Air Conditioning Unit Companies in the UK

How Air Conditioning Works

As the name suggests air conditioning involves adjusting the properties of air by mechanical and chemical means to meet the requirements of human comfort and the control of conditions for other human activity where natural ventilation is inadequate. By these means in the 21st Century we can achieve, at one end of the spectrum, indoor ski slopes with real snow in the Saudi Arabian desert and at the other, cooling for an overheated residential conservatory in a London suburb.

The origins of the scientific principles used date back to ancient times. The Romans and medieval Persians evidently used water from aqueducts and wind power to cool structures; elsewhere Tang Yulin describes water powered fan wheel and fountain jet streams used in the Imperial Palaces of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

The processes involved in the transfer of heat from one body of material to another; the evaporation of volatile liquids such as alcohol or ether and the compression of ammonia to cool air were explored by Benjamin Franklin and Professor John Hedley in the 3rd quarter of the 18th century and latterly by Michael Faraday in the 1820’s.

The first equipment described as an electrical air conditioning unit was invented in 1902 by Willis Havilland Carrier in Buffalo New York USA. Its importance has increased with the demand for larger and taller commercial and public buildings which now dominate our cities.

Without the invention of air conditioning and lifts, skyscrapers simply wouldn’t have worked nor would surgeons be able to carry out invasive procedures in hospitals without the threat of airborne infection.

These technological advances enable the control of temperature, humidity, purity, and motion of air in an enclosed space, independent of outside conditions.

For example, in a in a self-contained air conditioning unit, air can be both heated in a boiler unit and/or cooled, by being blown across a refrigerant-filled coil and then transferred into a controlled indoor environment and these can be either permanent or mobile installations. Central air conditioning, in larger buildings generally involves a main plant and intermittently spaced air handling units or fans that deliver the conditioned air through ducts to zones within the building as part of a sealed system. The stale air then returns to the central air conditioning via spaces called plenums to be cooled, heated, cleaned or humidity adjusted and then re-circulated.

Other systems of cooling use chilled or heated water piped from a central location and circulated by pumps to units with fans that circulate air locally within a specific zone. In this way environmental conditions in adjacent spaces can differ. Air Conditioning is now a specialist field of expertise within the wider building services sector.