Air conditioning

:Note: in the broadest sense, "air conditioning" can refer to any form of "heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning." This article is specifically about the use of refrigeration for this purpose.

Related Topics:
Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning - Refrigeration

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The first album of the pop group Curved Air was called Airconditioning

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An air conditioner (often abbreviated to AC in the United States, and air-con in Australia and in Great Britain) is an appliance or mechanism designed to extract heat from an area using a refrigeration cycle. To many people, air conditioners are symbolic of the Western world. In construction, a complete system of heating, ventilation and air conditioning is referred to as HVAC.

Related Topics:
United States - Australia - Great Britain - Appliance - Mechanism - Western world - HVAC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An earlier form of air conditioning was invented in Persia (Iran) thousands of years ago in the form of wind shafts on the roof, which caught the wind and passed it through water and blew the cooled air into the building http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/26911. The 19th century British inventor, Michael Faraday discovered that compressing and liquefying a certain gas could chill air when the liquified gas was allowed to evaporate. His idea remained largely theoretical. The electrical version of air conditioning was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier (1876–1950) around 1902 to control temperature and humidity for improved manufacturing process control, and the first practical air-conditioning system for a printing plant in Brooklyn, New York. Later, expensive air conditioning systems were applied to increase productivity in the workplace. Later still, air conditioning use was expanded to improve comfort in homes and automobiles. Residential sales didn't take off until the 1950's.

Related Topics:
Persia - Michael Faraday - Invented - Willis Haviland Carrier - 1876 - 1950 - 1902 - Brooklyn - New York - Automobile

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first air conditioners, and refrigerators employed toxic gases like ammonia and methyl chloride, which resulted in fatal accidents when they leaked. Thomas Midgley, Jr. created the first chlorofluorocarbon gas, dubbed Freon in 1928. The refrigerant proved much safer for humans but not for the atmosphere's ozone layer. "Freon" is a trade name of Dupont for any CFC, HCFC, or HFC refrigerant, the name of each including a number indicating molecular composition (R-11, R-12, R-22, R-134). The blend most used in direct-expansion comfort cooling is an HCFC known as R-22, and is slated to be phased out for use in new equipment by 2010 and completely discontinued by 2020. R-11 and R-12 are no longer manufactured in the US, the only source for purchase being the cleaned and purified gas recovered from other air conditioner systems.

Related Topics:
Refrigerators - Ammonia - Methyl chloride - Thomas Midgley, Jr. - Freon - 1928

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~