Solar Powered, Air Conditioned Tent
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.23.07
We keep saying that the solar powered air conditioner is the ultimate solution to much of our electrical consumption problem; AC is at the top of the peak load and consumes a lot of power. The gearheads at Wingnut/New Sun Productions sell this air conditoned tent along with their sixteen hundred dollar bicycle wheels. They set it up at a couple of desert bike races to provide " an instant oasis, no external power required." It is an evaporative cooler, using the dry air of the desert to evaporate water which cools the air, then blowing this into the tent. The fans on the cooler are powered by the solar panels on the roof of the tent.
Future models will fold up into a bike trailer to be towed behind mountain bikers, with the solar power and fan motors giving a little bit of a boost.
"The New Sun tent has a 6×9-foot frame and provides about 54 square feet of living space. The tent, panels and cooler unit weigh about 140 pounds together and fold up into two packages: The tent and panels folded up measures about 1×2 x 4 feet; the swamp cooler/air-conditioner unit measures about 2×2 x 2 feet.
Gibson says the next generation of this tent, available in April, will be transportable on a bike trailer, though at 140 pounds an electric bike or motorbike will likely need to be utilized. Future plans include the development of a system that uses the DC motor from the air-conditioning fan to power the trailer while in transport.
Future versions of the tent, Gibson says, may allow desert mountain bikers to ride into the scorching heat with a cooling shelter in tow.
The Generation 2 New Sun tent costs $5,000 and is targeted at guiding companies and athletics-events directors with races and events in high-heat locations. ::wingnut gear via ::The Gear Junkie
"we set up the Gen 2 solar tent for another attempt to make airconditioning in the desert powered by solar panels. This time we succeeded in trapping the cold air with our new tent frame design and reflective exterior. Inside temperatures dropped as much as 15 degrees. The medical team on hand was so impressed they actually brought a person who they had to retieve off the mountain due to heat exhaustion straight into our tent. He was a rtailer from Alsaka who rested on the cot for about 40 minutes while he digested some electrolye replacement drink from E-loads to replace his vital nutients."
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(off-topic) Typkey login link isn't working again....
Swamp coolers like this are fine and dandy for dry climates like the desert, but for the majority of the US they are useless. The key will be when they perfect solar-thermal ammonia adsorption coolers. True air conditioning for humid climates.
This post makes a big deal about how light the tent will be, and be able to be transported on a bike trailer, etc.
However, no mention is made of how much water this thing would use per hour, day, etc. How many more bike trailers would be needed for the cooling water?