Air Conditioning System Parts
Central air conditioning systems are made up of an evaporator, a condenser, and a compressor. The compressor serves as a go-between between the evaporator, located inside your air conditioner, and the condenser, the unit outside your home.
The Air Conditioning Process
Your air conditioner pulls warm air through return air vents in rooms throughout your house. Coils in the evaporator unit, which are filled with a gaseous refrigerant, absorb heat. The heat-filled refrigerant is pumped outdoors to the condenser unit so that the heat can be released. The refrigerant travels back to the evaporator where the process begins again.
The Role of the Compressor
When refrigerant leaves an air conditioner’s evaporator, it takes the form of low-pressure gas. To release the heat the refrigerant has absorbed, the refrigerant needs to be in a higher temperature, higher pressure form. The compressor packs molecules in the gas-based refrigerant tightly together, a process which raises both the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant. Since heat moves from warm to cool surfaces, the heat that’s now in the high-temperature refrigerant moves to the cooler air outdoors where it can be released through the condenser.
