HISTORY

1758 – Great American inventor Benjamin Fraklin alongside John Hadley, made the discovery that
when liquid evaporates form a surface, it creates a cooling effect. This effect is still the basis of how the
modern air conditioners are running today.
(conducted an experiment to explore the principle of evaporation as a means to rapidly cool an object.
The evaporation of highly volatile liquids (such as alcohol and ether) could be used to drive down the
temperature of an object past the freezing point of water. They conducted their experiment with the
bulb of an mercury thermometer as their object and with a bellows used to speed up the evaporation.
They lowered the temperature of the thermometer bulb down to -14 °C (7 °F) while the ambient
temperature was 18 °C (64 °F)

1851 – John Gorrie, a physician from Florida, created an ice machine that used compression to create
ice. Air would then be blown over the ices’ surface to create a cooling effect. Gorrie created his
machine in an attempt to cool patients, so diseases could be prevented. The air conditioner may have
taken off right then, but u his financial backer died, so he lost funding for his project.

1881 – President Garfield had just been shot. In order to keep him comfortable a device was created
that blew air over wet cloth. While the invention was able to lower the temperature in the room by 20
°C, it could not save President Garfield, who died 2 months after being shot.

1902 – Willis H. Carrier created the very first electrical air conditioner for his publishing company in
an effort to control humidity to prevent paper from winkling. Carrier’s air conditioner blew air over
cold coils to cool the air temperature. He quickly realized the value of his machine and later went on to
create Air Conditioning Company of America.
(his air conditioner controlled not only temperature but also humidity. He used his knowledge of the
heating objects with steam and reversed the process. Instead of sending air through hot coils, he sent it
through cold coils ( filled with cold water). The air was cooled and thereby the amount of moisture in
the air could be controlled, which in turn made the humidity in the room controllable. The controlled
temperature and humidity helped maintain consistent paper dimensions and ink alignment.

1914 – the term “air conditioning’’ becomes coined by Stuart W. Cramer. He created a ventilating
device that adds moisture into the air in his textile mill and called it “air conditioning”, which Willis
Carrier borrowed when he named his company.

1914 – the air conditioning was added into a home for the first time. It was installed at a mansion in
Minneapolis belonging to Charles Gates. The unit was massive coming in at 7 foot tall, 6 feet wide, and
20 feet long. Interestingly, there is actually a chance the unit was never used because no one ever lived
at the residence.

1931 – the first window unit was created by H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman. They became
commercially available just one year later, but came with an extreme price tag. They cost anywhere
between $10,000 - $50,000, which adjusted for inflation would be between $120,000 - $600,000.

1939 – Packard rolled out air conditioning in cars. However, in order to use the vehicles air conditioner,
its engine needed to be stopped, and the owner had to disconnect a compressor belt once they had
cooled down.
1953 – due to the post-war economic boom, over one million units were sold to homeowners, and by
1965 10% of homes had air conditioners in them
-air conditioning became a status symbol.

1970’s – central air came around and helped to cool homes much more efficiently by utilizing
condensers, coils, fans, and duct work.
-using Freon 12 or R-12 as coolant.

2015 – the Energy Information Administration reported that 87% of U.S households are using air
conditioners.

PURPOSE:

 Temperature Control
- maintains set temperature within the air conditioned space.
- turning thermostat to 78°F (25 °C) is the most efficient setting during summer. Reducing
your home’s temperature lower, such as 72°F (22 °C), could increase your cooling costs
by as much as 47%.

 Humidity Control
- reducing humidity from air for the comfortability of the occupants.
- relative humidity is the amount of water present in air compared to amount it could contain
at a specific temperature.
- air conditioners designed to create a 30% - 60% relative humidity in the occupied space,
(lower than 30% is too dry and higher than 60% is too wet). The recommended range is
45% - 55% by ASHRAE to avoid health effects and illness.
*ASHRAE – American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers

 Air Circulation Control

- refreshes and regulates the air within the air conditioned space.