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How does an air conditioning system work?

Updated: 8/16/2019
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7y ago

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An air conditioning system works in a cycle. One side of the system is considered the high pressure side and the other side is considered the low pressure side. The air condition compressor can be viewed as the center line between these "sides" of the system. Refrigerant R-12 or R-134a (the most common types of refrigerant used in mobile A/C systems) remains at rest in the components an lines of the system until you turn on your A/C. At that point the electromagnetic clutch on the compressor engages and draws refrigerant (in a gas/liquid form) into it to be pumped throughout the system. Upon leaving the compressor the refrigerant has been compressed and thereby heated up resulting in it being transformed into a gaseous state. The refrigerant then travels into the condenser which removes heat from the refrigerant in an effort to return it to a liquid form. From the condenser the refrigerant will often pass through an expansion valve or an orifice (the other component in the system which divides the high an low pressure "sides") where it it "metered" to change it from High pressure on the compressor outlet side to low pressure. After the expansion valve the refrigerant moves into the evaporator. The evaporator is the component that actually removes heat from the air being forced through it by your vehicle's blower fan which pushes "cooled" or "conditioned" air through your vents. From the evaporator, the refrigerant (now mostly in gas form again) travels through a reciever-drier with removes moisture caused by condensation (which may have resulted from the heating and cooling of the refrigerant) before it returns once again to the compressor to repeat the cycle.

*Note:

  • R-12 and R-134A have very low boiling points and can be utilized in a liquid for due to the internal pressure of the A/C system.
  • R-12 is no longer produced to the CFCs and their environmental impact.
  • The A/C compressor's electromagnetic clutch is also engaged when using a "defrost" function in most vehicles.
  • There are high and low pressure sides of the system, the condenser is on the high side and the evaporator is on the low side.

Components include:

  1. Compressor
  2. Condenser
  3. Expansion valve/ orifice
  4. Evaporator/ blower motor
  5. Reciever-drier
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