Parts
The most basic air conditioning systems in cars are manually controlled, but increasingly air conditioning systems are becoming ‘intelligent,’ meaning that they are able to sense the temperature of the air being taken in by the air conditioning system and then adjusted to meet a certain temperature either by heating or cooling the air before outputting it into the interior of the car.
Refrigerant Gas
In order to regulate temperature, car air conditioning systems use a refrigerant gas that regulates the temperature of the air. This refrigerant gas flows around the whole of the air conditioning system.
Compressor
The air conditioning system is connected up to and powered by the car’s engine, causing a reduction in vehicle fuel efficiency when activated. This is because when it is turned on, the compressor in the air conditioning system pumps the refrigerant around, whilst being powered by the engine.
Condenser
A condenser turns the refrigerant gas into a liquid under high pressure. This also creates a great deal of heat and this heat is then filtered away outside the car by flowing through the condenser.
Receiver
The refrigerant, which is now in liquid form, flows through to a receiver that removes any kind of moisture in the refrigerant. The reason for this is that moisture can be damaging- it can potentially turn to icicles and damage the system by causing blockages or other damages to the mechanics.
Expansion Valve
Following this, the liquid refrigerant moves on to the expansion valve, where it is returned to gaseous form. The reason that it is called an expansion form is because when the liquid is turned back into a gas, it expands. Before being turned back into a gas, the liquid is under a high pressure and in order to turn this liquid back into a gas, the pressure is removed.
Evaporator
In the evaporator, as the cold, low pressure refrigerant is passed in, it vaporises and helps to absorb the warm air inside the car. The fan in the car pushes air over this coolant, which cools down the air inside the passenger compartment of the car.
The low pressure refrigerant is drawn into the compressor again and the circle begins again as described above.