My car gets really hot in the sun. It’s a problem for stuff inside. Eventually I want a car that cools itself even when it is not driving. It turns out its pretty hard to find an AC unit for 12 volt with a small form factor. This would be combined with a roof cover that keeps the heat out. In the mean time this is what I came up with: a small solar panel and a ventilator.
I created a mount out of board, this could also be some metal material. The ventilator is not optimal. Strangely there is no opening in the chassis to let air out, I’d have to drill or cut a hole somewhere to be able to constantly ventilate. The only way to get air in (besides hacking the normal cooled air ventilation which is a todo) is to open a window. With some board its easy to create a removable panel with a letterbox slit, the ventilator (typical fan) is mouted horizonatlly on top, and blows air out.
Having electricity in the car is a bonus, it can charge the laptop, phone it can run a small refrigerator. All it takes is a theft proof way to mount it on the car, which is a challenge. Because the roof catches a lot of sun it would be smart to make it reflective or double layer. Again the challenge is with mounting and stuff blowing off the roof while driving.
Because this design still pulls on the materials in a bad way, it expects the ventilator to be horizontal but gravity will pull it downwards, and the tape will eventually give, I made a next version.
the idea is to distribute the vertical forces over a larger area. Also used a bit thicker foam (which was lying around).