Stop, start, and keep cool

06 October 2003: How do you keep a car's air conditioning running when the engine is stopped? With Peugeot Citroen planning to have at least 50,000 'stop-start' cars on the roads by 2006, it is a challenge that has taken on a new impetus.

Stop-start technology can reduce fuel consumption by between five and eight per cent by shutting down the engine when the car is stationary and automatically restarting it when it's time to move.

It is estimated that drivers in big cities like London and Paris can spend 30 per cent of their travelling time at a standstill with the average red light in Paris, for example, lasting 45 seconds.

Now French company Valeo has come up with a system it calls "stop-stay-cool". It works like a fan passing air over a block of ice. The 'ice' is a thermal material that stores cold energy during normal engine operation and releases it into the car's ventilation system when the air conditioning is cut off at engine standstill.

Valeo came up with the solution because its starter-alternators will be used by Peugeot and Citroen for its stop-start cars which go into production next year.

©2003 irishcar.com