Building an Energy Efficient Portable Air Conditioner

 I started working at Transaera in July of 2023, where I’ve had the opportunity to work on designing and building the world’s most energy efficient air conditioners. From July 2023 to February 2024, my main focus was on the portable AC project, which uses heat exchangers coated in MOF- a special compound which readily adsorbs and desorbs water vapor. By using the MOF to do dehumidification, the air conditioner uses far less energy than a conventional unit, which has to get very cold to condense water out from the air.

We created three experimental prototypes before making the final product prototype. The purpose of these experimental prototypes was to dial in parameters such as airflow path, sealing mechanisms, and validate performance, by building a super flexible and easy to modify prototype. These were modeled in Solidworks and then built from aluminum 8020 extrusions and acrylic.

For the final prototype, meant to be a “looks like works like” prototype, we collaborated with Fresco Design in Marlborough, MA. While Transaera designed and built the internals, Fresco took care of the outer cladding. I spent many hours working with the talented Fresco team to ensure both of our designs would interface correctly during final assembly. The final prototype is a beautiful and functional design which showcases that portable ACs dont have to be inefficient eyesores!

From prototyping to testing, from 3D printing to machining metal, this project was a test of my full skill set. And I’m very pleased with how it came out. I built it so it is able to flat-packed and transported, and it is currently here with me at school where I regularly use it.

For the full step by step details, refer to my Instructables article: Build A Printmaking Press