Portable Air Conditioners Glossary of Terms

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Home> Portable Air Conditioners Glossary of Terms

Portable Air Conditioners Glossary of Terms

Like many technical fields, mobile air conditioning contains technical words and acronyms that could confuse consumers.

AC - Air conditioner (often abbreviated to AC in the United States)

Air-Con - Air Conditioner (often abbreviated to air-con in Australia)

Air Conditioner - A system that keeps air cool and dry.

Air Cooled - Uses a fan to discharge heat from the condenser coil to the outdoors.

Air Handler - The air handler functions as the evaporator section of the air conditioning system. The air handler is typically located indoors and its primary purpose is to circulate the conditioned air.

Air-Source - Air is being used as the heat source or heat sink for a heat pump.

Ambient Temperature - The temperature, usually of the air, that surrounds operating equipment.

BTU - British Thermal Unit, a measure of heat energy. It is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.

BTUH - The number of BTUs in an hour.

Central Air Conditioner System -System in which air is treated at a central location and carried to and from the rooms by one or more fans and a system of ducts.

CFM - Cubic feet per minute, a standard of airflow measurement.

Chloroflurohydrocarbons (CFC) - A fluorocarbon with chlorine, formerly used as a refrigerant before its environmental effects were realised.

Compressor - The pump that moves the refrigerant from the indoor evaporator to the outdoor condenser and back to the evaporator again. The compressor is often called "the heart of the system" because it circulates the refrigerant through the loop.

Condenser - A device that transfers unwanted heat out of a refrigeration system to a medium (either air, water, or a combination of air and water) that absorbs the heat and transfers it to a disposal point. There are three types of condensers: air-cooled condensers, water-cooled condensers, and evaporative condensers. The evaporative condenser uses a combination of air and water as its condensing medium. Most residential systems have an air-cooled condenser.

Condenser Coil - A series or network of tubes filled with refrigerant, normally located outside the home, that removes heat from the hot, gaseous refrigerant so that the refrigerant becomes liquid again.

Condensing Unit - The condensing unit acts as a pump which compresses the vaporised refrigerant from the air handling unit, liquifies the gas and returns it to the air handler.

Controller - The panel that controls the air conditioning system. In an installed system it is usually wall mounted with a temperature display.

Cooling Capacity - A measure of the ability of a unit to remove heat from an enclosed space.

COP - Coefficient of Performance of a heat pump means the ratio of the rate of useful heat output delivered by the complete heat pump unit (exclusive of supplementary heating) to the corresponding rate of energy input, in consistent units and under operating conditions.

dB - A decibel is a unit used to measure the relative intensity of sound.

Dehumidifier - A dehumidifier is simply an air conditioner that has both its hot and cold coils in the same box. A fan draws the room's air over the cold coil to condense the moisture. The dry air then passes through the hot coil to heat it back up. A dehumidifier can be useful in environments containing sensitive electrical equipment like computer server rooms.

Evaporation - The process by which any substance is converted from a liquid state into vapor.

Evaporator Coil - The evaporator is located inside the air handler unit and is where the refrigerant vaporises and absorbs heat.

Evaporator - Absorbs heat from the surrounding air or liquid and moves it outside the refrigerated area by means of a refrigerant. It is also known as a cooling coil, blower coil, chilling unit or indoor coil.

Freon - a trade name for a family of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants manufactured by DuPont and other companies

Heating Capacity - A measure of the ability of a unit to add heat to an enclosed space.

Heat Exchanger - A device that transfers heat from one liquid to another without allowing them to mix.

Heat Pump - An air conditioner capable of heating by refrigeration. It may or may not include a capability for cooling. Outside air or water is used as a heat source or heat sink, depending upon whether the system is heating or cooling.

Heat Reclaim Ventilation (HRV) - With an HRV system temperature and humidity are efficiently exchanged between supply and exhaust air. This process recovers energy losses and considerably reduces the air conditioning load.

Heating and Ventilation Contractors Association (HVCA) – Professional body for companies involved in the heating and air conditioning industries, members must under go an inspection of their work and vacilities. http://www.hvca.org.uk/

HSPF - Heating Seasonal Performance Factor means the total heating output of a heat pump in British Thermal Units during its normal usage period for heating divided by the total electrical energy input in watt-hours during the same period.

Humidifier - An indoor air quality device that introduces moisture to heated air as it passes from the furnace into the ductwork for distribution throughout the home.

Humidty - The moisture in the atmosphere which is perceptible to the eye or touch. The humidity is determined by the quantity of water vapour in the air.

HVAC - Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

Insulation - Any material that slows down the transfer of heat.

Kilowatt (symbol: kW) - is a unit for measuring power, equal to one thousand watts. A kilowatt is roughly equivalent to 1.34 horsepower.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh) - A common unit of electrical consumption measured by the total energy created by one kilowatt in one hour.

Latent Heat - The heat energy needed to change the state of a substance (i.e.: from a liquid to a gas) but not it's temperature.

Packaged System - A piece of air conditioning and heating equipment in which all components are located in one cabinet.

Portable Air Conditioner - Small movable units that can be hired to supplement a rooms existing cooling. These are often a useful short term solution during the Summer months.

Refrigerant - A substance used to provide cooling.

Refrigeration Cycle – The cycle that describes the changes that take place to a refrigerant in absorbing heat and subsequently radiating it as it is circulated around a refrigerator

Room Temperature - This is an often quoted figure of around 20°C.

SEER - Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating, the SEER of an air conditioning unit tells you how efficiently the unit uses electricity. The higher the SEER rating the greater the efficiency. This can be calculated by dividing its BTU rating by the unit's wattage. For example, an 11,500 BTU air conditioner that consumes 1,200 watts will have a SEER of approximately 9.5 (11,500 BTU / 1,200 watts).

Sensible Heat - Heat energy that causes a rise or fall in the temperature of a gas, liquid or solid when added or removed from that material. Sensible heat changes the temperature by changing the speed at which the molecules move

Split System - A split system air conditioner allows the air handler to be installed away from the condenser. This allows more flexibility in confined spaces and also helps reduce indoor noise by having the condenser located outside.

Thermostat - a temperature-sensitive switch that controls the heating and cooling system. If the temperature varies from a predefined setting, the thermostat turns the air conditioner on to restore the temperature to the desired level.

Ton -The unit of measurement for air conditioning system capacity. One ton of air conditioning removes 12,000 Btu's of heat energy per hour from a home. Central air conditioners are sized in tons. Residential units usually range from 1 to 5 tons.

Variable Air Volume (VAV) - systems control the air volume. The simplest control is a simple On-Off control of fans but the complex damper controls are more common as variable speed control of fans is the most economic method to control the air volume.

Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) - Is a type of system consisting of anywhere up to 40 indoor units connected to one outdoor condensing unit. The refrigerant flow is varied by using either an inverter controlled variable speed compressor, or multiple compressors of varying capacity to respond to changes in the cooling or heating requirement. VRV systems are suitable for offices, restaurants, hotels, theatres, hospital, universities and industrial buildings among others. They are highly versatile and come with a variety of indoor units.

Watt - A unit of power that equals one joule per second. Named after James Watt.

Zoning - A method of partitioning an office or a home into independently controlled comfort zones for enhanced comfort and efficiency.

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