AIR CONDITIONERS

1. PRINCIPLES OF AIR CONDITIONING

1-1. PRINCIPLES OF AIR COOLING
If a body wet with perspiration is exposed to the wind, or a hand is moistened
with liquid alcohol, the body or hand will feel cool. The reason for this is that
the perspiration or liquid alcohol takes heat from the skin to evaporate into gas.
In brief, liquid has the nature of cooling the surrounding as it becomes vapor.
This also applies to the principle of the car cooler.

1-2. REFRIGERATION CYCLE

The refrigerant in the car
cooler does not disperse
outside, but repeatedly
changes from liquid form to
vapor and then back to the
liquid form. This cycle is
called a refrigeration cycle
and the air-cooling system
performs it continuously.
Generally, the temperature
of gas rises when it is com-
pressed and it becomes liq-
uid when it is cooled. It
returns to vapor when it is decompressed. In the refrigeration cycle, the refrig-
erant (Freon gas) is compressed by the compressor.
Then the compressed vapor, at a high temperature and high pressure, is cooled
in the condenser and becomes a liquid. The liquid refrigerant is evaporated by
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 reducing its pressure with the squeezing operation of the expansion valve. This
evaporation soaks up heat from the surrounding air. The figure illustrates the
basic steps making up the refrigeration cycle, together with the flowing direc-
tion, pressure levels, and conditions of the refrigerant.

The basic refrigeration system used in automobile air-conditioning consists of a

compressor, condenser, receiver-drier, expansion valve, evaporator, and other
parts. In the automobile air-conditioning system, the refrigeration cycle is oper-
ated by incorporating the following parts.

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