Portable air conditioner

A method for cooling an environment comprising:

• providing a substantially upright housing enclosing
• a heat-transfer chamber,
• a loading chamber,
• a substantially horizontally-disposed removable tray separating said heat-transfer chamber from said loading chamber, having depending from a perimeter thereof at least one substantially vertically-oriented heat-transfer cell comprising an elongated cell housing for retaining a phase-changeable substance, said elongated cell housing extending substantially within said heat-transfer chamber having an upper open end accessible from an upper region and terminating in a lower closed end, and having at least one venting aperture that places said heat-transfer chamber and said loading chamber in air-flow communication with one another thereby promoting melting of said quantity of a frozen phase of said phase-changeable substance in an upper region of said at least one heat-transfer cell so as to facilitate uniform melting along a length thereof,
• at least one air-intake opening for receiving an air flow into said heat-transfer chamber,
• at least one air-outlet opening for venting air from said heat-transfer chamber, and
• an air-flow mechanism disposed proximate one of said air-intake opening and said air-outflow opening for urging air into said heat-transfer chamber into contact with said at least one heat-transfer cell and then through said at least one air-outlet opening outwardly of said heat transfer chamber;
• loading said at least one substantially vertically-oriented heat-transfer cell with a quantity of a frozen phase of said phase-changeable substance such that said quantity of a frozen phase of said phase-changeable substance extends upwardly from said lower closed end of said substantially vertically-oriented heat-transfer cell;
• activating said air-flow mechanism.

A method for cooling an environment comprising:

• providing a substantially upright housing enclosing
• a heat-transfer chamber,
• a loading chamber,
• a substantially horizontally-disposed removable tray separating said heat-transfer chamber from said loading chamber, having depending from a perimeter thereof at least one substantially vertically-oriented heat-transfer cell comprising an elongated cell housing for retaining a phase-changeable substance, said elongated cell housing extending substantially within said heat-transfer chamber having an upper open end accessible from an upper region and terminating in a lower closed end, and having at least one venting aperture that places said heat-transfer chamber and said loading chamber in air-flow communication with one another wherein said heat-transfer chamber and said loading chamber are separated from one another except for said at least one venting aperture so as to promote melting of said phase-changeable substance in a frozen phase in an upper region of said at least one heat-transfer cell so as to facilitate uniform melting along a length thereof,
• at least one air-intake opening for receiving an air flow into said heat-transfer chamber,
• at least one air-outlet opening for venting air from said heat-transfer chamber, and
• an air-flow mechanism disposed proximate one of said air-intake opening and said air-outflow opening for urging air into said heat-transfer chamber into contact with said at least one heat-transfer cell and then through said at least one air-outlet opening outwardly of said heat transfer chamber;
• removing said substantially horizontally-disposed removable tray from said substantially upright housing, filling said at least one substantially vertically-oriented heat-transfer cell with a quantity of a substantially fluid phase of said phase-changeable substance;
• causing said phase-changeable substance to freeze in place within said substantially horizontally-disposed removable tray;
• placing said substantially horizontally-disposed removable tray containing said quantity of said phase-changeable substance in a frozen phase within said housing so as to separate said heat-transfer chamber from said loading chamber;
• and activating said air-flow mechanism.