Question

working and principal of air conditioners

Answer 1

Every air conditioner (also pronounced as AC, A/C or Air Cooler in certain regions of the world) has got a compressor inside it. It works to compress and pump the refrigerant gas. Compression of refrigerant produces heat. To dissipate this heat, compressed refrigerant is pumped to the condenser coils where a fan blows the heat out to outer atmosphere. During this process, refrigerant takes the liquid form. This liquid refrigerant is pumped towards expansion valve. Expansion valve has a temperature sensor connected to it which works in correlation with thermostat settings. Expansion valve releases the appropriate amount of refrigerant to evaporator (cooling coils) where liquefied refrigerant takes gaseous form. Conversion from liquid to gaseous state due to expansion causes cooling because energy is absorbed from the surrounding. Air when passes through fins (attached to coils) gets cooled and blown to the room. The gaseous refrigerant in cooling coils then enters the compressor and gets compressed once again. The cycle continues unless the compressor is shut down.

In a nutshell, air conditioner draws heat from the indoor and releases it to the outdoor. Indoor acts as a source and outdoor as a sink for heat.

In vehicle air conditioners, a Receiver-Drier is installed between condenser and expansion valve. It serves to collect excessive refrigerant when not required for cooling operation. It also has got a desiccant which absorbs any moisture present in the refrigerant.