An easy guide to the main air conditioner components

Have you ever had the curiosity to inspect and understand how your air con’s main components all work together? What is the mechanism behind them? Whether you’re just purchasing your first air con unit or you’ve had one for years, let us guide you through the basics of air conditioning.

While temperatures outside seem to be stuck in the 30s, people are enjoying air conditioned comfort at home or at the office. But how much do you really know about air conditioning systems?

Although we use it every day, we sometimes take this amazing piece of technology called air conditioning for granted. Therefore, for a better understanding of its working principles, let’s see what the most important elements responsible with our well-being are.

Whilst there are many models and brands out there, they all have the same things in common: cool and/or heat and improve indoor air quality. So, in order to achieve these tasks, every air conditioner features 6 essential components:

1. Compressor

First and foremost, a compressor is it considered to be one of the most important parts of an air con unit. Technically, it is in charge with turning low-pressure gas into a high-pressure state. Also, it pumps the refrigerant through a circuit of tubing and fins in the coils.

Basically, when set on cooling mode, the air conditioner extracts hot air from the room, cools it down with the help of the condenser and eventually disperses it throughout the room. Therefore, the role of the compressor is to make sure the process runs smoothly at all times.

2. Expansion valve

Before looking at how the expansion valve works, you should know that temperature and pressure are in the direct relationship. Since the compressor’s role is to increase the pressure, an expansion valve is in charge with decreasing it. In other words, the liquid refrigerant enters the expansion valve to be cooled down, releasing a small part through the evaporator.

So, without the expansion valve, the refrigerant would rush into the evaporator coil without losing any of its pressure. Under those circumstances, the expansion causes its pressure to rapidly drop, along with its temperature.

3. Evaporator

Next, the evaporator is another key component of your air con unit. By decreasing the pressure, it turns the refrigerant into a gas, cooling off the hot air and releasing it back into the room. The refrigerant then goes back to the compressor, and the entire cycle repeats until the system reaches the desired temperature. In general, the evaporator is located in the indoor unit, and it represents the last step of the cooling process.

In conclusion, it is important to learn about the role of each element to better understand the system as a whole. Stay tuned to find out what the other air con main components are and how they work together in our next week’s blog post.