Main project plans and alternatives – Portable AC unit – Post 7

Before I write further, I would like to initially refer to this you tube video for giving me inspiration:

My apartment gets unnecessarily hot in the summer months. While my roommates have bought other sorts of smaller AC units such as window mounted ones, I have not.

I also do have a cooler that isn’t the best, and I am willing to convert it for this project.

My one issue from the inspiration I have seen is how bland the cooler looks with some pipes sticking out. From here I can really expand on the aesthetics side of the project. I immediately thought of coolers traditionally designed for fraternity formal events, but I thought it would be corny for a project like this. I did some browsing on the internet and came across a couple options:

1. Modern Cooler design

I thought this design was very sleek and could blend well in nearly any environment in which a portable AC unit may be implemented, whether it is your room or living room or even the back of your car if you do not have AC in your car. The “wood” in this cooler is actually just a wood grain contact paper, like a sort of wrap that could be attached to a desired surface. I love the look and sleekness, and i think possibly painting it a color like a cement gray would be really modern and sleek.

2. Car enthusiast inspired.

Cars will remain timeless in our culture and the car enthusiasts will likely be around for longer than cars may even be a popular mode for transportation. With the pipes that extrude from the cooler for the AC unit, I thought it would be cool to possibly have it resemble a turbo or air intake of a car. Along with this, It would be interesting to make my own cooler “body kit” which would resemble a car. However, this would likely significantly increase the footprint of my project as it would have to be elongated to resemble a car I would desire to have it imitate. Perhaps, other designs on the cooler could help achieve a car culture aesthetic, like the designs on a race or rally car:

On top of achieving a desired aesthetic, It could easily be customized furthermore to be personalized to me. For example, in the image above the drivers get their names and country flags along with sponsorships attached. I could do very similar, and add stickers and designs that apply to me.

3. Industrial style cooler:

Another option to consider is to make the cooler and associated parts to make this portable AC unit appear as a legitimate AC unit. I am kind of shy of this, as it may make it very bland and I already went with a bland-brutalist aesthetic for my upcycle project, but it may look the AC unit look very legit. Another issue I have with this is if this is portable and placed indoors, it would look out of place.

Thank you for reading, and I would love to hear what my peers would have to say and any suggestions you may provide are happily accepted.

Sources:

diy modern and very cool cooler

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/how-does-a-turbo-work/

What is a Cold Air Intake?

https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/g22088459/best-racing-liveries/