How Your Phoenix AZ Air Conditioning Works
Interestingly the first air conditioner was not intended to be used for temperature control, rather it was designed to eliminate moisture from the air. In 1902, the first air conditioner was developed by a young electrical engineer at a publishing factory. Often during the summer months paper would stick together due to absorbing moisture from the warm air. This complicated the process so the engineer set out to produce a machine that would eliminate or reduce the amount of moisture in the air. The end result was a great way for also keeping the air chilled.
The machine was simple enough; it forced air to pass over chilled pipes before being distributed to the room. Cooler air cannot carry as much moisture as warm air, so the humidity problem as actually solved and paper sticking to itself did not happen nearly as often. Quickly, however, the young engineer realized the far reaching results his invention would have because the bi-product of the machine was in lowering the air temperature.
It wasn't long before his invention started popping up in stores, theaters, and all sorts of work places. Keeping the air nice during summer months became a huge appeal and benefit for these markets. If you consult many diaries and records of the times, one of the huge benefits of visiting the cinema house during the depression was simply to get out of the heat in the summer. The air conditioned hall felt so nice; it was a commodity that we take for granted in most cases nowadays.
The simple design of the first air conditioners persist to this day. The system is none too different from another appliance in your home: the refrigerator. Added mechanical functions have been improved upon and help with the efficiency but the principles are the same.
The walls of your home act as the retainer for the cold air that is circulated from the air conditioner.
One of the key principles that makes air conditioning in Phoenix AZ possible is the process in physics known as phase conversion. This is the principle that when a liquid is converted to a gas it absorbs heat. So, your refrigerator and your Phoenix AZ air conditioning system use special chemicals in a contained cycle that shifts them from liquid to gas over and over again. The chemicals used are known as refrigerants and they have an attribute of making this change from liquid to gas and then condensing again, all at a very low temperature. Freon is a common substance used.
They refrigerants are contained in a series of coils. As the process continues the coils become very cold. A Phoenix AZ air conditioning system then simply pushes air over these chilled coils and throughout the duct system of your air conditioner. This air circulates and lowers the overall temperature of whatever space.
One key problem though is that for the refrigerants to be used again, it must be converted from a gas back into a liquid which has the exact opposite result, producing unwanted heat. This heat must be managed in a reverse process the expel it away from the space whose temperature your trying to lower. That is why the backside of your refrigerator is very warm. It's also why your Phoenix AZ air conditioning unit is found on the exterior of a home. This way the unwanted heat can be expelled as the gas turns back into liquid.