From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
The ideal principles of car interior air conditioning and methods of heating tested.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 137\3\ scan0022 | |
| Date | 23th January 1938 | |
| -2- The ideal to be aimed at in any form of air condition-ing of a car interior is as follows:- (1) Temperature of air inside car should be maintained approximately constant at a figure which can be adjusted to suit a given individual's requirements. (2) Fresh air should be continually fed into the car, ideally at a rate corresponding to that used in air conditioning public buildings - a minimum of approx. 100 cu.ft/minute would be required for a four passenger saloon car of our size, by this standard. (3) The humidity of the air in the body should be maintained at a constant level - preferably one which is adjustable to individual requirements. (4) The air supplied to the car should be cleaned and filtered. Items (2) and (4) present no real difficulty, while item (1) presents none when the weather is cold and heat is available from the engine - in hot weather, however, it is necess-itates refrigerating plant which would be excessively heavy, bulky and costly. Item (3) is practicable but likely to add considerably to cost. The best compromise from an automobile point of view, in this country at any rate, is to supply the car interior with sufficient fresh filtered air, which can be warmed or not at will, to ensure that air leakage is always outwards, through the many leaks around doors and windows etc. and not inwards. This prevents draughts and any possibility of fumes in the body. As a matter of fact this is in effect the system used by Studebaker and Nash. Methods of heating which we have tested. (a) Heating by means of warm fresh air taken from rear of car radiator matrix by means of a duct making a gas tight joint with rear face of a portion of the matrix, and running into the car body. (b) Heating by means of a heater unit inside the body, supplied with hot water from the engine and having an electric fan circulating the air in the body through the heating unit. | ||