Air Conditioners

​Riding a motorcycle in very hot weather can be quite vexing, particularly when trapped in traffic-jammed daily commutes. BluArmor Helmets suggests a simple solution to keep the head cool; a detachable air cooler unit that fits to most full-face helmet in seconds and sends refreshing air inside.

​Chances are, you don't give a lot of thought to changing the air filter on your furnace or air conditioner. You might go check on it occasionally, or just put a reminder on the calendar. FloSmart, however, is designed to notify you when it detects that the filter needs replacing.

Legionnaires’ disease can spread when water in a building's air conditioning system becomes infected with Legionella bacteria. Checking for that bacteria takes up to two weeks, and requires water samples to be sent away. The Spartan Cube, however, can do the job on location in less than an hour.

Over the last few years a Stanford team has been developing a roof-mounted system that cools a building by reflecting heat into space, and the latest test has managed to use solar panel-like devices to cool water without needing any other energy source.

​Evapolar is back with a second iteration of their portable air conditioner after successfully completing an IndieGoGo campaign in 2015 and delivering over 20,000 units worldwide.

Doug Martin, an engineer at Ford, didn't like the idea of condensation from cars' air conditioners being wasted. That's why he created a prototype system which collects that condensation, and repurposes it as drinking water within the car. ​

​In no small part, crowdfunding has changed the way products make it to market. Some of the most innovative ideas of recent years owe their success to platforms like Kickstarter, so to highlight those success stories, we’ve picked out the cream of the crowdfunded crop, which you can buy right now.

A San Francisco-based startup has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a portable air conditioner that packs more than just a rotary compressor. The Zero Breeze is designed to illuminate, play music over Bluetooth, power devices, and last up to five hours on its rechargeable battery.

Solar-concentrating thermal technology is being used to power the air-conditioning system of an entire shopping center in Australia solely from the rays of the sun. It is expected that this technology will help drastically reduce commercial building energy use.

Philadelphia-based Likuma Labs has unveiled a new product that addresses the frustrations experienced with many window air conditioners. Noria is designed to be smaller, lighter, and quieter, while offering full-room circulation and smart connectivity.

There are some heating and cooling options out there, as well as AC units designed specifically for motorbikes, but not everyone is keen to strap one of these to the back of their bike. Enter MiClimate, a belt designed to keep bikers at a comfortable temperature without adding too much bulk.

Mercedes says it is will be the first carmaker to equip production models with CO2 air conditioning systems. CO2 systems are said to perform better than conventional systems and to be more environmentally friendly. The move is in response to an EU directive that comes into effect in 2017.