Porsche Electric Air Conditioning: upgraded blower R&D

[classicretrofit]

New products are always in development here at Classic Retrofit HQ, and we also like to keep improving our existing product lines.

Currently in R&D is an upgraded blower unit for our electric air conditioning system. The new blower is being tested alongside an upgraded evaporator unit in our Porsche 911 SC test and development car.

Using the same end caps as our existing blower unit, the body of the upgraded blower is just 10mm wider and only slightly taller to accommodate a much more powerful fan unit: the same one used in our electric air conditioning system for the Singer DLS.

We're also testing a new and improved evaporator. Denso has upgraded the previous part with the latest heat transfer technology, making it shallower while maintaining the same heat transfer capacity. Because the new part is slimmer than the previous model, it allows a higher throughput of air, which amplifies the effect of more airflow using the new fan.

Another big advantage of the new evaporator is connections on the right hand side of the unit, which is perfect for those driving cars with a brake servo on the left. Left-hand-drive 911s make up the majority of Classic Retrofit installations, so we're delighted with the additional gain of a small improvement in ease of installation.

Tested in our SC on some of the hottest UK days of 2022 so far, the new parts continue to deliver near-zero degrees at the vents, when combined with our twin condenser A/C system and upgraded alternator.

We've also been testing an alternative compressor (above), which the manufacturer claims is slightly quieter. So far the difference is not obvious, but all testing is worthwhile to keep our electric A/C system at the top of the list of desirable upgrades on vintage air-cooled Porsches.

No launch date has been set for systems featuring the new components but current schedules suggest we may see the next-gen parts unveiled in late 2022.