Split-type Air Conditioning System

Air-conditioners give us much-needed thermal comfort during scorching summer,

more specifically, air-conditioners help to maintain the room temperature at the optimum

level and they also help remove airborne particles and humidity in the room. One of systems

is the split-type air-conditioning.

A typical split air-conditioning system has key features that makes it different from

other types of system. It has the refrigerant as its working fluid, and the evaporator and the

condenser is physically separated from each other. Pumps that are also in split system and

has the ability to manipulate and reverse the functions of the evaporator and condenser

within the system are called heat pumps.

Split air-conditioning is divided in two parts: the first part includes the evaporator,

filter, evaporator fan and grill which are placed inside the room; the second part includes

the condenser, fan, and compressor which are placed outside the room. Diameter tubes

serve as the links from one system to another, thus, provision for holes in the wall is

required in the installation.

In this paper, let us start with a very simple approach to understanding the

functions. A split-type air-conditioner has two connected coils with continuously flowing

refrigerant fluid inside them. The coil inside the room is called the evaporator and the coil

outside the room is called the condenser. The fundamental principle of an air-conditioner is

simple, just keep the evaporator cold, more specifically colder than the room temperature,

and on the other hand, the condenser hot, more specifically hotter than the surroundings

outside the house. With these conditions, the continuously flowing fluid will apparently

absorb the heat from the room and eject it out to the surroundings. To achieve this
fundamental function as an objective, two more components are needed inside your air-

conditioner, a compressor and an expansion valve.

The compressor increases the pressure of the refrigerant. A reciprocating type of

compressor, the compressor handles the refrigerant in its gaseous state so that as it

compresses the gas, the temperature rises along with the pressure. The temperature at the

compressor outlet will be far higher than the atmospheric temperature, therefore, you can

easily eject the heat if you pass this hot gas through the condenser heat exchanger. A fan

installed in the condenser unit makes this task easier.

During the heat ejection phase, the gas gets condensed to a liquid. An expansion

valve is fitted at the exit of the condenser and the purpose of it is to restrict the refrigerant

flow thus reducing the pressure of the fluid. The main trick that people might be aware of

that it is possible to boil a liquid just by reducing the pressure around it and this

phenomenon happens inside the expansion valve as well. As the pressure drops, one part of

the refrigerant liquid is evaporated. However, some energy should be supplied to it for the

evaporation to happen and that energy comes from within the refrigerant so its

temperature drops. The cold refrigerant is produced inside an air-conditioner and this low-

temperature refrigerant should be at a temperature lower than the room temperature.

Bypassing the room’s air over the evaporator coil, the room temperature drops and the

refrigerant gets converted to vapor during the heat absorption process.

A term called ton, associated with the air-conditioners, represents how much heat

the evaporator can absorb from the room. In simple words, it represents an air-

conditioner’s heat removal capability. Now, the fundamental rule of an air-conditioner is

achieved. The temperature is lower than the room temperature in the coil inside room and

the temperature is more than the atmospheric temperature in the coil outside the room.

In an actual air-conditioner, the compressor sits near to the condenser and the

expansion valve sits near to the evaporator. There are some practical issues with this design.

Near to the evaporator coils, the air temperature will be quite low and this will lead to water

condensation on the evaporator coils. That is why we need a pipe to remove this water

condensate. Modern air-conditioners use scroll compressors which are silent and have good

speed control, instead of the reciprocating type. Air-conditioners able to maintain an almost

steady room temperature irrespective of load by the use of variable speed motor

technology called inverter. Inverter technology adjusts and control accurately the motor

speed, the compressor speed, the refrigerant flow, and the cooling capacity.

An interesting design challenge for the air-conditioner, the compressor of an air

conditioner is designed to handle only vapor and a small fraction of liquid content can affect

its performance and damage the compressor. For these reasons, it is desired that the

evaporator convert all of the liquid to vapor and even increase the temperature of the vapor

by five to eight degrees Celsius after the conversion. It makes sure that the fluid which

enters the compressor is purely vapor by having a thermostatic expansion.