Automobile Air Conditioning

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Twenty five years ago air conditioning in cars was rare

and driving in summer was nothing short of sweaty experience. There was
only a handful technicians who could install AC units on Indian car and
also maintain imported car A.C. One opening the bonnet of car one could
recognise who has installed that particular unit as good as recognising a
friends handwriting.
The use of refrigeration and air conditioning for
transporting purpose proves to be very advantageous. Air conditioning is
very much used in cars i.e. Automobiles, railways, aeroplanes, and ships.
The use of air conditioning in automobiles is a luxury in India but it is
commonly used in western countries to provide better human comfort.
Today automobile air conditioning has acquired a
growing market. The AC in automobiles is a need of persons who are
suffering from the hot climate in India which may be carry about 8 to 10
months per year. The new cars are so designed as to accommodate A.C. in
its cabin. Maruti 800, Maruti 1000, Premier 118NE Contessa Classic, Tata
Instat., Tata Siera , Opel Astra, Ford and Mercedes Bens are some of the
models which are having A.C. system.
Automobile air conditioning system works on the
principle of vapour compression refrigeration cycle and employees R12 as
refrigerant to run the system
The following factors are controlled by A.C. which
leads to human comfort.

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1) Heating of cabin,
2) Cooling,
3) Circulation of air,
4) Cleaning and filtering,
5) Humidity control.

As per the standards the temperature at 25 0 C and

humility of 50% R.H. is maintained to provide better comfort. This can
be achieved very easily in a room or office but it is very difficult to
maintain such temperature and R.H. factor because of different sources of
heat addition to the automobile system. This heat sources are stated later.

# MULTI FLOW SYSTEM :-

All modern cars are equipped with multiflow A.C.
systems whereby we can channel the airflow to your face, feet or the wind
screen. It is recommended that the face position only be used. This
channels the air trough the front vent in the facia to occupants seating in
the rare seat most effectively. vehicle is owner driven or when there are
only two occupants in the car;, both seating in the front. Since the feet are
the most sensitive to the temperature, when the airflow is set in this
position it provides very effective cooling to the occupant., The
wind screen position should be used only when the A.C. is off and the
heater is on This position enables, the hot air from the heater to strike the
windscreen on the outside.
The feet only position should be used when the
heater is on. When hot air is let out, in this position ,it rises and heats the
car compartment evenly. Another control lever is a multiflow system is

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 Automobile Air Conditioning

the adjustment for fresh air intake and the recycling of air. The fresh air-
intake and the recycling of air. The fresh air position allows outside air to
enter the passenger compartment, including exhaust fumes.
The persons seating in a car can adjust the position of
knob, which controls the cooling effect to be provided. If more cooling is
desired. He can adjust the knob and he will get the more cool., If less
cooling is needed he can minimises the cooling effect. If he is unintrested
to run AC he can stop the A.C. unit.
The major components like evaporator compressor and
expansion valve are the same as are utilise in common room AC system
such as power source, types of controls, component design capacity, etc.

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Chapter 2

CYCLE

Vapour (fairly dry vapour) leaves the evaporator and

enters the compressor at point 1. The vapour is compressed is
entropically to point 2. During compression, the pressure and temperature
increases. The temperature at point 2 should be greater than the
temperature of the Condenser cooling medium. The vapour leaves the
compressor in dry saturated state and enters the condenser at 2. The
vapour is condensed and latent heat of condensation is removed in
condenser. The high pressure saturated liquid leaves the condenser and
enters the throttle valve at 3. Thus the flow through valve causes
decrease in pressure and temperature of refrigerant and causes it to
evaporate partly. This refrigerant liquid at every low temperature enters
the evaporator where it absorbs heat from the space to be cooled thus
producing refrigerating effect. This increases its pressure and
temperature and the refrigerant is now dry vapour , which is supplied
to compressor. This completes the cycle.

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Chapter 3

WORKING
Cool refrigerant gas is drawn into the compressor
from the evaporator and pumped from the compressor to the condenser
under high pressure and temperature due to compression, As this gas
passes through the condenser, high pressure, high temperature gas rejects
etc. Heat to the outside air as the air passes over the surface of
condenser. The coding of the gas causes it to condense into a liquid
refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant still in high pressure passes to
receiver drier (dehydrator), The receiver acts as a reservoir for refrigerant
The liquid refrigerant flows from the receiver dehydrator to the thermostat
expansion valve refrigerant will looses its pressure and temperature.
This low pressure low temperature liquid enters the evaporator. The
evaporator coil is mounted below front dash board. As the
temperature of refrigerant passing through evaporator is low„ it absorbs
heat and continues to boil, drawing heat from the surface of the
evaporator core warmed by the rush of air passing over the surface of the
evaporator core.
In addition to the warm air passing over- the
evaporator rejecting its heat to the cooler surfaces of the evaporator
core, any moisture in the air condenses on the cool surface of the core
resulting in cool dehydrated air passing into the compartment of the car.
By the time the gas leaves the evaporator, it gets completely vapourised and
is slightly superheated. The pressure in evaporator is controlled by
suction throttle valve. R12 vapour passing through the evaporator
flows through the suction throttle valve and is returned to compressor
where refrigeration cycle is repeated.

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Chapter 4

SOURCES OF HEAT TO THE SYSTEM

The cooling load is affected by many factors. Some of

them are listed below
1) Faster the car moves, the greater amount of infiltration into the
car and better rate of heat transfer .
2) The sun baking down on the blank road will raise the temp. up to 50 0 to
60 0 C and thus increases the amount of heat transferred into the car
through the floor.
3) Because of the relatively large glass areas, metal construction and
the flow of air around the moving vehicle (automobile) is very large,
so the air conditioning capacity is also large in comparison with A. C.
installed at home.
4) Quantity of fresh air in.
5) Number of occupants.
6) Quantity of heat directly rejected by sun on car.
For all the above sources, it is necessary that
capacity of automobile A.C. should be large, be capable to take
ovealoads and operate for relatively long
periods.
The cooling capacity of automobile A.C. system ranges
from 1 to 4 tones, which is the amount of refrigeration needed to cool a
small house

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Chapter 5

COMPONENTS

1) COMPRESSOR :-
Compressor is a driver of the system. The construction
is much rigid and the unit is semisealed. i.e. the power to drive the
compressor is directly taken from the crank shaft by means of v-belt pulley
and electromagnetic clutch. The heavy-duty gaskets are provided at joints
to prevent vibration, noise and leakage. A typical value arrangement is
provided to suit the requirements. The high and high pressure refrigerant
enters in compressor which further gets compressed causing hot vapour
exit from the compressor unit, The compressor can start or stop by
means of thermostat arrangements which engages or disengagtes the
electromagnetic clutch so as to run compressor as per requirements.
Lubrication oil is placed inside the chamber. The noise of
compressor is very least as compared to that of engine. The vibration
of compressor creats problem in Diesel air conditioning system.

2] ELECTROMAGNETIC CLUTCH –
The pulley assembly contains an electrically
controlled magnetic: clutch, permitting the compressor to operate only
when air conditioning is actually desired. All automobile A.C. systems
employs the clutch to drive the compressor on demand from the thermostat
inside the car (i.e. the knob).
When the compressor clutch is not engaged, the
compressor shaft does not rotate, although the pulley is being rotated by
belt from the engine. The clutch armature plate, which is movable

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member of the drive plate assembly is attached to the thrive hub

through drive springs and is riveted to both driver and armature plate. The
hub of this assembly is pressed over the compressor shaft is aligned
with a square drive key located in the key way on the compressor
shaft. The pulley assembly. Consist of pulley rim , pulley hub and power
element ring.

3] CONDENSER -
A condenser is similar to an ordinary automobile
radiator but are designed to withstand much high pressure, It
contains a fan to provide forced circulation of air. This whole assembly
is fitted infront of the car radiator. So that it receives high volume of air.
The high temperature and high pressure refrigerant vapour looses its heat
to forced air flowing through it causing change of this phase into high
pressure liquid. The fan and electromagnetic clutch are electrically
coupled. Rapid condensation of refrigerant can be done by fan. This high
pressure liquid refrigerant then passed to receiver drier.

4) RECEIVER DRIER :-
The purpose of receiver drier is to ensure a solid column
of liquid refrigerant to the thermostatic expansion valve. Automobile A.C.
units are more susceptible to leaks than units because of
vibration. Over a period of time, small leaks will occur, which may
requires addition of refrigerant,, Also the evaporator requirements vary
because of the changing heat load. A small receiver is used in the
system to compensate all the above variables, Refrigerant is stored
in the unit untitled it is needed by the evaporator. A liquid

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indicator or slight glass is provided at outlook pipe of receiver unit.

The appearance of bubbles or foam in the slight glass indicates the
shortage of refrigerant in the system. Drier part of this unit consists of
sillica gel to absorb moisture if any in the system, also it traps foreign
material which may have entered the system during assembly. It is
temporary storage and purifying unit.

5) EXPANSION VALVE:
The expansion valve fulfils the following two
functions.
1) The temperature and pressure of refrigerant is reduced to such a
low-level due to sudden expansion by throttling process. This is helpful
to create low temperature than the evaporator .
2) According to cooling load, the quantity of refrigerant supplied to
evaporator can be controlled.
It automatically regulates the flow of liquid
refrigerant. The valve is located at the inlet to evaporator core. It
consists of a (capillary bulb and tube, which are connected to an
operating diaphragm (sealed within the valve).
When the cooling load increases, the refrigerant
evaporates at a faster rate in evaporator than the compressor can suck.
As a result., the degree of superheat and pressure in evaporator increases
which cause the valve to open more allowing more refrigerant to enter
into the evaporator. At, the same time the increases in suction pressure
also enables the compressor to deliver increased refrigerating capacity.
When cooling load decreases;, the refrigerant
evaporates

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at a slower rate than the compressor can suck, As a result the

evaporator pressure drops and the degree of superheat will decrease., The
valve tenets to close and the compressor delivers less refrigerant
capacity .
Thus this valve is capable of meeting the varying
load requirements,, This valve keeps the evaporator full of refrigerant,
thus ensures safety to compressor

6)EVAPORATOR:-
Evaporator is a place where the refrigerant evaporates
and absorbs heat from the air passed over it. Air is forced to flow over the
evaporator with the help of blower, which is installed in the evaporator
itself and cooled before distributing in seating compartment.
The design of evaporator is more critical as the space
limitations are very severe and worse than compact room conditioners.
The evaporator is placed under dashboard of car, We can
provide more ducts if the car seating capacity is more. The purpose of
evaporator is to cool and dehumidity the air passing over it into passenger's
cabin.
The refrigerant in cooled liquid state boils immediately
in evaporator when air looses its heat and moisture to it. Heat from the
core surface is lost to boiling and vapourising refrigerant, which is cooler
than the core, thereby cooling the core. The moisture collected is then
drained of as it may reduce the cooling effect.
Dirt or other foreign matter on the core surface or in
evaporator housing will restrict the airflow. A cracked or broken
housing can result in insufficient air-or warm air supply to passenger’s

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compartment. The dirt can be removed by forcing dry air on it under

pressure.
7) SUCTION THROTTLE VALVE:-
The device which is used to regulate the refrigerant
flow from evaporator to compressor is termed as suction throttle valve. It
is located in the suction throttle valve. It is located in the suction line
between the outlet of evaporator and inlet to compressor.
It controls the evaporator pressure and evaporator out
temperature. It also prevents the foreign materials to enter the compressor.

8) FAST IDLING CONTROL DEVICE :-

This is a speed raising device, Specially when in city
operation when the vehicle is moving at very low speed or is stationary,
the idle rpm of moving at very low speed or is stationary , the idle rpm of
the engine is raised to the rated value in order to get sufficient coiling
and air draft on condenser and radiator. When A.C. is on, the vaccum
solenoid valve , which is electrically operated , directs vaccum to
actuator installed on the injection pump. With the help of actuator,
the accelerator lever is pushed to get higher idling rpm.
9) CONTROLS:-
These units ensures safe operation of air
conditioner. The thermostat is used to prevent the formation of frost on
the evaporator coil. The cabin air temperature is also controlled to the
desired level. Once the evaporator fins temperature approaches near
freezing point, the thermister sends signals to the thermoamplifier
which in turn cuts all power supply to electromagnetic clutch, thereby
A.C. operation stops temporarily.

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Chapter 6
INSULATION

It is absolutely essential to provide sufficient insulation

to the car to reduce the refrigeration capacity required. The glass or
fiberglass is used for the car insulation, Insulation is provided over the
back of the rear seat of the car to avoid the air-conditioning of the
trunk space. The tinted glass are preferred instead of plain glass for
windows as large areas of windows allows a considerable heat leakage
and allows high sun load. The insulation also reduces the noise level.
Another insulation should must provided at the floor to
reduce heat admitted through floor. Also the tubing surrounding the
engine containing refrigerant should also be properly insulated.

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Chapter 7

ADVANTAGES

The main advantage of this system is to travel with

comfort for a long distance. In any type of atmospheric conditions
without tired. During summer the temp. inside the car can he maintained
low and this is very necessary for comfort conditions. There may be
more advantages rather than this.

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Chapter 8
DISADVANTAGES

1) Engine speed, average and power will reduce due to power supplied
to run A.C. system.
2) Maintenance and initial cost of unit is high.
3) Proper attention should be given to all the components.
4) Very complicated assembly for repair work.
5) Leakage due to vibration is the major problem, which can be
reduced .
6) Separate electrical fuse is required for compressor.
7) Cleaning and servicing should be on time.
8) It can be used mostly for luxurious purpose.
9) “Sunstroke”
This is the major problem. But it can be minimised
by allowing the A.C . to stop for certain time till the temperature inside
the cabinet reaches the atmospheric temperature , which will not provide
to be danger.
Though there are lot of disadvantages, the automobiles
having A.C. built in has captured the market.

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Chapter 9
TIPS FOR MAINTAINANCE

1) Keep The interior of the car clean in order to prevent drawing

dust from the mats and clogging the A.C.
2) If the vehicle is parked outside during the day, the interior temperature
will be on the high side. Keep the blower on maximum, lower the
windows and drive some distance to ventilate the hot air tapped inside.
3) Have the A.C. system examined before the onset of summer as all
A..C. installers are over loaded with work during this season. Have the
has levels examined every eight months to year and also have the A.C.
serviced or charged once every 30,000 km. Avoid using the fresh air
intake over since it will clog your evaporator with dust or leaves that
have accumulated under the bonnet grille.
4) Whenever you hear a screech under the bonnet when the compressor
is switched on, have the A.C. belt examined by a service technician.

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REFERENCES

1) Auto India Magazine

2) Refrigeration and Air conditioning
By Domkundwar
3) Refrigeration and air conditioning.
By Arora
4) Refrigeration and Air conditioning.
By R.S. Khurmi

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