The story behind automotive air conditioning.

The story behind automotive air conditioning.

It’s something that we all have in our cars today. Some would say, a necessity.

Especially in scolding countries like South Africa, Australia and the UAE, just to name a few. However, this wondrous feat we have all come to know came a long way to be what it is today.

Let’s have a look at air conditioning in the automotive world.

As with many innovations in the automotive world, they all derived from something make-shift and genius.

The make-shift era.

So we need to go way back to the 1880s when the first patent for an automobile has been issued. Now, of course, the tech for A/C hadn’t existed yet. So drivers or passengers would set up umbrellas to shade themselves from the scolding heat.

In 1919 the Kool Kooshion had been invented, this device had small springs to keep the driver about half an inch above the seat allowing air to circulate behind and beneath them. In fact, they are still being sold today.

KoolKooshion

1921 brought a new invention the ‘Limo-sedan fan’. It was a small electrical fan that could be attached to the inside of the car, although this was a bit futile as it just blew warm air eventually. By this time, most of the cars were already enclosed.

Nine years later, in 1930 the ‘car cooler’ came along. It used the evaporation of water to cool the air. The cool air was blown into the cabin via the open window. This did work, but it only work in areas with low humidity. A bit of a catch-22.

First A/C unit has been fitted.

In 1939 Packard became the first car manufacturer to offer air conditioning as an option in models, however, with the cost of production at the time. With the high price and the start of WW2, it was impractical and not something feasible at the time. So it ultimately failed.

It would be 14 years later. The war had just ended and A/C had finally returned to the automotive realm. Several manufacturers had offered A/C as an option, most of them had been rear-mounted systems, similar to what Packard had offered in 1939.

The year after, Pontiac and Nash had become the first two companies to place air conditioning units in the front of the car instead of the trunk.

Nash had combined the heater and air conditioning unit, which is the standard most manufacturers have followed to this day.

Cadillac introduced ‘Comfort Control’ which allowed drivers to set a preferred temperature for the air conditioning and it would then automatically adjust it keeping the cabin at a constant temperature level. Today, this is common in all vehicles that have A/C.

A/C as a standard in cars.

The AMC Ambassador which had come along in the 1960s was the first car to have A/C as standard rather than an optional extra. All the other brands like Chevy, Ford and Cadillac still offered A/C as an optional extra. In 1969 (nice) all new cars manufactured in America, and in turn most of the globe, were sold with air conditioning; this was also the time cars had to have seat belts installed in all seating positions.

As the years went on, automotive A/C’s remained pretty much the same for 18 years.

In 1987, due to concerns about the ozone layer disappearing, 25 countries signed a protocol to phase out the R-12 refrigerant used, this opened the door for the R-134a refrigerant to replace the R-12, however, this proved to be even more harmful to the ozone layer than it was lead to believe.

Today, R-1234yf has been the standard replacement in the automotive air conditioning industry.

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