Air conditioning (often referred to as A/C or aircon) is the process of altering the properties of air (primarily temperature and humidity) to more comfortable conditions, typically with the aim of distributing the conditioned air to an occupied space to improve thermal comfort and interior air quality.
What does it do?
A clean working air conditioning system provides efficient cool air in the summer and in the winter it provides warm dehumidified air, which easily demists steamed up car windows.Air conditioning also filters pollutants and airborne particles which keeps the air in your car clean and can also help with drivers and passengers who have allergies.
How does it work?
The refrigerant vapour is drawn in and compressed by the compressor. Both the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant is raised.
The hot vapour is then pumped to the condenser which consists of a series of pipes surrounded by numerous cooling fins through which the refrigerant passes. The refrigerant vapour is cooled by the air stream, with the assistance of the condenser fan on certain models, so that it condenses into a liquid. This task is shared by the engine radiator cooling fan on all models without a condenser fan.
The liquid refrigerant flows into the receiver drier which stores and filters the refrigerant until the required by the evaporator
The condensed liquid refrigerant is then metered into the evaporator via the pressure and temperature controlled expansion valve. The suction effect of the compressor creates a lower pressure in the evaporator causing an abrupt drop in refrigerant pressure as it passes through the expansion valve thus causing the liquid to evaporate. During this process heat is extracted from the air passing over the evaporator coil. The cooled incoming exterior air is blown into the vehicle interior via the air distribution system by the heater/air conditioning blower.
