What makes up an air conditioning unit

This article from howstuffworks. Air conditioners monitor and regulate the air temperature via a thermostat. They also have an onboard filter that removes airborne particulates from the circulating air. Air conditioners function as dehumidifiers.

Because temperature is a key component of relative humidity, reducing the temperature of a volume of humid air causes it to release a portion of its moisture. This means that part of the system is inside generally with your furnace and part of the system is outside. There are obviously more than four parts that make up your air conditioner, but so as not to overwhelm you, these are the four critical ones you should know about: the evaporator, condenser, compressor, and expansion valve.

That's why there are drains and moisture-collecting pans near or attached to air conditioners, and why air conditioners discharge water when they operate on humid days. Still, the major parts of an air conditioner manage refrigerant and move air in two directions: indoors and outside:. The cold side of an air conditioner contains the evaporator and a fan that blows air over the chilled coils and into the room. The hot side contains the compressor, condenser and another fan to vent hot air coming off the compressed refrigerant to the outdoors.

In between the two sets of coils, there's an expansion valve. It regulates the amount of compressed liquid refrigerant moving into the evaporator. Once in the evaporator, the refrigerant experiences a pressure drop, expands and changes back into a gas. The compressor is actually a large electric pump that pressurizes the refrigerant gas as part of the process of turning it back into a liquid.

There are some additional sensors, timers and valves, but the evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve are the main components of an air conditioner. Frequently, plastic and other nontraditional materials are used to reduce weight and cost. Copper or aluminum tubing, critical ingredients in many air conditioner components, provide superior thermal properties and a positive influence on system efficiency.

Various components in an air conditioner will differ with the application, but usually they are comprised of stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant metals. Self-contained units that house the refrigeration system will usually be encased in sheet metal that is protected from environmental conditions by a paint or powder coating.

The working fluid, the fluid that circulates through the air-conditioning system, is typically a liquid with strong thermodynamic characteristics like freon, hydrocarbons, ammonia, or water.

All air conditioners have four basic components: a pump, an evaporator, a condenser, and an expansion valve. All have a working fluid and an opposing fluid medium as well. Two air conditioners may look entirely dissimilar in both size, shape, and configuration, yet both function in basically the same way. This is due to the wide variety of applications and energy sources available. Most air conditioners derive their power from an electrically-driven motor and pump combination to circulate the refrigerant fluid.

Some natural gas-driven chillers couple the pump with a gas engine in order to give off significantly more torque. As the working fluid or refrigerant circulates through the air-conditioning system at high pressure via the pump, it will enter an evaporator where it changes into a gas state, taking heat from the opposing fluid medium and operating just like a heat exchanger.

The working fluid then moves to the condenser, where it gives off heat to the atmosphere by condensing back into a liquid. After passing through an expansion valve, the working fluid returns to a low pressure All air conditioners have four basic components: pump, evaporator, condenser, and expansion valve.

Warm air from the inside of your house is pulled into ductwork by a motorized fan. The refrigerant is pumped from the exterior compressor coil to the interior evaporator coil, where it absorbs the heat from the air. This cooled air is then pushed through connecting ducts to vents throughout the home, lowering the interior temperature.

The refrigeration cycle continues again, providing a consistent method to keep you cool. Parts of a Central AC System To get a better sense of how your air is cooled, it helps to know a little bit about the parts that make up the air conditioning system.

A typical central air conditioning system is a two-part or split system that includes: The outdoor unit contains the condenser coil, compressor, electrical components and a fan.