10. Air Conditioning compressor
This unit is from Masterflux, model Sierra 06-0982Y3.
A variable speed AC motor is built into this compressor unit. This makes it quite compact. In fact, this compressor (with built in motor) is slightly smaller than the original BMW compressor that was driven off the gas engine.
It will reside in the cavity next to the primary drive motor, directly below the plumbing that passes through the fire wall and into the interior. It is designed for the standard R134 air conditioning fluid.
The original condenser, evaporator and drier units are still used in their original locations making this a straight forward conversion.
Since this will be connected to the main battery pack, it can operate at any time, no longer tied to a running gas engine.
Yet another advantage over the original design, it's speed is adjustable to allow running only the level of cooling desired without cycling on and off to regulate the temperature.
Aug 2008 update:
The compressor/motor is mounted and the plumbing complete
The vacuum side plumbing, visible with the Inverter removed, goes straight up to connect with the fire wall pass-through fitting.
I took advantage of a pair of threaded studs that were exposed after removing the air pump that was part of the smog controls of the old gas engine. This made for a great mount point for the custom hydraulic adaptor I machined out of billet aluminum. The black cap on the right end of the horizontal hose section is the standard fitting that is used in charging the system with R134 air conditioning fluid.
The remaining task: install the electronic controller board in the cavity seen at top center of this photo. I will use the water cooled charger already located there to cool the electronic drive system. The finned heat sink will be replaced with a plate thermally connected and the transistor device will be thermally mounted to the water cooled face that is exposed.
