How Air Conditioning Works
April, 9th, 2013
During hot summers, air conditioners are probably the most used home appliances. We all enjoy the cool air of air conditioner, but have you ever thought how it works? If not, then this article might be interesting for you as we are going to discuss how air conditioner keeps you cool even in scorch weather.
Air conditioners employ refrigeration to cool indoor air, employing an amazing physical law: When a liquid in converted into to a gas by the process called phase conversion, it soaks up heat. Air conditioners utilize this quality of phase conversion by forcing particular chemical compounds to evaporate and squeeze over and over again in a blocked system of coils.
The compounds are basically the refrigerants that possess those properties that enable them to modify at moderately low temperatures. Air conditioners are also equipped with fans that move hot inner air over these chilly, refrigerant-filled coils. In addition, the central air conditioners have a complete system of ducts intended to funnel air to and from these winding, air-chilling coils.
When the hot air flowing over low- pressure and cold evaporator coils the refrigerant present inside it, absorbs heat as it is transformed into liquid state. To maintain cooling more competently, the air conditioner has to transform the refrigerant gas into to a liquid form again. For this purpose, a gas is put into high pressure by a compressor. This is a process that generates unwanted heat.
All the spare heat created by squeezing the gas is then withdrawn from the outdoor by utilizing another set of coils named condenser coils, and another fan. As the gas gets cooled, it changes into a liquid state again, and the procedure restarts. It is like a never-ending, elegant cycle.
In short the entire functioning of air conditioning can be expressed as:
- Liquid refrigerant
- Phase alteration to a heat absorption
- Compression and stage conversion back to a liquid state again.