How is an Air Conditioner Made?
June 30th, 2019 by Airedale CoolingWe all know that air conditioning on a hot day is a blissful thing. Walking into a building with air conditioning, escaping from the sweltering, muggy heat of the outdoors brings a wave of relief. But do you know how an air conditioner is made?
This month, we’ll be taking you through how an air conditioner is made – including what the core components are, what they do and the different types of commercial areas they are best applied to.
Air Conditioning Design
In commercial air conditioning, you’ll likely have seen the fans from a unit on the outside of a building, while the vents which circulate cold air into the room will be in the ceiling. These systems are much larger than ones found in homes since commercial air conditioning is about maintaining a comfortable temperature across a larger environment. This is usually referred to in the industry as HVAC (Heating and Ventilation Air Conditioning).
Core components of an air conditioning unit include:
- Condenser
- Compressor
- Heating Element
- Refrigerant Piping
- Fans
- Evaporator
- Motors
How it works
Any air conditioner works on the principle of creating colder air. The system draws in the warm air from its given environment, exposing it to coils filled with a cool refrigerant. This turns the refrigerant into a gas, taking away the heat and leaving cooler air which can be pumped back out into the room.
A compressor then turns the refrigerant gas back into a liquid to reuse in the cycle. The leftover heat will then get filtered out of the building – which is why you usually see fans on the outside areas of buildings.
The Materials Used
There are several materials which are commonly used as part of the construction of an air conditioner, including plastic, copper, aluminium and stainless steel. Some of the materials required must be corrosion-resistant to stand the test of time, while others will have been selected to reduce the overall weight of the air conditioning unit.
Different models will vary in the materials used, with higher-spec models using more premium, quality materials, which is reflected in the cost.
Common Commercial Applications
In hotter climates around the world, it’s not uncommon to see all homes and apartments with their own air conditioning unit to make the intense more bearable, but here in the UK, it’s more likely to be commercial air conditioning that you’re familiar with.
Commercial air conditioning is useful for regulating the temperature of larger areas such as office spaces, retail spaces and those buildings which require the removal of hot air for practical purposes, such as leisure centres. While in a home it might be easy to open a window to get cool air circulating, this often isn’t possible for buildings with larger windows, larger environments and floors which extend high up into the air.
Priding ourselves on providing high-quality air conditioning services, at Airedale Cooling Services we provide commercial air conditioning – which includes installation, maintenance and repair to help ensure the continuous cool air your environment needs. To learn more about our services, simply contact us today.