Aero-News reported earlier this week, Cirrus has unveiled its new air-conditioning system for its SR22. Cirrus rightfully calls this a "COOL" idea, guaranteed to keep all onboard much cooler whether taxing on the ramp, or flying at lower altitudes.

However, not all of us fly a Cirrus... or can afford the $19,950 pricetag for the A/C.

"I'm pretty tight, and I didn't want to pay that," says Greg Turton, president of ArcticAir (and who, incidentally, also flies a Cirrus.) He has come up with a novel approach to keeping airplane cockpits cool... or, at least, cooler. And the pricetag is a relative pittance -- less than $600 for the top-of-the-line model.

Turton's innovation consists of a Rubbermaid cooler, modified with a two-speed brushless fan (so as not to interfere with the aircraft's electronics), pump, condenser coil, and power cord mounted to the cooler's lid. Tubing leads from that assembly, down into the cooler tub. To use the system, fill up the cooler with ice and just a little water, replace the lid, plug the unit into the aircraft's 12-volt power supply (or a battery pack) and turn the two-speed fan to the higher of two settings.

The fan draws the heated outside air into the cooler, which melts the ice. That cool water is then pumped through the condenser coil, and the cooled air -- 190 cubic feet per minute -- is blown out by the fan.

And voila, air conditioning -- with no STC required. The system only draws approximately 4.5 amps from the aircraft's power supply, with no engine power penalty. The cooling power is limited only by the amount of ice in the cooler -- with the smallest 24-quart system offering about an hour of cooling on the higher fan setting, or up to four hours on low cool.

"This is NOT a 'swamp cooler," said Turton (above), referring to systems popular in homes in the southern US that also use water-cooled air to facilitate "evaporative" cooling. Unlike a swamp cooler, however, Arctic Air's system removes humidity from the air, instead of adding to it -- just like a home or automotive air conditioner.

The fan can also be used without ice, to move air throughout the cabin or a similar enclosure.

Turton got the idea several years ago, when he went in for shoulder surgery and noticed the system the hospital used to keep ice-cold water circulating through a therapy pack over the shoulder. After cobbling together prototype test systems, he enlisted the help of an engineer in southern California to refine the design.

Arctic Air offers five different units, in two model configurations -- a package system as described earlier, or as a "split" model that features a dedicated cooler to hold ice, and a smaller cooler containing the fan and pump assembly. Water is drawn from the larger cooler through flexible hose connected by quick-release couplers -- allowing the ice reservoir to be placed in a rear baggage compartment, with the fan mounted closer to where cool air is desired.

The systems, which range in weight from 39 to 63 pounds when full, retail for between $475 and $585 -- and their uses are not limited to aircraft applications.

Campers could also use an ArcticAir system in their tent or RV, for example... or, Turton points out, generator-powered ArcticAir coolers could also be used in areas hit by natural disasters.

That's, quite simply, very cool.

FMI: www.arcticaircooler.com