Air conditioning

A typical home air conditioning window unit.

Air conditioning (often referred to as aircon, AC or A/C) is the process of altering the properties of air to more favourable conditions. More generally, air conditioning can refer to any form of technological cooling, heating, ventilation, or disinfection that modifies the condition of air.[1] An air conditioner is a major or home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to change the air temperature and humidity within an area (used for cooling and sometimes heating depending on the air properties at a given time). Thecooling is typically done using a simple refrigeration cycle, but sometimes evaporation is used, commonly for comfort cooling in buildings and motor vehicles. In construction, a complete system of heating, ventilation and air conditioning is referred to as "HVAC". Air conditioning can also be provided by a simple process called free cooling which uses pumps to circulate a coolant (typically water or a glycol mix) from a cold source, which in turn acts as a heat sink for the energy that is removed from the cooled space. Free cooling systems can have very high efficiencies, and are sometimes combined with seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) so the cold of winter can be used for summer air conditioning. Common storage media are deep aquifers or a natural underground rock mass accessed via a cluster of small-diameter, heat exchanger equipped boreholes. Some systems with small storage are hybrids, using free cooling early in the cooling season, and later employing a heat pump to chill the circulation coming from the storage. The heat pump is added-in because the temperature of the storage gradually increase during the cooling season, thereby declining in effectiveness. Free cooling and hybrid systems are mature technology.[2]

History[edit]
The basic concept behind air conditioning is to have been applied in ancient Egypt, where reeds were hung in windows and were moistened with trickling water. The evaporation of water cooled the air blowing through the window, though this process also made the air more humid (also beneficial in a dry desert climate). In Ancient Rome, water from aqueductswas circulated through the walls of certain houses to cool them. Other techniques in medieval Persia involved the use of cisterns and wind towers to cool buildings during the hot season. Modern air conditioning emerged from advances in chemistry during the 19th century, and the first large-scale electrical air conditioning was invented and used in 1902 byWillis Haviland Carrier. The introduction of residential air conditioning in the 1920s helped enable the great migration to the Sun Belt in the US.

Mechanical cooling[edit]

Three-quarters scale model of Gorrie's ice machine. John Gorrie State Museum, Florida

The 2nd-century Chinese inventor Ding Huan (fl 180) of the Han Dynasty invented a rotary fan for air conditioning, with seven wheels 3 m (9.8 ft) in diameter and manually powered.[3] In 747, Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712762) of the Tang Dynasty (618907) had the Cool Hall (Liang Tian) built in the imperial palace, which the Tang Yulin describes as having water-powered fan wheels for air conditioning as well as rising jet streams of water from fountains.[4] During the subsequent Song Dynasty (9601279), written sources mentioned the airconditioning rotary fan as even more widely used.[5] In the 17th century, Cornelis Drebbel demonstrated "turning Summer into Winter" for James I of England by adding salt to water.[6]

In 1758, Benjamin Franklin and John Hadley, a chemistry professor at Cambridge University, conducted an experiment to explore the principle of evaporation as a means to rapidly cool an object. Franklin and Hadley confirmed that evaporation of highly volatile liquids such as alcohol and ether could be used to drive down the temperature of an object past the freezing point of water. They conducted their experiment with the bulb of a mercury thermometer as their object and with a bellows used to "quicken" the evaporation; they lowered the temperature of the thermometer bulb down to 14 C (7 F) while the ambient temperature was 18 C (64 F). Franklin noted that, soon after they passed the freezing point of water 0 C (32 F), a thin film of ice formed on the surface of the thermometer's bulb and that the ice mass was about a quarter-inch thick when they stopped the experiment upon reaching 14 C (7 F). Franklin concluded, "From this experiment one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day"...[7] In 1820, English scientist and inventor Michael Faraday discovered that compressing and liquefying ammonia could chill air when the liquefied ammonia was allowed to evaporate. In 1842, Florida physician John Gorrie used compressor technology to create ice, which he used to cool air for his patients in his hospital in Apalachicola, Florida.[8] He hoped eventually to use his ice-making machine to regulate the temperature of buildings. He even envisioned centralized air conditioning that could cool entire cities.[9] Though his prototype leaked and performed irregularly, Gorrie was granted a patent in 1851 for his icemaking machine. His hopes for its success vanished soon afterwards when his chief financial backer died; Gorrie did not get the money he needed to develop the machine. According to his biographer, Vivian M. Sherlock, he blamed the "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, for his failure, suspecting that Tudor had launched a smear campaign against his invention. Dr. Gorrie died impoverished in 1855, and the idea of air conditioning faded away for 50 years. Since prehistoric times, snow and ice were used for cooling. The business of harvesting ice during winter and storing for use in summer became popular towards the late 19th century.[10] This practice was replaced by mechanical ice-making machine. James Harrison's first mechanical ice-making machine began operation in 1851 on the banks of the Barwon River at Rocky Point in Geelong (Australia). His first commercial ice-making machine followed in 1854, and his patent for an ether vapor-compression refrigeration system was granted in 1855. This novel system used a compressor to force the refrigeration gas to pass through a condenser, where it cooled down and liquefied. The liquefied gas then circulated through the refrigeration coils and vaporised again, cooling down the surrounding system. The machine employed a 5 m (16 ft.) flywheel and produced 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb) of ice per day. Though Harrison had commercial success establishing a second ice company back in Sydney in 1860, he later entered the debate over how to compete against the American advantage of unrefrigerated beef sales to the United Kingdom. He wrote Fresh Meat frozen and packed as if for a voyage, so that the refrigerating process may be continued for any required period, and in 1873 prepared the sailing ship Norfolk for an experimental

beef shipment to the United Kingdom. His choice of a cold room system instead of installing a refrigeration system upon the ship itself proved disastrous when the ice was consumed faster than expected.

Electromechanical cooling[edit]

Willis Carrier

In 1902, the first modern electrical air conditioning unit was invented by Willis Carrier in Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Cornell University, Carrier, a native of Angola, New York, found a job at the Buffalo Forge Company. While there, Carrier began experimenting with air conditioning as a way to solve an application problem for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn, New York, and the first "air conditioner", designed and built in Buffalo by Carrier, began working on 17 July 1902. Designed to improve manufacturing process control in a printing plant, Carrier's invention controlled not only temperature but also humidity. Carrier used his knowledge of the heating of objects with steam and reversed the process. Instead of sending air through hot coils, he sent it through cold coils (ones filled with cold water). The air blowing over the cold coils cooled the air, and one could thereby control the amount of moisture the colder air could hold. In turn, the humidity in the room could be controlled. The low heat and humidity helped maintain consistent paper dimensions and ink alignment. Later, Carrier's technology was applied to increase productivity in the workplace, and The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America was formed to meet rising demand. Over time, air conditioning came to be used to improve comfort in homes andautomobiles as well. Residential sales expanded dramatically in the 1950s. In 1906, Stuart W. Cramer of Charlotte, North Carolina was exploring ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill. Cramer coined the term "air conditioning", using it in a patent claim he filed that year as an analogue to "water conditioning", then a well-known process for making textiles easier to process. He combined moisture with ventilation to "condition" and change the air in the factories, controlling the humidity so necessary in textile

plants. Willis Carrier adopted the term and incorporated it into the name of his company. The evaporation of water in air, to provide a cooling effect, is now known as evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling was the first real air-conditioning and shortly thereafter the first private home to have air conditioning (The Dubose House) was built in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1933. Realizing that air conditioning would one day be a standard feature of private homes, particularly in the South, David St. Pierre DuBose (1898-1994) designed an ingenious network of ductwork and vents, all painstakingly disguised behind intricate and attractive Georgian-style open moldings. Meadowmont is believed to be one of the first private homes in the United States equipped for central air conditioning.[11] In 1945, Robert Sherman of Lynn, MA, invented the portable, in-window air conditioner that cooled and heated, humidified and dehumidified, and filtered the air (Patent # 2,433,960 granted January 6, 1948). It was subsequently stolen by a large manufacturer. Sherman did not have the resources to fight the big corporation in courtthey promised to "break him" if he tried - and thus never received any money or recognition. He died in 1962. Patent at http://navlog.org/patent_1.html

Refrigerant development[edit]
The first air conditioners and refrigerators employed toxic or flammable gases, such as ammonia, methyl chloride, or propane, that could result in fatal accidents when they leaked.Thomas Midgley, Jr created the first non-flammable, non-toxic chlorofluorocarbon gas, Freon, in 1928. "Freon" is a trademark name owned by DuPont for any Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), or Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant, the name of each including a number indicating molecular composition (R-11, R-12, R-22, R-134A). The blend most used in direct-expansion home and building comfort cooling is an HCFC known asR-22. It was to be phased out for use in new equipment by 2010, and is to be completely discontinued by 2020. R-12 was the most common blend used in automobiles in the US until 1994, when most designs changed to R134A. R-11 and R-12 are no longer manufactured in the US for this type of application, the only source for airconditioning repair purposes being the cleaned and purified gas recovered from other air-conditioner systems. Several non-ozone-depleting refrigerants have been developed as alternatives, including R-410A, invented by AlliedSignal (now part of Honeywell) in Buffalo, and sold under the Genetron (R) AZ-20 name. It was first commercially used by Carrier under the brand name Puron. Innovation in air-conditioning technologies continues, with much recent emphasis placed on energy efficiency and on improving indoor air quality. Reducing climate-change impact is an important area of innovation because, in addition to greenhouse-gas emissions associated with energy use, CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs are, themselves, potent greenhouse gaseswhen leaked to the atmosphere. For example, R-22 (also known as

HCFC-22) has a global warming potential about 1,800 times higher than CO2.[12] As an alternative to conventional refrigerants, natural alternatives, such as carbon dioxide (CO2. R-744), have been proposed.[13]

Refrigeration cycle[edit]

A split-type air conditioner

A simple stylized diagram of the refrigeration cycle: 1) condensing coil, 2) expansion valve, 3) evaporator coil, 4) compressor

Capillary expansion valve connection to evaporator inlet. Notice frost formation

In the refrigeration cycle, a heat pump transfers heat from a lower-temperature heat source into a highertemperature heat sink. Heat would naturally flow in the opposite direction. This is the most common type of air

conditioning. A refrigerator works in much the same way, as it pumps the heat out of the interior and into the room in which it stands. This cycle takes advantage of the way phase changes work, where latent heat is released at a constant temperature during a liquid/gasphase change, and where varying the pressure of a pure substance also varies its condensation/boiling point. The most common refrigeration cycle uses an electric motor to drive a compressor. In an automobile, the compressor is driven by a beltover a pulley, the belt being driven by the engine's crankshaft (similar to the driving of the pulleys for the alternator, power steering, etc.). Whether in a car or building, both use electric fan motors for air circulation. Since evaporation occurs when heat is absorbed, and condensation occurs when heat is released, air conditioners use a compressor to cause pressure changes between two compartments, and actively condense and pump a refrigerant around. A refrigerant is pumped into the evaporator coil, located in the compartment to be cooled, where the low pressure causes the refrigerant to evaporate into a vapor, taking heat with it. At the opposite side of the cycle is the condenser, which is located outside of the cooled compartment, where the refrigerant vapor is compressed and forced through another heat exchange coil, condensing the refrigerant into a liquid, thus releasing the heat previously absorbed from the cooled space. By placing the condenser (where the heat is rejected) inside a compartment, and the evaporator (which absorbs heat) in the ambient environment (such as outside), or merely running a normal air conditioner's refrigerant in the opposite direction, the overall effect is the opposite, and the compartment is heated. This is usually called a heat pump, and is capable of heating a home to comfortable temperatures (25 C; 70 F), even when the outside air is below the freezing point of water (0 C; 32 F). Cylinder unloaders are a method of load control used mainly in commercial air conditioning systems. On a semi-hermetic (or open) compressor, the heads can be fitted with unloaders which remove a portion of the load from the compressor so that it can run better when full cooling is not needed. Unloaders can be electrical or mechanical.

Humidity control[edit]

Air conditioning units outside a classroom building at theUniversity of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

See also: Dehumidifier Refrigeration air-conditioning equipment usually reduces the absolute humidity of the air processed by the system. The relatively cold (below the dewpoint) evaporator coil condenses water vapor from the processed air (much like an ice-cold drink will condense water on the outside of a glass), sending the water to a drain and removing water vapor from the cooled space and lowering the relative humidity in the room. Since humans perspire to provide natural cooling by the evaporation of perspiration from the skin, drier air (up to a point) improves the comfort provided. The comfort air conditioner is designed to create a 40% to 60% relative humidity in the occupied space. In food-retailing establishments, large open chiller cabinets act as highly effective air dehumidifying units. A specific type of air conditioner that is used only for dehumidifying is called a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier is different from a regular air conditioner in that both the evaporator and condenser coils are placed in the same air path, and the entire unit is placed in the environment that is intended to be conditioned (in this case dehumidified), rather than requiring the condenser coil to be outdoors. Having the condenser coil in the same air path as the evaporator coil produces warm, dehumidified air. The evaporator (cold) coil is placed first in the air path, dehumidifying the air exactly as a regular air conditioner does. The air next passes over the condenser coil, re-warming the now dehumidified air. Having the condenser coil in the main air path rather than in a separate, outdoor air path (as with a regular air conditioner) results in two consequences: the output air is warm rather than cold, and the unit is able to be placed anywhere in the environment to be conditioned, without a need to have the condenser outdoors. Unlike a regular air conditioner, a dehumidifier will actually heat a room just as an electric heater that draws the same amount of power (watts) as the dehumidifier would. A regular air conditioner transfers energy out of the room by means of the condenser coil, which is outside the room (outdoors). That is, the room can be considered a thermodynamic systemfrom which energy is transferred to the external environment. Conversely, with a dehumidifier, no energy is transferred out of the thermodynamic system (room) because the air conditioning unit (dehumidifier) is entirely inside the room. Therefore all of the power consumed by the dehumidifier is energy that is input into the thermodynamic system (the room) and remains in the room (as heat). In addition, if the condensed water has been removed from the room, the amount of heat needed to boil that water has been added to the room. This is the inverse of adding water to the room with an evaporative cooler. Dehumidifiers are commonly used in cold, damp climates to prevent mold growth indoors, especially in basements. They are also used to protect sensitive equipment from the adverse effects of excessive humidity in tropical countries.

The engineering of physical and thermodynamic properties of gasvapor mixtures is called psychrometrics.

Energy[edit]
In a thermodynamically closed system, any power dissipated into the system that is being maintained at a set temperature (which is a standard mode of operation for modern air conditioners) requires that the rate of energy removal by the air conditioner increase. This increase has the effect that, for each unit of energy input into the system (say to power a light bulb in the closed system), the air conditioner removes that energy. [14] In order to do so, the air conditioner must increase its power consumption by the inverse of its "efficiency" (coefficient of performance) times the amount of power dissipated into the system. As an example, assume that inside the closed system a 100 W heating element is activated, and the air conditioner has an coefficient of performance of 200%. The air conditioner's power consumption will increase by 50 W to compensate for this, thus making the 100 W heating element cost a total of 150 W of power. It is typical for air conditioners to operate at "efficiencies" of significantly greater than 100%.[15] However, it may be noted that the input electrical energy is of higher thermodynamic quality (lower entropy) than the output thermal energy (heat energy). Air conditioner equipment power in the U.S. is often described in terms of "tons of refrigeration". A ton of refrigeration is approximately equal to the cooling power of one short ton(2000 pounds or 907 kilograms) of ice melting in a 24-hour period. The value is defined as 12,000 BTU per hour, or 3517 watts.[16] Residential central air systems are usually from 1 to 5 tons (3 to 20 kilowatts (kW)) in capacity. In an automobile, the A/C system will use around 4 horsepower (3 kW) of the engine's power.[17]

Seasonal energy efficiency ratio[edit]

Main article: Seasonal energy efficiency ratio For residential homes, some countries set minimum requirements for energy efficiency. In the United States, the efficiency of air conditioners is often (but not always) rated by theseasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER). The higher the SEER rating, the more energy efficient is the air conditioner. The SEER rating is the BTU of cooling output during its normal annual usage divided by the total electric energy input in watt hours (Wh) during the same period.[18] SEER = BTU (Wh) this can also be rewritten as: SEER = (BTU / h) W, where "W" is the average electrical power in Watts, and (BTU/h) is the rated cooling power. For example, a 5000 BTU/h air-conditioning unit, with a SEER of 10, would consume 5000/10 = 500 Watts of power on average.

The electrical energy consumed per year can be calculated as the average power multiplied by the annual operating time: 500 W 1000 h = 500,000 Wh = 500 kWh Assuming 1000 hours of operation during a typical cooling season (i.e., 8 hours per day for 125 days per year). Another method that yields the same result, is to calculate the total annual cooling output: 5000 BTU/h 1000 h = 5,000,000 BTU Then, for a SEER of 10, the annual electrical energy usage would be: 5,000,000 BTU 10 = 500,000 Wh = 500 kWh SEER is related to the coefficient of performance (COP) commonly used in thermodynamics and also to the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER). The EER is the efficiency rating for the equipment at a particular pair of external and internal temperatures, while SEER is calculated over a whole range of external temperatures (i.e., the temperature distribution for the geographical location of the SEER test). SEER is unusual in that it is composed of an Imperial unit divided by an SI unit. The COP is a ratio with the same metric units of energy (joules) in both the numerator and denominator. They cancel out, leaving a dimensionless quantity. Formulas for the approximate conversion between SEER and EER or COP are available from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company:[19] (1) (2) (3) SEER = EER 0.9 SEER = COP 3.792 EER = COP 3.413

From equation (2) above, a SEER of 13 is equivalent to a COP of 3.43, which means that 3.43 units of heat energy are pumped per unit of work energy. The United States now requires that residential systems manufactured in 2006 have a minimum SEER rating of 13 (although window-box systems are exempt from this law, so their SEER is still around 10).[20]

Window and through-wall[edit]

Room air conditioners come in two forms: unitary and packaged terminal (PTAC) systems. Unitary systems, the common one room air conditioners, sit in a window or wall opening, with interior controls. Interior air is cooled as a fan blows it over the evaporator. On the exterior the air is heated as a second fan blows it over the condenser. In this process, heat is drawn from the room and discharged to the environment. A large house or building may have several such units, permitting each room to be cooled separately. PTAC systems are also known as wall-split air conditioning systems or ductless systems.[21] These PTAC systems which are frequently used in hotels have two separate units (terminal packages), the evaporative unit

on the interior and the condensing unit on the exterior, with tubing passing through the wall and connecting them. This minimizes the interior system footprint and allows each room to be adjusted independently. PTAC systems may be adapted to provide heating in cold weather, either directly by using an electric strip, gas or other heater, or by reversing the refrigerant flow to heat the interior and draw heat from the exterior air, converting the air conditioner into a heat pump. While room air conditioning provides maximum flexibility, when used to cool many rooms at a time it is generally more expensive than central air conditioning. The first practical through the wall air conditioning unit was invented by engineers at Chrysler Motors and offered for sale starting in 1935.[22]

Window unit

Split systems[edit]
Split-system air conditioners come in two forms: central and mini-split. In both types, the inside-environment (evaporative) heat exchangerand fan is separated by some distance from the outside-environment (condensing unit) heat exchanger and fan. In central air conditioning, the inside heat-exchanger is typically placed inside the central furnace/AC unit of forced air heating system which is then used in the summer to distribute chilled air throughout a residence or commercial building. A mini-split system typically supplied chilled air to only a single space, and thus was sometimes referred to as split-system single-zone air conditioning. Today, however, one split-system compressor can supply chilled air to up to eight indoor units. (See page 16 of the current Mitsubishi Contractors Guide,:http://www.mitsubishipro.com/media/382145/m-series_revised_july13.pdf ) If the split system is contains a heat pump, as is often the case, the system may be easily switched seasonally to supply heat instead of cold. Controls can be wall-mounted or handheld (the size of the remote control for a television).

Ductless (split-system) air conditioning[edit]

Mini-split systems - today usually called ductless air conditioners typically produce 9,00036,000 Btu (9,50038,000 kJ) per hour of cooling.[23] Most ductless systems are similar to PTAC air conditioners in that they are often designed to cool a single room or space, but ductless air conditioning allows design and

installation flexibility because the inside wall space required is significantly reduced and the compressor and heat exchanger can be located further away from the inside space, rather than merely on the other side of the same unit as in a PTAC or window air conditioner. In addition, ductless systems will offer much higher efficiency (up to 27.1 SEER on some systems).[citation needed]. Today's brands include Aircon, Carrier, Daikin, Klimaire, LG, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, and YMGI. Most ductless (split system) air conditioners still typically provide cooling to a single room or interior zone, just like a window air conditioner or PTAC; but more powerful outside units are becoming more and more available, supporting cooling of ever-more interior zones. Advantages of the ductless system include smaller size and flexibility for zoning or heating and cooling individual rooms. Flexible exterior hoses lead from the outside unit to the interior one(s); these are often enclosed with metal to look like common drainpipes from the roof. Those enclosures can be painted to match the color of the house. The primary disadvantage of ductless air conditioners is their cost. Such systems cost about $1,500 to $2,000 per ton (12,000 Btu per hour) of cooling capacity. This is about 30% more than central systems (not including ductwork) and may cost more than twice as much as window units of similar capacity."[24] An additional possible disadvantage that may increase net cost is that ductless systems may sometimes not be eligible for energy efficiency rebates offered by many electric utility companies as part of an incentive program to reduce summer cooling load on theelectrical grid.[25]

Central Air Conditioning[edit]

Central (ducted) air conditioning offers whole-house or large-commercial-space cooling, and often offers moderate multi-zone temperature control capability by the addition of air-louver-control boxes.

Evaporative coolers[edit]
Main article: Evaporative cooler

an evaporative cooler

In very dry climates, evaporative coolers, sometimes referred to as swamp coolers or desert coolers, are popular for improving coolness during hot weather. An evaporative cooler is a device that draws outside air through a wet pad, such as a large sponge soaked with water. Thesensible heat of the incoming air, as measured by a dry bulb thermometer, is reduced. The total heat (sensible heat plus latent heat) of the entering air is unchanged. Some of the sensible heat of the entering air is converted to latent heat by the evaporation of water in the wet cooler pads. If the entering air is dry enough, the results can be quite cooling; evaporative coolers tend to feel as if they are not working during times of high humidity, when there is not much dry air with which the coolers can work to make the air as cool as possible for dwelling occupants. Unlike other types of air conditioners, evaporative coolers rely on the outside air to be channeled through cooler pads that cool the air before it reaches the inside of a house through its air duct system; this cooled outside air must be allowed to push the warmer air within the house out through an exhaust opening such as an open door or window.[26] These coolers cost less and are mechanically simple to understand and maintain. An early type of cooler, using ice for a further effect, was patented by John Gorrie of Apalachicola, Florida in 1842. He used the device to cool the patients in his malaria hospital.