1) REFRIGERATION CYCLE

OUTDOOR
UNIT

INDOOR
UNIT

FIG 1: TYPICAL REFRIGERATION CYCLE FOR A WINDOW AC

In the refrigeration cycle, heat is transported from a colder location to a

hotter area. As heat would naturally flow in the opposite direction, hot to
cold, no work is required to achieve this. A refrigerator is an example of
such a system, as it transports the heat out of the interior and into its
outdoor environment. The refrigerant is used as the medium which
absorbs and removes heat from the space to be cooled and subsequently
ejects that heat elsewhere.
Steps for refrigeration cycle in a window air conditioner:
STEP 1: Circulating refrigerant vapor enters the compressor, where its
pressure and temperature are increased. As a result, the vapor gets
compressed and its temperature is increased as with increase in pressure.
The air molecules get compressed and with increases in pressure, there’s
an increase in temperature. Both these quantities are directly
proportional.
STEP 2:The hot, compressed refrigerant vapor is now at a temperature
and pressure at which it can be condensed and is routed through a
condenser. Here it is cooled by air flowing across the condenser coils
and condensed into a liquid. Thus, the circulating refrigerant removes
heat from the system and the heat is carried away by the air. The
removal of this heat can be greatly augmented by pouring water over the
condenser coils, making it much cooler when it hits the expansion valve.
STEP 3:The condensed, pressurized, and still usually somewhat hot
liquid refrigerant is next routed through an expansion valve (often
nothing more than a pinhole in the system's copper tubing, See fig2.)
where it undergoes an abrupt reduction in pressure. That pressure
reduction results in flash evaporation of a part of the liquid refrigerant,
greatly lowering its temperature.
STEP 4:The cold refrigerant is then routed through the evaporator. A
fan blows the interior warm air (which is to be cooled) across the
evaporator, causing the liquid part of the cold refrigerant mixture to
evaporate as well, further lowering the temperature. The warm air is
therefore cooled and is pumped by a supply fan/ blower into the room.
STEP 5:To complete the refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant vapor is
routed back into the compressor.
Note:In order for the process to have any efficiency, the
cooling/evaporative portion of the system must be separated by some
kind of physical barrier from the heating/condensing portion, and each
portion must have its own fan to circulate its own "kind" of air (either
the hot air or the cool air).

FIG 2:CAPILLARY EXPANSION VALVE CONNECTION TO EVAPORATOR INLET. NOTICE

FROST FORMATION
Question 1: why sometimes, ice begin to form on evaporator fins?
Ans. Modern air conditioning systems are not designed to draw air into
the room from the outside; they only recirculate the increasingly cool air
on the inside. Because this inside air always has some amount of
moisture suspended in it, the cooling portion of the process always
causes ambient warm water vapor to condense on the cooling coils and
to drip from them down onto a catch tray at the bottom of the unit from
which it must then be routed outside, usually through a drain hole. As
this moisture has no dissolved minerals in it, it will not cause mineral
buildup on the coils. This will happen even if the ambient humidity level
is low.
If ice begins to form on the evaporative fins, it will reduce circulation
efficiency and cause the development of more ice, etc. A clean and
strong circulatory fan can help prevent this, as will raising the target cool
temperature of the unit's thermostat to a point that the compressor is
allowed to turn off occasionally. A failing thermistor may also cause this
problem. Refrigerators without a defrost cycle may have this same issue.
Dust can also cause the fins to begin blocking air flow with the same
undesirable result: ice.

Question 2: How can you convert cooling cycle of a window air

conditioner into a heating cycle?
Ans. By running an air conditioner's compressor in the opposite
direction, the overall effect can be completely reversed and the indoor
area will become heated instead of cooled.
 FIG 3: TYPICAL REFRIGERATION CYCLE FOR A WINDOW AC

FIG 4:HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE SIDES OF AN AIR CONDITIONERS.