Air Conditioners Move Heat
All scenes › Chapter 3 Compressor: squeeze it hot
It can’t dump the heat yet
Refrigerant leaving the indoor unit is colder than the outdoors
View in 3DColder than the outdoors
The refrigerant gas, loaded with heat, has left the indoor unit. But this gas is only about 12 °C, colder than the 35 °C outdoor air. If it went outdoors like this, its heat would not leave; instead, heat from outdoors would flow into it. To get rid of the heat, the refrigerant has to be hotter than the outdoors.
Why?Heat flows on its own only from hot to cold (scene 3). To push the heat it carries out into 35 °C air, the refrigerant has to become much hotter than 35 °C.
Learn moreAs it leaves the indoor unit, the refrigerant is a gas about 5 °C warmer than its boiling point (7 °C). Making sure no liquid is left protects the next machine, the compressor.
- Refrigerant leaving the indoor unit (gas)
- 12 °C
calculated from R-32 property tables (CoolProp) · example: room 27 °C, outdoors 35 °C
View this scene in 3D →More in the series
Temperatures, pressures and amounts of heat are calculated from property tables for the refrigerant R-32 (CoolProp). The example is a home air conditioner removing 2.5 kW of heat, with the room at 27 °C and the outdoors at 35 °C. In the 3D view, the refrigerant moves far slower than in real life, and the inside of the compressor and the expansion valve are shown as enlarged, simplified models.