Eco-Cooler air conditioners lower indoor temperature through thermodynamic expansion.
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
0 sources for · 2 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Controlled tests and scientific evaluations demonstrate that eco-coolers do not achieve significant indoor temperature reductions or operate via thermodynamic expansion as claimed.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the ‘eco-cooler’ for passive home cooling | npj Climate Action
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### Subjects
- Developing world
- Engineering
- Environmental sciences
## Abstract
Constructed with used plastic bottles, the eco-cooler has been widely adopted in resource-poor communities in Bangladesh and other countries. We tested the eco-cooler under controlled conditions using a scientific wind tunnel in a climatic chamber. In our tests, we used seven eco-cooler designs in 27 climate conditions typical of Bangladesh (temperatures of 40 °C, 35 °C, and 30 °C; humidity levels of 70%, 60%, and 40%; and wind speeds of 4.0 m s−1, 2.0 m s−1, and 0.2 m s−1) in 92 experiments (N = 7686 measurements in 87 short experiments and N = 23,428 measurements in five long experiments). We found no significant temperature reductions with eco-cooler use, except at low wind speeds, where temperature reduced by up to 0.2 °C. In theoretical calculations extending our empirical findings, the greatest temperature drop was 0.85 °C at 4.0 m s−1 with a 40 °C static air inflow temperature. However, this temperature drop did not extend beyond the nozzles of the bottles in the eco-cooler. The ec
# How does the Eco-Cooler air conditioner really work?
Tags: thermodynamics, air
- Score: 24
- Views: 66034
- Answers: 5
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Gnubie (1919 rep)
- Asked: 2016-06-07
- Site: physics
## Question
This article describes a device for developing countries which apparently cools the air by 5 °C without electricity. According to its YouTube video, it works by lowering the pressure to drag in the ambient air. Wouldn't the ambient air be at the same temperature?
Does the constriction compress the air and temporarily increase the pressure and so temperature, which then dissipates heat because it is hotter than surroundings; then after passing the constriction, the pressure returns to almost ambient but the temperature drops to below ambient?
How does the Eco-Cooler air conditioner actually work, if at all?
## Answers
### Answer by anna v (score: 7 [ACCEPTED])
Here is a simple experimentalist's answer:
a) Tin huts in the sun get extremely hot, as anybody who has left a car in the sun will know, much hotter than the outside temperature.
b) People in Bangladesh will have about the same IQ as people in other countries, therefore these tin huts will have at least
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