Air Conditioning Equipment and Their Uses

Introduction

The invention of air conditioners was actually an accident. In the summer days of 1902, a printing company hired an electrical engineer by the name of Willis Haviland Carrier to solve some issues that they were facing. As warm air contains more moisture, printing was getting difficult as the papers would absorb this moisture. Carrier then decided to reduce the humidity level by blowing the air inside the building across chilled pipes. As cool air can't carry as much moisture as warm air, the method worked. Also, it reduced the temperature inside the building and thus air conditioners were born.

Mechanics

The definition of an air conditioner, which can also be referred to as AC, is a home appliance or mechanism that removes humidity and moisture from the air and cools the enclosed area. How an AC works is on the basis of physics. They take advantage of the fact that when a liquid turns to gas, it absorbs heat. The liquid inside the mechanics of an AC that evaporates and condenses is called refrigerant and is stored inside coils. They can evaporate at very low temperatures and when warm air flows over them, they change from liquid to gas inside the evaporator coils. As they evaporate, they remove heat from the room. To keep this process up and running, the gas is pressurized under a compressor that creates unwanted heat allowing it to be released into the outdoors. Air conditioners today can even monitor and regulate the room temperature as well as remove dust particles from the air. Reducing the temperature of humid air also causes it to release a small amount of its moisture and that is how we get that liquid flowing out of an AC.

Application

The mechanism that an AC uses can be applied to several appliances for cooling. A variation of the AC would be the window air conditioner. It is a small unit that comprises all the components of a regular AC fitted inside a small body. The window air conditioner can be fitted inside a window and it would blow cold air into the room while the warm air would be blown out. A split AC system is common in large office buildings that make use of the same AC unit. The only difference is that a blower blows the cool air into a channel that runs through the building and has ducts at various points to release the cool air into the building. A refrigerator also uses similar mechanics of an AC. The only difference is that it has its own body to keep the cool air inside.