Commercial Air Conditioners
Commercial air conditioners are used to cool commercial buildings such as offices and retail stores. Their efficient operation optimizes worker performance and makes customer environments comfortable. The basic mechanics of all air conditioners involves a system that sucks heat from the air in a cyclical fashion, which makes it feel cooler.
Quick links to Commercial Air Conditioners Information
Applications for Commercial Air Conditioners
These air conditioning units known as commercial air conditioners come in a variety of styles, depending on the specific setting they are placed in. Larger commercial settings, such as office high-rises and supermarkets, use central air conditioning systems to most efficiently keep the entire building at one consistent, comfortable temperature.
This type of air conditioner works by way of one central compressor and condenser that are attached to numerous smaller units throughout the building, removing heat from the air to make the environment cool. Other commercial settings, such as shopping malls, use split-system air conditioning units instead of central systems. Such a condensing unit is stored on the roof.
There may be one large condensing unit or a number of small ones to cool various areas of the building differently. With very large buildings, especially high rises, a split air conditioner is ineffective. These buildings use chilled-water systems that pipe cold water throughout the building to cool it. A well-insulated chilled-water pipe can cool a building of any size.
Design of Commercial Air Conditioners
Although these various styles may have fundamental differences in the way they function or where their main structures are stored, they all have the same essential foundation. A refrigerant is utilized in every air conditioner, including the commercial models. Refrigerants are chemicals that change from gas to liquid and back again at very high speeds, and are affected by the temperature around them as well as motion.
Most Common Chemical Used in Air Conditioners
One of the most common refrigerants used within air conditioner systems is Freon. The main unit is where this chemical is always stored within coils, traveling throughout the system and being affected by the temperature of the air being sucked into and cycled through the air conditioner. In essence, the Freon absorbs the heat from the air so that when it cycles back into the commercial building it is cool instead of warm or hot. Then the Freon is able to return to its cool state as its constant motion uses up the heat it has absorbed.
These basics are true of most commercial air conditioners as well as industrial and residential models. It is a basic system that hasn’t been improved upon in vast ways because it is such an excellent basic system.