How Car Air Conditioning Cools

How Does Auto Air Conditioning Refrigerate?

The refrigeration process of automobile air conditioning mainly depends on the circulation of refrigerant and heat exchange, which can usually be divided into the following steps:

1. Compression

Compressor: the heart of the air conditioning system, the compressor compresses the low-pressure gaseous refrigerant into a high-pressure gas, and the temperature rises.

2. Condensation

Condenser: The high pressure gas flows into the condenser, usually located at the front of the vehicle. At this point, the condenser radiates heat through the air flow, and the gas is cooled and transformed into a high-pressure liquid refrigerant.

3. Expansion

Expansion Valve: The liquid refrigerant passes through the expansion valve, where the pressure plummets and turns into a low-pressure liquid, while the temperature is lowered.

4. Evaporation

Evaporator: The low pressure liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator. Here, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the interior of the car and evaporates into a gas. This process lowers the temperature inside the vehicle and cool air is sent into the cabin through a fan.

5. Cycle

The low-pressure gas formed after evaporation returns to the compressor and starts a new cycle.

Key Points

Refrigerant: During the whole process, the phase change of the refrigerant (conversion of gas to liquid) is the key to the refrigeration effect.

Heat exchange: the design of the condenser and evaporator ensures efficient heat exchange.