Modern air conditioning systems cool indoor spaces using the refrigeration cycle.
The refrigeration cycle operates by regulating the level of energy in your HVAC system’s refrigerant.
Some components of your HVAC system contain energy-packed refrigerants designed to release heat, while other components have energy-depleted refrigerants designed to absorb heat. An air conditioner operates using a thermodynamic cycle, also referred to as the refrigeration cycle. The system changes the pressure and state of your refrigerant to release or absorb heat. The coolant or refrigerant will absorb the heat from inside your home and pump it outside your home. The process is similar to that of the refrigerator. Warm air flows over your indoor coils with extremely cold refrigerants and transfers the heat to the refrigerant within the coils to cool the air. After absorbing the heat, the refrigerant changes its state from liquid to vapor and is transferred to the compressor. The vaporized refrigerant then gets compressed to a hot temperature in order for it to be warmer than the outdoor air. Naturally, heat flows from warmer places to cooler places. The compressor will work extra hard to increase the refrigerant’s temperature to surpass the outdoor temperature. The refrigerant with the increased temperature will be compelled outside by a condenser fan to flow over another set of coils referred to as the condenser coils, located outside, where it loses heat to your outdoor air. Once the refrigerant loses its energy, it will condense back into liquid form and get pumped back indoors, where it’ll need to get cooled significantly enough to absorb more heat from your indoor air. The thermostatic expansion valve will then depressurize your refrigerant, causing it to drop its temperature. Once it gets cooled down, it will flow back over your evaporator coils, where it will begin the entire refrigeration cycle again.