Compressor (air conditioning)

Assignment

The air-conditioner compressor condenses the gaseous coolant in such a way, that in the condenser, it later (with a not too large amount of water!) returns again to its liquid form. In this form, it then leaves the condenser and delivers its warmth there. The coolant is suctioned from the evaporator where it has absorbed the heat from the air flowing into the interior.

Function

The air-conditioner compressor functions on the principle of the axial piston pump. In the above figure, there are five cylinders, distributed evenly around the perimeter. Their pistons are moved by a swashplate rotating with the belt-pulley. Located in the cylinder head (on the far left) are the flatter-valves for each cylinder, which, depending on the piston movement, open the way to the suction- or to the pressure side. In some air compressors the incline angle of the swashplate allows the pressure or the flow-volume to be adjustable.

Piston pumps are well suited for the building up of high pressures, they do however, have the disadvantage of an irregular flow-volume. The axial piston pump cleverly compensates for this disadvantage by having several pump elements in a compact construction method. Compared with normal waterpumps, piston pumps also have the disadvantage that their cylinder walls have to be lubricated. Therefore, a certain percentage of lubricating oil must be added to the coolant. 04/11