Air conditioners: what they do to the air?

It is not a secret that for the majority of consumers the words “conditioner” and “conditioning” evoke an association with the word “cooling”, and the question why they are buying conditioner is reasonably answered – for cooling the premise. But such opinion is correct only partly, because a climatic equipment is have much more functions, and their assortment is not limited by conditioners at all. Let’s understand what the term “air conditioning” hides, what home appliances provide it, and what can really do air conditioner.

“AIR CONDITIONING” – WHAT DOES IT MEAN??

The lexicon of American language gives the following interpretation of the word combination “air conditioning”: bringing air into the desired, necessary, good condition. . I.e. . Obviously, air conditioning does not mean cooling, because when it’s cool, then lowering the temperature is not what you need.

The term “air conditioning” includes the following procedures:

1. ventilation,

2. Maintain the optimal temperature cooling or heating ,

3. Humidity modification air dehumidification ,

4. air purification,

5. Saturation of the air with negative ions,

6. Air saturation with oxygen. If only one of functions is important for you, you

You can buy the device that fulfills it. If the set of functions is actual for you, it makes sense to pay attention on conditioner, which can provide several of them.

WHAT MODERN AIR CONDITIONERS CAN DO?

Function 1 – Cooling

Cooling is the main function of air conditioner, because other functions can be provided by specialized devices.

Cooling is possible up to a certain limit: the minimum temperature is 18 °C. note that the temperature of the air jet coming out of the air conditioner is a bit lower .

Cooling is very economically, because for each kW of energy consumed conditioner produces 3-4,5 times more.

It is necessary to note that there are no other devices, which can cool the premise.

Function 2 – Heating

Many modern air conditioners are able to heat air, i.e. to work vice versa: to cool the outside and warm the room, i.e. e. operate as a heat pump.

It is expedient to use conditioner for heating when the outer temperature is up to minus 10 °C, it is optimal during the intermediate season, when the central heating is switched off, it is rather warm outdoors for example, 10-15 degrees of heat and it is desirable to warm air in the apartment up to 22 degrees.

Keep in mind that the lower the temperature outside, the less heat the air conditioner will give you, and the more it will be loaded, shortening the term of its operation. That is why if you want to get warm in severe frosts you had better get a specially designed for this purpose device – heater.

Function 3 – Dehumidification

It is interesting that exactly humidity reduction was the function of the first air conditioner. Today many air conditioners are able to dehumidify the air.

Unfortunately, modern conditioners are not able yet to humidify air or even to keep the set level of humidity.

WHERE DOES THE COLD COME FROM??

Let’s try to understand the work of air conditioner by the example of Split-system. Split-system represents two blocks: inside and outside that are united with a copper pipe.

Through this pipe, “forced” by the compressor, freon circulates, which while moving along the circuit goes from gaseous to liquid condenses and from liquid to gaseous evaporates . It is freon and is the carrier of heat from a premise on the street.

Next, remember a simple physical principle: when a liquid evaporates, heat is absorbed drip perfume on your hand and you’ll feel cold , and when it condenses, heat is released. So, when the freon evaporates occurs in the indoor unit , the heat from the room is absorbed, and when the freon condenses in the outdoor unit , the heat is given to the outside.

So, when operating in cooling mode, the air from the room is sucked into the indoor unit by the fan. The evaporation of freon in the indoor unit takes heat from the air that washes it, so the air that returns to the room has a low temperature and brings us the desired coolness. And the heat is transported by freon and thrown out into the street.

HUMIDITY

Humidity is a value that describes the amount of water in the air. The relative humidity shows how much water is in the air compared to the maximum possible amount 100% when it rains .

The comfortable value of relative humidity for a human being is between 40% and 60%. In winter the relative humidity is low – about 15-20% we call it “dry” air , and in summer the relative humidity is high, especially before or after the rain, when the air is saturated with air vapor – up to 80-90% we call it “steaming” . We can see that the concept of humidity is more than directly related to the concept of “conditioned air”.

Next, it should be noted that temperature and humidity are related concepts. And it’s true, often in summer we suffer not so much from the high temperature, as from the humidity. According to research carried out by Daikin, it is sufficient to reduce the humidity in the room without reducing the temperature and conditions will become comfortable. For example, at 25 ˚C you will feel comfortable at 50% of humidity, but at the same temperature and 80% of humidity you will feel hot and stuffy.

Function 4 – Ventilation

When the air conditioner works in the ventilation mode it does not cool, heat or dehumidify.

The air available in the room is simply circulated by the indoor unit the outdoor unit is not in operation . It is usually possible to change the fan speed using the remote control.

With the appropriate filters, the air is also purified.

Function 5 – Air Purification

The air is cleaned with filters. The filter is a fine gauze in front of the front panel of the indoor unit that draws in air. There is a coarse filter in every air conditioner.

Coarse dust filters clean the treated air. They are designed to retain the visible impurities fluff, wool, dust in the air. And such filters protect not only us, but also the internal block of air-conditioner from dust. Since the coarse filter plays the role of a dust collector, it must be cleaned regularly as it becomes clogged once every 1 to 2 weeks . Otherwise the cooling efficiency will drop.

Fine filters have a fine mesh structure, because they are designed to trap the finest dust, pollen, odors, and cigarette smoke. Besides, fine filters, as a rule, are filters-inserts, i.e. they cover 15-20% of the air inlet surface. It is recommended to wash the fine filters every 2-3 weeks.

Reliable data on the quality of air purification with fine filters is difficult to find, but a large volume of advertising information is available. Therefore, when choosing an air conditioner, one cannot be guided by information about the presence of certain filters.

In conclusion, we want to remind you that if air purification is a priority function for you, then you should pay attention to such a class of devices as air purifiers. After all, we all know that each special device is more effective than a single universal one.

Function 6 – Ionization of air

Ionization is saturation of the air with negative ions – aerons. Only their charge is negative, but the effect that aerons have on the comfort of our condition is extremely positive! It has been found that in places with a high concentration of aerons near waterfalls, on seashores, in the mountains, in forests, etc. , the oxygen enrichment of the indoor air reaches an unprecedented level. d. we feel a special rush of energy.

According to a popular opinion, the concentration of aerons in such places is up to 50 000 units per cubic centimeter, while in apartments and offices the concentration is only 50 units per cube. see. The difference of 1000 times is evident and huge!

Thanks to the ionization function, the concentration of aerons in the room can be increased up to 15 000-30 000 per cubic meter. cm, i.e. increased by 300-600 times!

Special appliances, called air ionizers, can ionize the air. Besides this, many manufacturers present at market today conditioners with air ionization function, among them are: Electra, Haier, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, etc.

Function 7 – Oxygenation

“Oxygenation of the air” is a trade name for the technology, which does not accurately reflect the mechanism.

For example, in Haier air conditioners “saturation” takes place by removing the excess of nitrogen, as a result of which the oxygen concentration increases. It is realized with the help of special device – gas separator. So the separated nitrogen is absorbed and the separated oxygen goes back into the room.

This function is realized in another way in Panasonic air conditioners. So what we’re really talking about here is the separation of oxygen and nitrogen and it goes like this.

The outdoor unit has a membrane through which the air enters. This membrane allows good passage of oxygen and poor passage of nitrogen. This air enriched with oxygen is forced into the indoor unit with the help of a vacuum pump. As a result, we get oxygenated air inside the room.

In Hitachi air conditioners is implemented a system of Air Exchanger, which uses a separate fan to supply fresh air from the street and remove air with a high concentration of carbon dioxide from the room.

AmericaN AIR CONDITIONER MARKET. Today American market of household air conditioners can be conditionally divided in the following way. The most mass group – split-systems – occupies 80% of the market, window air-conditioners – 8,5%, multi-split-systems – 7%, mobile monoblock conditioners – 3,5%, split-systems with a mobile indoor unit – about 1%.

AIR COMPOSITION

Air consists of nitrogen 78% , oxygen 21% , argon about 1% , carbon dioxide 0.036% and other inert gases.

When breathing we absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Accordingly, if we are in a closed room, the carbon dioxide content increases over time.

INVERTER TECHNOLOGY

In order to explain how conditioner of inverter type works, let’s have a look at the work of usual conditioner.

So, for example, you set temperature of 20 degrees, conditioner cools a room up to 20 degrees and the compressor switches off. But the temperature will inevitably start to rise. As soon as the set-point value is exceeded, for example if the temperature rises to 21 degrees the compressor switches on again. Reaching 20 degrees, it will be switched off again and so on. .

What we get? First of all, the temperature jumps, secondly, noise of compressor, that periodically switches on full capacity, thirdly, “twitchy” work of the compressor with overloading at the moment of startup, and such mode of operation has an adverse effect on the condition of the compressor itself.

An air-conditioner of inverter type is functioning by another principle. When the set temperature is reached the compressor does not switch off but goes to the optimal mode of operation at reduced capacity.

Thus the compressor is in operation all the time, which allows to reach the set temperature in the shortest time and keep it at the necessary level.

Besides the general noise level is reduced and the compressor itself, working continuously with smooth load variation, considerably prolongs the service life of air-conditioner. An important positive point is the reduction of energy consumption by 30-35%. It is achieved due to the fact that energy is used economically and for the purpose.

Further we can replace the word “inverter” with the word “power regulator”. Then it will be clear that capacity of an inverter conditioner can vary freely within a certain range frequency of compressor’s rotation speed and its rotational speed are changing smoothly .

The first inverter type air conditioner was introduced on the market by Toshiba in 1981. Today practically each serious producer has in his assortment conditioners of inverter type.