UW Student's cool solution
It felt like 41C yesterday, but Geoff Milburn beat the heat with a no-budget air conditioner
DAVE PINK
TANIA PRAEG, RECORD STAFF
HOW HE DID IT
1. Using twist ties he attached 1/8" copper tubing on to an unplugged fan's guard.
2. He put one end of the tubing into a large bucket of ice water.
3. He attached vinyl tubing to the other end of the copper, and ran it out his window to below bucket level, siphoning off the water after it absorbed the heat.
TORY ZIMMERMAN, RECORD STAFF
Geoff Millburn has created a cheap, effective cooling system.
WATERLOO (Jun 25, 2005)
It was 32 C yesterday, but it felt like 41 with the humidex.
And the heat wave isn't going away anytime soon. It's supposed to be at least 29 today, with temperatures hovering around the 30 degree mark for much of the week.
So what's a poor student unused to Ontario heat and humidity to do? Obviously, build an air conditioner.
"It was really, really hot, and I hate sleeping in the heat," says Geoff Milburn, 21, a civil engineering student at the University of Waterloo.
He shared his dilemma -- too much humidity and not enough money to buy an air conditioner -- with a fellow engineering student. "He said, 'Why don't we just build one? It can't be that hard.' "
Turns out, it wasn't.
Take an electric fan, a water barrel, some copper tubing and some vinyl hose and, as Milburn's discovered, the result is a cool night's sleep.
The device worked so well -- it cools a room in about 20 minutes -- Milburn decided to tell the world from his web site where he lists what's needed and explains how it's put together.
Suddenly he's getting a lot of attention. He's been interviewed by the CBC, National Public Radio in the U.S. and other media. Fellow do-it-yourselfers have bombarded him with questions, suggestions and observations.
The system will cool an average room in less than half-an-hour, while a full barrel of ice water will last anywhere from one to three hours.
Ice water is siphoned from the barrel through the vinyl hose and into the copper tubing which has been wrapped around a fan.
The fan moves air through the chilled copper and cool air fills the room.
As the water warms it's drained away through another vinyl hose.
"It's really just a heat exchanger," says Milburn.
He suggests the waste water be used on flowerbeds.
Milburn put the device together one recent Saturday afternoon, when he had some time on his hands.
"It's an idea I'd been kicking around for awhile," says Milburn, who hails from the much-less-humid city of St. Albert, Alta., a suburb of Edmonton.
"I just can't get used to this humidity," he admits.
So, he headed off to Home Depot, aiming to turn make his idea a reality.
"I figured the worst thing that could happen is I'd be out the $25 for the parts, and the best thing that could happen is the room would be a little cooler.
"I got a million times more attention than I ever thought I would," he says. "I guess I could have bought an air conditioner, but then I would have missed out on building one.
"The real motivation was having something to build," he says.
"If you give me enough time and enough useless parts I'll come up with something."
dpink@therecord.com
ON THE WEB
www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/ ~gmilburn/ac/
DAVE PINK
TANIA PRAEG, RECORD STAFF
HOW HE DID IT
1. Using twist ties he attached 1/8" copper tubing on to an unplugged fan's guard.
2. He put one end of the tubing into a large bucket of ice water.
3. He attached vinyl tubing to the other end of the copper, and ran it out his window to below bucket level, siphoning off the water after it absorbed the heat.
TORY ZIMMERMAN, RECORD STAFF
Geoff Millburn has created a cheap, effective cooling system.
WATERLOO (Jun 25, 2005)
It was 32 C yesterday, but it felt like 41 with the humidex.
And the heat wave isn't going away anytime soon. It's supposed to be at least 29 today, with temperatures hovering around the 30 degree mark for much of the week.
So what's a poor student unused to Ontario heat and humidity to do? Obviously, build an air conditioner.
"It was really, really hot, and I hate sleeping in the heat," says Geoff Milburn, 21, a civil engineering student at the University of Waterloo.
He shared his dilemma -- too much humidity and not enough money to buy an air conditioner -- with a fellow engineering student. "He said, 'Why don't we just build one? It can't be that hard.' "
Turns out, it wasn't.
Take an electric fan, a water barrel, some copper tubing and some vinyl hose and, as Milburn's discovered, the result is a cool night's sleep.
The device worked so well -- it cools a room in about 20 minutes -- Milburn decided to tell the world from his web site where he lists what's needed and explains how it's put together.
Suddenly he's getting a lot of attention. He's been interviewed by the CBC, National Public Radio in the U.S. and other media. Fellow do-it-yourselfers have bombarded him with questions, suggestions and observations.
The system will cool an average room in less than half-an-hour, while a full barrel of ice water will last anywhere from one to three hours.
Ice water is siphoned from the barrel through the vinyl hose and into the copper tubing which has been wrapped around a fan.
The fan moves air through the chilled copper and cool air fills the room.
As the water warms it's drained away through another vinyl hose.
"It's really just a heat exchanger," says Milburn.
He suggests the waste water be used on flowerbeds.
Milburn put the device together one recent Saturday afternoon, when he had some time on his hands.
"It's an idea I'd been kicking around for awhile," says Milburn, who hails from the much-less-humid city of St. Albert, Alta., a suburb of Edmonton.
"I just can't get used to this humidity," he admits.
So, he headed off to Home Depot, aiming to turn make his idea a reality.
"I figured the worst thing that could happen is I'd be out the $25 for the parts, and the best thing that could happen is the room would be a little cooler.
"I got a million times more attention than I ever thought I would," he says. "I guess I could have bought an air conditioner, but then I would have missed out on building one.
"The real motivation was having something to build," he says.
"If you give me enough time and enough useless parts I'll come up with something."
dpink@therecord.com
ON THE WEB
www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/ ~gmilburn/ac/
posted by Jenyi at
6:27 下午
0 Comments:
張貼留言
<< Home