Air Conditioning in Vehicles

When the Air Conditioner is turned on in a car, the compressor starts compressing the system’s refrigerant and its temperature increases. It gives up heat as it is flown through the condenser (that other instrument that stands in front of the radiator and looks like a radiator itself).

The refrigerant gas then passes through the receiver/dryer so that the contaminants and moisture get removed. It then enters the expansion valve/accumulator. Here, the refrigerant is cooled down further so that it loses the pressure and temperature before it enters the evaporator.

The evaporator can be considered to be a mini radiator that gets colder as it lowers the refrigerants temperature more and, additionally, discards moisture from the air. There is a ventilation system’s blower motor in the system that blows air over the cooled down evaporator and sends cool air into the passenger compartment.