Allcool

How Air Conditioning Works

Air conditioning has changed the way a lot of people live in this modern world. Stepping out of the hot and humid outdoors into an air conditioned building is like stepping into a completely different climate zone. It is very rare home or building that is built today that does not include central air conditioning. It has moved in a few short years from a luxury to a necessity. The scientific principle behind air conditioning is the heat exchange properties of condensation and evaporation.

The evaporation and condensation cycle is the secret to how the air conditioning process actually takes place. It begins with a compressor that turns low pressure, cool gas refrigerant into high pressure, hot gas vapor. The hot vapor moves through a series of coils where it dissipates its heat and condenses into a liquid. The liquid moves through an expansion value where it evaporates into a cold vapor. The cold vapor passes through a second set of coils where it contacts the ambient air and cools the air by absorbing the heat. The cooled vapor is pulled into the compressor and the cycle begins again. It is this constant cycle of high to low pressure and liquid to gas form that allows the heat to be removed from the ambient air and that air to be cooled for circulation.