Let's get some housekeeping topics out of the way before we tackle the unique components that make up a standard air conditioner. The biggest job an air conditioner has to do is to cool the indoor air. That's not all it does, though. Air conditioners monitor and regulate the air temperature via a thermostat. They also have an onboard filter that removes airborne particulates from the circulating air. Air conditioners function as dehumidifiers. Because temperature is a key component of relative humidity, reducing the temperature of a volume of humid air causes it to release a portion of its moisture. That's why there are drains and moisture-collecting pans near or attached to air conditioners, and why air conditioners discharge water when they operate on humid days. Still, the major parts of an air conditioner manage refrigerant and move air in two directions: indoors and outside: Gas vs. Electric Stoves: Which is really more efficient? Magnetic Air Conditioners: A High Tech Way Of Keeping Cool

What natural gas home appliances are available? Should all of my appliances come from the same manufacturer? Is stainless steel on its way out? Evaporator -Condenser -Expansion valve -Compressor - The cold side of an air conditioner contains the evaporator and a fan that blows air over the chilled coils and into the room. The hot side contains the compressor, condenser and another fan to vent hot air coming off the compressed refrigerant to the outdoors. In between the two sets of coils, there's an expansion valve. It regulates the amount of compressed liquid refrigerant moving into the evaporator. Once in the evaporator, the refrigerant experiences a pressure drop, expands and changes back into a gas. The compressor is actually a large electric pump that pressurizes the refrigerant gas as part of the process of turning it back into a liquid. There are some additional sensors, timers and valves, but the evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve are the main components of an air conditioner.

Although this is a conventional setup for an air conditioner, there are a couple of variations you should know about. Window air conditioners have all these components mounted into a relatively small metal box that installs into a window opening. ac unit is not startingThe hot air vents from the back of the unit, while the condenser coils and a fan cool and re-circulate indoor air. inside ac unit will not come onBigger air conditioners work a little differently: Central air conditioners share a control thermostat with a home's heating system, and the compressor and condenser, the hot side of the unit, isn't even in the house. low power ac dcIt's in a separate all-weather housing outdoors. In very large buildings, like hotels and hospitals, the exterior condensing unit is often mounted somewhere on the roof.

A power supply is an electronic circuit that converts an ac voltage to dc voltage. It is basically consisting of the following elements: transformer, rectifier, filter and regulator circuits. Power supply units (PSU) are used in computers, amateur radio transmitters and receivers, and all other electronic equipment that use dc voltage as an input. Uninterruptible power supply is a must for computers which holds volatile data from time to time. This prevents corruption of data due to power failure and low voltage. TransformerThe transformer is a static device that transfers electrical energy from the primary winding to the secondary winding without affecting the frequency. It is used to step-up or step-down the ac voltage level and isolates the remainder of the electronic system from the ac power. The primary winding of the transformer is connected to an ac voltage source that produces alternating current while the secondary is connected to a load. The primary and secondary windings are not physically connected to each other but due to electromagnetic induction following Faraday's law, there is an induced voltage in the secondary winding.

There are three main functions of transformers namely: stepping the voltage up, stepping the voltage down and providing isolation between the primary and secondary circuits. RectifierThe rectifier is a device used to change the ac power into pulsating dc. The basic rectifier is the diode. This diode is a unidirectional device that operates as rectifier in the forward direction. The three basic rectifier circuits using diodes are the half-wave, full-wave center-tapped and full-wave bridge type. FilterThe filter of the power supply is used to keep the ripple component from appearing in the output. It is designed to convert pulsating DC from rectifier circuits into a suitably smooth dc level. The two basic types of power supply filters are the capacitance filter (C-filter) and RC-filter. The C-filter is the simplest and most economical filter available. On the other hand, RC-filter is used to reduce the amount of ripple voltage across a capacitor filter. Its primary function is to pass most of the dc component while attenuating the ac component of the signal.

Ripple and Ripple factor Ripple is the unwanted ac component of the signal after rectification. It is unwanted because it can destroy or damage the load. This is the main reason why filters are installed in power supply - to prevent high ripples. The job of the filter is to smoothen the signal and suppress the ac component or variations. Ripple factor is the ratio of the root mean square of the ripple voltage to the value of dc component at the output voltage. It is sometimes expressed in percentage or in peak-to-peak value. The ripple factor determines the effectivity of a filter being used in the circuit. Voltage RegulatorsA voltage regulator is designed to provide a very steady or well regulated dc output. It is always ideal to have a steady output voltage so that the load will operate properly. The output level is maintained regardless of the variation of the input voltage. The commonly used transistor voltage regulators are the series voltage regulator and the shunt voltage regulator.