Yair . . . It's pretty hot here at the moment and I have heard at the port there are a couple of large coal pushing dozers down and unusable with air conditioning problems . . . apparently these are conventional systems with an engine driven compressor, in cab evaporator, a condenser somewhere and of course the associated plumbing and wiring . . . I'm told a nightmare to service and repair. In my ignorance I ask why modular units haven't been developed that can be swapped out quickly? Cheers.
That's a good question Scrub . Seems like it would be a lot better with a one piece electric modular unit that could be swapped out quick. Add a 110V belt drive generator to the engine and done . Sounds like a job for Crane Operator HeavyEquipmentForums
The newish Cat D7E hybrid dozer uses an all electric system. I don't know of any retrofit type system however. Letourneau machinery may use something like that as well as it seems like something they would do but I have no experience there.
Try this link: http://www.apairinc.com/shopping/productDetails.aspx?i=138105&c=4898 It may be what you are looking for. I was going to put one on my sprayer because the combination of sitting in a fishbowl behind a hot engine in scorching sun my factory unit won't keep up. One of the issues I ran into was that I don't think the plastic cab top will support it. The other is I'm sure it's not compliant according to OSHA for sprayers.
Yair . . . That's what I had in mind td25c . . . or in our case 240V . . . or it could be hydraulic drive compressor and 12 or 24V DC on the fans. There are any amount of ways to do it. Cabs could/should be manufactured to take the system . . . change over time should be ten minutes max. I don't think it's rocket science, the technology exists it just needs a major customer pissed off enough at his tens and elevens down because of air-con issues to get into Cat's ear enough to give them motivation.
Hydraulic is easy, there are several systems out there, some all in one unit, others with a separate motor/compressor unit.
I see those units on top of travel trailers and RV now days. I've wondered why one of those wouldn't work.
I've seen a few older machines retrofitted with the red-dot modular style units that are used on RVs and such. The problem is they just don't last. They fill up with dust and the vibration shakes the sheet metal apart in short order.
Yair . . . They would have to be purpose built units to go onto earthmoving gear but I don't think it's rocket science . . . and a manufacturer like Caterpillar could build their cabs to suit. Cheers.
I've installed a few Red Dots and have to say most were not hardened real well for heavy equipment either.
For modular or electric units - check with Sigma AC systems. Only drawback is capacity with DC electric systems, and power consumption. Red Dot is OK, but, like most HVAC systems on equipment, it is generally designed for operating environments up to 40C. Anything over that they really start to labor. Might need to look at custom designed systems for high ambient environments and especially in high dust mining environments. We designed some systems for an African operator that would handle the heat and work with their existing engine driven compressors. Going to a hydraulic compressor drive is also a good option and can shorten the hoses and other serviceable components.
Somehow I missed this one, I should have taken out a patent on my window units- before td25c spreads it all around. It wasn't really my original idea- I've seen pictures of them from florida and arizona. Anyways, the lp generator and window unit is a great little unit in the cranes, but I don't think they would hold up to the vibration and dust in a dozer, I think it would beat it to pieces. The cranes really only bounce around a little driving down the road, onsite is no problem. You could probably get them to last quite a while in a excavator. That said- we were just laughing about them the other day- its about time to think about getting them installed- summer is right around the corner. And I don't know any other A/C unit that you could just throw the whole thing in the trash at the end of summer, and buy all new next year at walmart for $100. Would there be issues with MSHA about non factory additions, if someone mounts a red dot or other AC on the top of quarry equipment (loaders, dozer's etc)?
I put a small gas gen set and a walmart cheap window ac unit through the back window of my old cat 215 last summer when it was 100 degrees out, set the temp at 65 degrees and it would fog the windows up for a good 10 minutes in the morning haha