Extending a mobile AC unit’s exhaust duct with an air extractor
Arduino Team — June 4th, 2021
Portable air conditioners are amazing, especially as we head into the hot summer months. But one big downside is having to place them close to a window that will fit the guard, otherwise it’s really tough getting the hot exhaust air out of the room. This is exactly the problem Hackaday user vincentmakes ran into when he set up a mobile AC unit, as his window was the wrong shape. To solve it, he created a little system that allows the AC unit to be plugged in on one side and then match its air flow to shoot hot air out of the window.
It measures the current draw of the air conditioner by using a Hall effect sensor and then correlating the resulting value with a target air speed. When the AC is off, the extractor cuts power to its fan, but otherwise will try to adjust the fan speed while the AC is on. Vincent designed a custom PCB for the project around an Arduino Nano Every for control and interfacing with the Hall sensor and a pair of relays. After some fine-tuning of the fan curves, the air extractor worked great for extending the reach of the AC’s exhaust, thus letting it escape outside.
We care about the privacy and personal data of our users.
To continue, please give us your consent:
Please confirm that you have read the privacy policy
Thank you for subscribing!
Curious to learn more?
Are you also a teacher, student, or professional that loves using Arduino in your day-to-day activities?
Then keep up-to-date with either our STEM or Professional monthly newsletters.
Arduino weekly newsletter (already subscribed)
Educators can benefit from the ever growing tech that shapes our environment through fun cool projects.
Why not awe your boss with highly innovative ways to help keep your enterprise connected at no extra cost?
Arduino Survey
We'd like to get to know you little better.
Please help us improve by answering this super short optional survey.
