Questions about Air Conditioning, ... help me make my car cooler! Options

[tygaboy]

Hi World - I need some info:
I'm working to add A/C to my build and I found this little set up that's 10.5" wide, 8.5" deep and 4.5" tall.

What I don't know is what's possible in terms of orientation of these evaporator/ fan units.

I know they have to drain any condensation (and not into the motor, etc.) but assuming I address that:

- Is there any appreciable impact to how the evap unit performs if it were stood on end, turned upside down, etc.?

Essentially, does refrigerant care about flowing up vs down vs sideways?

- Do any of the other components, like the expansion valve, care about orientation?

If needed, I'm totally OK with cutting up the case, making one that suites my needs and reusing the components.

Or, if there are other considerations, if I'm missing something, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Chris

[jd74914]

Thanks for the great input! I've been looking at this Orion fan and they do publish the fan curves, as seen here.
Any idea if a couple of these would work?
If you need me, I'll be off learning about static pressure!

Maybe. Not sure what the actual flow you need is. No idea what kind is on yours-though if you have a part number or some identifiers I'd be happy to take a look and offer some advice.

I just pulled out a spec sheet for a typical automotive-spec centrifugal blower. See how the static pressure vs. flow curve is significantly higher at low flows and has a different shape? That shape is rather important; as is the location your system falls on the curve.

For example, if the system used this blower and runs with 160 cfm air flow (this number is rather important since airflow really is what controls efficiency of the evaporator), the corresponding pressure drop of the system would be known to be 0.6 inWC (water column). To do the same thing with the axial fan you posted would require 5 fans. Or you could run at lower flows with less fans. Its tough to design without information since everything is very coupled. Likely Vintage Air uses those centrifugal blowers because the pressure curve has a lot of margin (until it hits the knee point) so they're less sensitive to long piping, lots of bends, etc. in terms of overall performance because the blower speed can always be turned down or they can have an overall governing pressure drop.