Air Conditioning
– How it works
An Air conditioner works in the same way as
a refrigerator.
In fact a refrigerator is an air conditioning
unit, the only difference being that it just
cools the interior.
Air conditioners nowadays work on exactly
the same principle, but can cool an office,
a whole house, warehouse and entire buildings
as Carrier RentalXpress does for numerous businesses
in London and throughout the UK, cooling servers
rooms, comms rooms, offices, warehouses and
more.
Central air conditioners are split systems,
these consist of an outdoor unit (the
condensing unit) and an indoor unit (air
handler). The function of an air conditioner
is to transport heat from one area to
another to another.
Air conditioners use chemicals that convert
easily from a gas state to a liquid state
and back again.
The chemical, which is called the “refrigerant”,
is commonly referred to as Freon and it
is this that actually transports the heat
from the air inside of a home, office,
server or computer room to the outside
air thus cooling and dehumidifying the
air inside.
The air conditioner has three main parts.
They are a compressor, a condenser and
an evaporator. The compressor and condenser
are usually located on the outside of
the building. The evaporator is located
on the inside the building and sometimes
as part of the heating system.
Air conditioning Process:
The working fluid (refrigerant) arrives
at the compressor as a cool, low-pressure
gas. The compressor squeezes the fluid
and as a result of this compression it
increases the temperature of the refrigerant.
The working fluid actually leaves the compressor
as a gas that is hot and under pressure.
This then goes to the condenser. The condenser
situated outside the building and typically
recognised by its distinctive fins then
allows the heat to dissipate in the outside
air. The design of the fins acts as a
catalyst in the heat dissipation.
When the working fluid leaves the condenser,
its temperature is much cooler and it
has changed from a gas to a liquid under
high pressure. The liquid goes into the
evaporator through a very tiny hole into
an expansion chamber. On the other side,
the liquid's pressure drops. When it does
it begins to evaporate into a gas.
The effective part of the process in air
conditioning the defined area occurs as
the liquid changes to gas and evaporates.
This cold gas runs through a set of coils
that allow the gas to absorb heat and
cool down the air inside the building.
By the time the working fluid leaves the
evaporator, it is a cool, low-pressure
gas. It then returns to the compressor
to begin its trip all over again.
This cycle continues repeatedly until the
room reaches the desired temperature you
want the room cooled to. The thermostat
senses that the temperature has reached
the right setting and turns off the air
conditioner. As the temperature subsequently
begins to warm up again, the thermostat
turns the air conditioner back on again
until once again the room reaches the
desired temperature.
Split Systems and Window air conditioners
Besides the fact that the hot and cold
sides are split apart and the capacity
is higher (making the coils and compressor
larger), there is no difference between
a split-system and a window air conditioner.
In warehouses, businesses, shopping centres
and large department stores the condensing
unit normally lives on the roof and can
be one single enormous condenser or alternatively,
there may be many smaller units on the
roof each dedicated to specific zone within
the building.
Carrier RentalXpress operate nationally, with a
significant and varied client base in
London and within the M25.
We supply portable or fixed air conditioners
and cooling systems for small offices
to warehouses. For an emergency response
with equipment best suited to your specific
environment which can be applied quickly,
effectively and cool your environment
and business critical systems such as
server rooms, computer rooms and communications
centres contact us on 0870
750 144 visit
We have equipment supplied either on a
short or long term basis with cover
available 365 day 24 hours service.
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