The principle
The principle of air conditioning is absorb energy in one place and release it in another place.
The
process requires an indoor unit, an outdoor unit and copper piping to
connect both. Through the piping the refrigerant flows from one unit to
another. It is the refrigerant that absorbs the energy in one unit and
releases it in the other. This process results in the heat inside the
room being absorbed, and this means that the room is steadily cooled.
When the machine is heating the room, the cycle is reversed and
essentially the machine tries to cool the outside air, and by default
releases the heat absorbed into your room.
The process
1. Indoor unit
A fan blows the hot indoor air over a heat exchanging coil through which cold refrigerant flows. The cold refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air and cooled air is blown into the room.
2. Copper piping
The refrigerant circulates through the units and the piping and takes the heat from the indoor unit to the outdoor unit.
3. Outdoor unit
Through compression, the refrigerant gas is heated and its boiling point increases. In the outdoor unit the obtained heat throught compression is released to the outdoor air by means of a fan which blows the outdoor air over a heat exchanging coil.
4. Refrigerant
The liquid refrigerant flows back to the indoor unit.
5. Indoor unit
Back in the indoor unit, the refrigerant is decompressed and thus enabled to extract heat form the indoor air