AIR

CONDITIONER
 Objectives

• Demonstrate the practical application of the laws of thermodynamics on

cooling and heat exchange, through the development of an experimental
design
• Develop a home air conditioner based on principles of heat exchange.
• Check the transfer of heat from one medium to another in an empirical
manner.
 Refrigeration

Refrigeration is a process that involves lowering or maintaining the heat level

of a body or space. Considering that cold really does not exist and that it
should be spoken of a greater or lesser amount of heat or of a greater or lesser
thermal level (level that is measured with temperature), cooling is a
thermodynamic process in which heat is extracted from the object considered
(reducing its thermal level), and it is taken to another place capable of
admitting that thermal energy without problems or with very few problems.
 Heat transmission
The second important law of thermodynamics is that according to which heat always
travels from the warmest body to the coldest body. The degree of transmission is
directly proportional to the temperature difference between both bodies. The heat
transfer can not take place without a temperature difference. To reduce or maintain
the temperature of an environment below the ambient temperature, heat must be
extracted from the space and transferred to another body whose temperature is
lower than that of the refrigerated space. The simple refrigeration cycle is the
fundamental engineering principle that governs all air conditioning systems.
The key of the process is a cooling substance that travels through a circuit with two
points of temperature exchange, one inside the space and another outside. At the
internal exchange point (evaporator), the refrigerant captures the heat of the room to
be heated and leads it to the second point of external exchange (condenser), where it
is released.
Materials
 Functioning

What happens is that our device takes air from inside the room and then cools
it with the coolant or in this case the ice.
By means of the fan the air at a lower temperature is expelled by the back part
of the equipment, cooling the room.
 What is the salt for?

Ice has a thin layer of liquid water on its surface. The salt that we have added dissolves in that water and forms
a saturated solution, in other words, the water has admitted all the salt that is capable of dissolving.
At that moment the curious effect is triggered. "The solution tends to be diluted (to increase the amount of
water) and the ice to cool", explains Díaz-Escalera. To get water the system melts ice. To achieve this, it needs
heat, which it extracts from the same salt solution that it wants to dilute, which reaches -9ºC.
The solution of water and salt is in the liquid state below zero degrees because its freezing point is lower than
that of water alone, which is 0 ° C.
Therefore, the puddle of water under glass remains frozen. If instead of a puddle with water, we put a can of
hot beer in a bowl with ice and salt, as the internet user Angel has done, the system would have extracted heat
from it. That's why in a few minutes, the beer was ready and fresh to drink.
 Air conditioning without electricity (Eco cooler)

The operation is very simple. To

understand it, do this test: blow
in your hand with your mouth
wide open; you will feel the hot
air. On the other hand, do the
same exercise with your mouth
almost closed; you will feel the
cold air. To lower the air
temperature, Eco-cooler simply
uses this pressure difference
system.
 Difficulties

The ice melts very quickly, it is about solving this with the implementation of
salt, you can change this liquid for a coolant.
The Tecnopor box is not a total insulator since it has 3 openings with the fan
being the largest; in addition the thermal equilibrium is established faster
therefore the ice melts faster.
 Conclusions

Refrigeration occurs due to the circulation of a low pressure gas which absorbs
heat under these conditions. The cold air produced by the air conditioner is
due to the circulation of a liquid at a low temperature in the middle of the air
flow emanating from the fan.
The air conditioner serves only for small rooms since the power dissipated is
very low.