Here is how an air conditioner cools; a window air conditioner has a cooling system which has four main parts or components: the compressor, condenser, evaporator, and a metering device. An air conditioner actually removes the warmness from the air instead of cooling it. The compressor is the motor of the system; it is located in the middle of the air conditioner. It is black and roughly the size of a football; the compressor runs when the appliance is on the cool setting, and the thermostat is set for a colder temperature. When the compressor is running it actually compresses the refrigerant gas from a low to a high pressure. The high pressured gas is cooled so it turns to a liquid, and then it is brought to the condenser.
The condenser is a group of tubes with fins attached, sort of like a radiator. The condenser is located on the back of the unit; it looks like silvery fins. When the refrigerant is a liquid it gives off heat, the heat is drawn away from the refrigerant tubes by those silvery fins. When the liquid refrigerant has gone through the tubes, it goes through another small copper tube (the capillary tube), also known as the metering device. This tube is connected from the end of the condenser to the beginning of the evaporator.
Now, the evaporator is on the front of the air conditioner, this part also has silver fins. Once the liquid refrigerant exits the capillary tube it is inserted into the big evaporator tubes. When that liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator tubes it expands back into a gas, this gas absorbs heat. Then the refrigerant gas goes through the evaporator tubes and ends up back in the compressor. The evaporator is cold to the touch because it is absorbing heat. This sudden drop in temperature causes any humidity to be collected on the evaporator. There is a fan in the unit that circulates the air for the condenser coils and the evaporator.
The metering device is a little tube in between the end of the condenser and the evaporator inlet. Sometimes, on larger size air conditioners this can be a type of valve that open and close depending on the temperature of the outlet of the cooling coil, which makes sure there is a proper flow of refrigerant to the coil.
If the air conditioner is running, the fan and compressor both are running. The fan motor has two fan blades connected to it on either end. The fan blade on the inner part of the appliance draws the air in the room over the cold evaporator coils. The fan blade located on the outer part of the air conditioner draws the outside air over the warm condenser coils. Since the evaporator coils are cool they cause any moisture in the room to collect on them. When there is a good amount of moisture on them it will drop off the coils and into the bottom pan of the air conditioner.
The thermostat works by reading the air temperature coming into the appliance. When the air entering the unit reaches a set temperature it will make the compressor turn off. Sometimes the blower will still blow, depending on the selection made on the control panel. Digital thermostats work in basically the same way, but they tell you a more accurate temperature readout.
The selector switches in an air conditioner let you choose the fan speed. The compressor will always run at the same speed no matter what the settings are. If you choose a "low cool" setting, the fan will run at a slower speed but the compressor will still run with the same cooling capacity. There are also other switches to control different features on some air conditioners.
Well, I hope this article has helped you learn how your household window air conditioner works.
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