Do you know your Car Air Conditioner Components? Here is the Basic Guide for You
Things you Need to Know About Car Air Conditioner
No one wanted long hours of a road trip without an air conditioner. It is one of the car’s crucial parts. You might have felt and experienced a bigger air conditioner in your house or office. The car air conditioner works pretty much the same. Today we are going to cover the basics of a car air conditioner. Including the important elements and how it works.
Air Conditioner System
Air conditioner commonly works by converting high-pressure Freon gas to a high-pressure liquid that could be cooled down and then distributed to the car’s cabin. It consists of several elements, just like the regular air conditioner in your house. Each element works hand in hand to produce cool air.
Air Conditioner Components
Refrigerant
An air conditioner wouldn’t work without its main element, the refrigerant. Also known as Freon, this element carries heat from inside the cabin and delivers it outside. It is the element that will change states from gas to liquid and back to gas throughout the cooling system. It will first absorb heat inside the car and then the heat is pushed outside. Then it will change back to the gas form and travel back inside to repeat the cooling process. This process results in the cool wind you feel in the car’s cabin.
Compressor
The first in the line of the air conditioner is the compressor. Compressor’s principle uses a combination of Boyle’s, Charles’, and Gay Lussac’s gas law. It will pressurize the refrigerant and therefore raise the temperature. Firstly it will squeeze the gas tightly together. The reason is to get the refrigerant’s temperature higher than the outside temperature. It’s important because we know that temperature flows from hotter to cold places. If your car ac compressor not turning on or what causes ac compressor to not turn on, guarantee the rest will not work either.
Condenser
The condenser is located in the front part of the car. You can pop the hood and see this component standing in front of the car’s radiator. It is the opposite of the evaporator. While the evaporator stores cold refrigerant, the condenser is in charge of storing the hot refrigerant. That’s why it is located in front of the radiator to facilitate heat transfer to the outside environment. It is also a part of the air conditioner that breaks easily because of the location in the car.
Expansion Valve
Before the refrigerant passes to the evaporator, it is cooled down in the expansion valve. It depressurized the liquid to also decrease the temperature. This component also controls the amount of refrigerant that goes into the evaporator. With an expansion valve, the car air conditioner could transform the liquid state of a refrigerant to vapor that will be managed by the evaporator.
Evaporator
The evaporator is the one that picks up heat from inside your cabin to transform it into cool air. It will depressurize the liquid refrigerant from the expansion valve and absorb heat. Again, it uses the principle of the second law of thermodynamics. This component also relies on the blower, which just as the name stated, will help blow air over the evaporator. As the refrigerant absorbs heat, it then forms a vapor.
That is all you need to know about a car air conditioner. This basic knowledge can help you to determine if there is a leak or damage in your car’s air conditioner system. It also helps you to communicate with the technician in an auto shop so they can fix the problem quickly for you. Knowing these is also important so you can check them up before going on a road trip. Always make sure to do a periodical check-up to keep your air conditioner system working well.