Portable Air Conditioners
Portable air conditioners are air conditioners that can be easily moved throughout a single building or transported from one location to another. They may also be referred to as mobile air conditioners or spot coolers. Many businesses sell and rent portable air conditioners for a variety of applications.
Quick links to Portable Air Conditioners Information
Applications of Portable Air Conditioners
Portable air conditioners are frequently used at construction sites and for military uses, such as command tents, emergency cooling, and telecommunications. Portable evaporative coolers are also available. Although not as powerful as portable air conditioners, they do not dehumidify the air like refrigerative air conditioners and are therefore popular for spot cooling in hot, dry environments. Their size also allows them to be used in spaces ill-suited to permanent air conditioners, such as boats, trucks, and other recreational vehicles. Their maneuverability is why they are always run by electricity (from outlets or batteries). Commercial and residential settings also utilize portable air conditioners for small spaces that are not hooked up to a larger air conditioning system. For example, one office in a large office building may buy a portable air conditioner to ensure the temperature is perfect in their small space.
Portable Air Conditioner Design and Customization
Air conditioner capacity is measured in tons of refrigeration, meaning the refrigeration power of a ton of ice melting over twenty four hours. One ton is equal to twelve thousand BTUs. A portable air conditioner of one ton can cool around four hundred square feet of space. Portable air conditioners are available with refrigeration of up to five tons able to cool up to two thousand square feet. Whatever environment is using the portable model, it must be able to vent the hot air that is being removed from the space, whether the venting area is outside or in an unused section of the environment, such as an attic. Water reservoirs are also often attached to portable air conditioners, since moisture builds up from the cooling process. Industrial air conditioners are sometimes built according to the portable model, particularly when being used in very large spaces, such as warehouses. In such an environment, installing a central air conditioner would be very expensive, both to purchase and to run. Portable air conditioners may be utilized to cool specific areas when the need arises, and such a system is therefore attached to wheels so that moving it from one place to another is easy.