What’s the history behind air-conditioning in IR?

June 22, 2019, 12:42 PM
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Prior to the 1930’s, various arrangements for cooling the interiors of passenger coaches existed, mostly for the first-class coaches. From the 1860’s onwards, it was quite common to hang moistened mats of khas to cool the air by evaporation.

In 1872, the Saunders system was introduced, which consisted of a long duct running along the length of the coach and beneath it, with a funnel for air intake on one side, and multiple sheets of wet khas matting in the middle, which both filtered the dust out of the air and cooled it by evaporation; the cooled air was admitted into the coaches by apertures in the floor.

ये भी पढ़े – स्त्रीरोग: पीरियड से जुड़ी वो बीमारी जिसके बारे में खुद औरतों को नहीं पता होता

Often, the simple expedient of placing large blocks of ice (in bamboo or wicker containers) in the compartments was adopted. After electric fans were introduced, this method of cooling continued to be in use, with the ice placed in the path of a fan’s air-stream. As late as 1958 on the Vijayawada division, for instance, passengers could rent an open zinc-lined box that carried a hundredweight (114lb, ~50kg) block of ice. The electric fans of the compartments would then be trained on it, and bottles or other containers could also be cooled in the box.

The ice could be replenished at any major station en route, and in fact the Conductor/Guard (the equivalent then of the Train Superintendent) would check on the ice blocks now and then and notify the station ahead if replenishments were needed. This was a popular service because it was easier and cheaper than riding in the air-conditioned cars (which often cost as much as twice the normal fare, besides rarely having space available).

Most air-conditioned stock of recent decades was built with underfloor machinery with blowers located near the ends of the coaches. Newer air-conditioned coaches (since about 1999) have the machinery located on the roof, with an air-distribution duct that goes along the roof of the coach with diffusers in every compartment, providing a much more uniform cooling effect.

Source – IFRCA.org

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