The refrigerant, also known as Freon, is a crucial component of a car’s air conditioning system. It absorbs heat from the cabin and expels it outside, cooling the vehicle. The refrigerant is compressed in the compressor and turns into a gas, which is then cooled to a liquid state in the condenser and travels to the expansion valve.
The refrigerant plays a pivotal role in the heat exchange process, ensuring that the air inside the vehicle remains cool and comfortable even on the hottest days. Every component in a car’s refrigeration cycle, from the compressor to the condenser, plays an important role in providing cool air.
To get the refrigerant to boil and absorb heat from the inside of the car, it needs to be turned into a low-pressure boiling liquid. This refrigerant pressure is essential for the system to function effectively. When not running, the refrigerant remains a gas under low pressure.
The hot, high-pressure refrigerant flows through the high-pressure tube to the condenser, which is located in front of the car’s radiator. The low-pressure liquid refrigerant mist flows through the evaporator, where a blower motor pushes air across the cold tubes to deliver cooled air. The high-pressure liquid refrigerant flows from the receiver-dryer through the expansion valve, where it is allowed to expand.
When the A/C is turned on, the compressor compresses the system’s refrigerant, raising its pressure and temperature. The clean gaseous freon/refrigerant then travels through the tubing into the evaporator, where the high-pressure liquid refrigerant expands, reducing the temperature inside the car.
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Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t the job of the condenser to cool the high-pressure gas as the air traveling through the condenser releases the heat through the fins of the condenser (the same as the radiators job is to remove heat from the anti-freeze)? Essentially condensing the gas back into a liquid as it cools off thus the name of the component (Condensor). The refrigerant enters as a hot high-pressure gas and exits as a cool high-pressure liquid, the job of the expansion valve is to simply lower the pressure of the cool high-pressure liquid as it enters the evaporator where the chemical change once again takes place and the process repeats itself.
Outstanding article. Thank you. I’ve learned plenty on this subject thanks to YouTube. This article, however, has a couple additional features that help even more. First, the identification of liquid versus gas with bubbles or arrows in the animation is great. This helps with visualization of the changes that occur, where they occur. Second, the effect of the reading at the sensor on the flow allowed by the expansion valve (I have an orifice tube on my vehicles) and then HOW overfilling can occur. That, I think, is the first time I’ve seen these features included… quite valuable. Thanks again. My guess is that the smart clips substitute for having a thermometer in the vent? Someone commented a year ago that your product, with the clips, are sold at Autozone. I shop there, and do not recall seeing them. Will look for them, specifically, next time.
The TXV has only one function and that is to control superheat, ensuring that only vapor goes back to the compressor, it does not control pressure or temperature. There are two forces trying to close the TXV (evap pressure and the superheat spring) and one force trying to open it (superheat aka power head). Low side pressure will increase or decrease depending on the refrigerant charge, with more liquid pressure the refrigerant is moving faster through the evap and not removing as much heat.
Thank you for the article. I am a pretty decent mechanic and have worked on all kinds of cars. But I never had formal training and I need to ask….when replacing the condenser, does the pag oil stay in the system somewhere? Or does the vacuum pump pull it out, therefore needing to be replaced with new pag oil when recharging the system? thanks again!
It sounds like a totally sealed system from this and you don’t have to worry about engine fumes mixing with the air-flow of the A/C. Should not be any fumes in an engine compartment anyway but with larger 4bbl carburetors that are not especially efficient you never know what hydro carbons etc are there.
My a.c. doesn’t work, 1st thing I tried was recharging the frion still didn’t work 2nd I bought a new compressor changed it out it still didn’t work. 3rd I changed the a.c. pressure switch still didn’t work, 4th I bought a new relay put it in still nothing, but if I jump two ports where the relay goes the compressor kicks on and I have my a.c. again