Well I am by no means an engineer, but I had this idea while cruising in my Freightliner in the states. Cold air means more dense air, means more air in a given space. Add more fuel = bigger boom (lamens terms) and I'm sure we all know that's how it works. Stick your hand out the window on a hot day, and that's the air temperature your engine is getting. Now roll your window up and feel the cold AC. What if one were to hook up the AC to the intake. Sort of a ram air system, fed by the engine. Probably wouldn't provide nearly enough airflow, but if it could without overdriving the AC compressor, would the engine not benefit? I dunno, so I would like the idea shot down so I can stop wondering.

 

i used to wonder the same thing, but i really don't think it could flow enough to support an engine.

 

Thanks I thought not as well.. but imagine if it could... maybe stick a bigger compressor on there, higher speed blower, I dunno. An intercooler can only cool as low as the air thats flowing through it. Bah, I need to learn to leave the thinking to others.

 

well i'm no expert man, i mean i wish it could work, it would be cool as hell if you could do it but.... and the intercooler thing can get a little bit cooler with n2o or c02.

 

You are basically talking about an intercooler that uses a expanding/compressing chemical to cool

 

It's been thought of before, and tried. Conclusion was the fuel mileage hit outweighed the performance benefit. As far as using evaporative cooling to bring down the temps of an inter cooler, that took a big cost hit, plus the added restriction of trying to draw air through an inter cooler with vacuum as opposed to boost.

 

what was to become the new lightning had a system like that on it. It was only good for just a little bit before you had to "recharge" the intercooler. You got to run the compressor all the time though, so took a hit when you were recharging it.

 

Why not take the interior AC core and place it inside the center of a custom intake plenum. With adequate space around it, it will flow rather well, and reduce the temperature of the passing air. It may be no more draw on the system than having the ac up and on full while driving.

Just a thought to get away from the intercooler idea.