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Portable Air Conditioner

Attempting to create an open-source air conditioner that you can wear on your belt or use to cool a tent

john-forsythJohn Forsyth
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In its current form, this system is only capable of providing cooling effects at temperatures that are in the ballpark of >85 degrees F. I believe this is due to the Peltier cooler no longer being able to move the heat away from the hot side effectively at higher temperatures. I would LOVE for anyone out there with ideas on how to get a Peltier to effectively cool when in hotter conditions to please contact me on messages.

This project utilizes a Peltier Cooler, 3D printing, fans, and battery pack in order to provide relief for people living in hot climates. With an emphasis on helping those in situations where their health is in danger. An Arduino and solar panel will be integrated if the overheating issue can be addressed.


The core 3D file for the enclosure, on which I have expanded, is taken DIRECTLY from this project by thingiverse user JarnoV: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3718446
I can not give enough thanks to this person.

The basic concept of this project is to blow air across a heatsink which is being cooled by a Peltier cooler that is then fed up ones shirt. The heat produced on the other side of the Peltier cooler is blown away from the individual by a second fan.


Using this device as an air conditioner for a tent may be more beneficial for disaster relief. Toward this end, I have also included a version of the frame that uses 2 large fans instead of one small and one large fan. This is also the reasoning behind the fan being slotted into the frame as opposed to fixed. This is so that if the AC is worn then the fan can face away from the person, however if it is being used to cycle air inside of a tent/enclosed area. Then the fan can be turned around and slotted to the frame in the opposite direction. Thus making the intake for the fan facing inside the enclosure thus progressively cooling the air over and over.

One of the issues when creating a portable air conditioner in this way is the power requirements of the Peltier cooler. In the footprint that I am using it, it runs 12VDC at 6A. Which is far too large to be run for a meaningful amount of time off of a commercially available battery. Unless you were to say attach one to a car battery in a disaster situation, in which case you would be good to go. However, for the purpose of being able to carry the battery pack, the best answer I've got so far is to use a controller. For this project, I will be using an arduino to control the intervals at which time the Peltier is turned on. The fans however  will likely stay on constantly. However, I have not yet integrated the controller as I can not seem to find a way to cool the hot side of the peltier enough to bother with attaching the controller. Once this problem is overcome it is likely that I will use an Arduino nano with a transistor and temperature sensors to control the peltier in order to achieve the proper ratio of cooling to power consumption.

Portable AC.zip

x-zip-compressed - 287.86 kB - 09/12/2022 at 20:07

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  • 1 × Peltier Cooler 40mm x 40mm 12V, 6A
  • 1 × 12V Centrifugal Fan .26A 70mm x 30mm
  • 1 × 3D Printer I used an ender 3 pro for the smaller fan/bigger fan model, and mars 2 pro for bigfan/big fan
  • 2 × Copper Heatsinks
  • 1 × Battery Pack 12V, as many amps as you can get in a reasonable size

View all 6 components

  • 1
    Purchase and Print Components

    There is a parts list available to order.

    There is also a folder which I am uploading with all of the .stl files in order to print the parts. Included in this folder is also more information.


    Once you have each part printed, you can go about assembly.

    The frame and venting were both printed with PLA (I believe I did 20% infill at .28 resolution). I printed the tube that runs up your shirt with TPU so that it would be more flexible. If you have any printing questions on the parts feel free to reach out.

  • 2
    Assembly

    First take the peltier, and plug it into a power source so that you can be sure you know which side is hot, and which is cold.

    There are grooves in the main frame where the Peltier slides. Slide the Peltier in so that the hot side us up (toward the shorter open side).  

    Now, place a heat sink onto each side of the Peltier.

  • 3
    Place fan into fan holder slot and screw it in

View all 6 instructions

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RunnerPack wrote 05/25/2023 at 19:33 • point

It would add weight, but you could have an insulated container of water to dump the heat into.

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