A window air conditioner is a very commonplace in most of the houses and even in the office spaces which smaller area to provide cooling to. In terms of the built model, it is the simplest in form and is mounted on windows or walls. It is a single unit that is assembled in a casing where all the components are located. The refrigeration unit works on a double shaft fan motor with fans mounted on both sides of the motor. One of them is located at the evaporator side and the other on the condenser side. The evaporator side is placed in such a way that has the facing toward the room for cooling of the space and the condenser side outdoor for heat rejection. There is an insulated partition separating these two sides within the same casing.
Front Panel
The front panel is the one that is seen by the user from inside the room where it is installed and has a user interfaced control be it electronically or mechanically. The older unit of the air conditioner manufacturer in India is usually of mechanical control type with rotary knobs to control the temperature and fan speed of the air conditioner.
The newer units come with electronic control system where the functions are controlled using remote control and touch panel with digital display.
The front panel comes with an adjustable horizontal and vertical (some models) louvers. These louvers are positioned in the direction wherein the air flow is adjustable to suit the comfort of the users. The fresh intake of air called VENT (ventilation) is provided at the panel for serving the purpose of the user willing to have a certain amount of fresh air from the outside.
Compared to the electronic type, the mechanical type of air conditioner is lower in price although the former has been the first choice among many buyers. That being said, the mechanical variant is still a popular choice among buyer base that are not too particular about aesthetic or additional functions, the mechanical type will do the work.
The indoor side component consists of:
- Cooling Coil which is coupled with mounted air filter. The cooling coil is the point where the heat exchange transpires between the refrigerant in the system and the air in the room.
- Fan Blower is a centrifugal evaporator blower, and is the key to discharging the cool air to the room.
- Capillary Tube has a utility as an expansion device. It can be noisy at the time of operation provided it is installed too near to the evaporator.
- Operation Panel is the business end for controlling temperature and speed of the blower fan. This panel uses a thermostat to sense the return air temperature. Another thermostat is used to monitor the temperature of the coil. It can be either mechanical or electronic type.
- Filter Drier is used to remove the moisture from the refrigerant.
- Drain Pan is very crucial to the internal panel as it contains the water that condensate from the cooling coil and is discharged out to the outdoor by gravity.
As for the outer component, there is:
- Compressor is used to compress the refrigerant.
- Condenser Coil has the purpose of literally rejecting heat from the refrigeration to the outside air.
- Propeller Fan is used in air-cooled condenser so the air molecules are moved over the surface of the condensing coil.
- Fan Motor has a double shaft which is connecting point for the indoor blower and outdoor propeller fan.