Can Prairie Dog Tunnels Inspire Natural Home Air Conditioning?

[shadowofman]

I was reading in my physics book about the way prairie dogs design their tunnels so as to produce one entrance with a low pressure in order to create air flow through the system. And it was described as being the result of air velocity over a hill.

Has anyone developed something that would create a natural air conditioner for a home? Maybe something like a windmill that would rotate with the wind outside, compressing the air and increasing the velocity, and therefore creating a low pressure moment and pulling air through a home or room?

 

[russ_watters]

That's neat, though I don't know that I'd call it air conditioning. It's enhanced convection to replace a fan. You can do it to your house by selectively opening windows based on wind direction and height.

 

[hypatia]

A very long time ago, I was in some very old buildings in India. They had a series of doors, perforated with holes in such a manner that once the air passed through several of them, it felt like a very cool breeze.

 

[shadowofman]

True enough. Maybe I was overthinking the possibilities.

 

[Bob S]

Here is a possible explanation of the India cooling. If air flows into a hole and gets compressed (even slightly), then it gets heated (adiabatic compression). If the hole now conducts the heat away from the compressed air and cools the air to ambient temperature, and is then allowed to expand to ambient pressure (like in a room), it cools to below ambient temperature (adiabatic expansion). Just a thought...

Bob S

 

[russ_watters]

A breeze doesn't have to actually be cool to feel cool.

 

[skeptic2]

Many years ago Scientific American had a description of how some houses in Iran were built to stay cool in summer. The entrance for air into the house was through a tunnel which may contain water. The exit for the air was through a tall chimney that the sun heated. As the air inside the chimney got warm and rose, it pulled in cooler air through the underground passageway.