A classic air conditioner consists of external and internal units, which, in turn, consist of several important components. In the indoor unit, we can see a fan that enhances heat transfer in the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger (evaporator) performs the function of cooling the air in the room by evaporating refrigerants of one kind or another (R22, R407, R410, R410A).
The outdoor unit of the air conditioner consists of a fan, which increases air exchange in the condenser and evaporator, a compressor, which increases the pressure in the refrigerant, facilitating the passage of matter between the indoor and outdoor units. Also in the outdoor unit there is a condenser that cools the refrigerant after it is compressed in the compressor.
In order to cool (or heat) the room, the air conditioner must have a certain power. The power of the air conditioner indicates how much cold (heat) the device can produce. For each device, the cooling power and the heating power are distinguished (if the model has such an option). If the air conditioner is a simple split system or a movable monoblock, then it has one cooling / heating unit. In this case, the power of the indoor unit used for cooling can vary from 199 to 21980 watts, and the power of the air conditioner needed for heating varies for one unit from 710 to 22600 watts.
If the device is a multi-split system (with several indoor units), then each additional unit in a certain way affects the power of the air conditioner. For example, the power of the second unit in cooling mode can be from 199 to 6800 watts, and the power in the heating mode from 1240 to 6999 watts.
The power consumption of the air conditioner is different from the power of the device, which works for heating / cooling down. For example, an air conditioner having a power in cooling mode of 2.5 kW has a power consumption of only about 800 watts. This is due to the fact that the air conditioner itself does not cool the air, but only transfers heat from the room to the street.
An additional characteristic of the air conditioner in this case is also its energy efficiency, expressed by the coefficients COP = heating power / power consumption and EER = cooling power / power consumption. Depending on the level of energy efficiency, air conditioners belong to one or another class (A-G), where class A is considered the best. SCOP and SEER coefficients are more accurate, which take into account the efficiency of air conditioners taking into account the characteristics of different climatic zones.
If you are interested in how to calculate the power of the air conditioner in general terms, then you can focus on the fact that for cooling 10 square meters. meters of a standard room you need 1 kW of air conditioning power in cooling mode. To heat a room of 25 square meters. meters need about 2 kW of air conditioning power for heating. But this data can be guided only as a familiarization. It is better for professionals to do the calculations (in large firms this service is free).
When calculating the required power of the air conditioner, the employees of the supplier company can take into account such methods of heat input into the room as:
- inflow through windows, floor, roof (based on thermal conductivity of materials) ;
- heat fluxes from people staying on the premises (based on the number of people and the activities they are engaged in) and the equipment located there (taking into account the consumed electric power, the coefficient of energy transfer to thermal, etc.);
- heat from lighting devices and from opening doors to other rooms (taking into account the total area of doors and room sizes), etc.
Based on these characteristics, you can make the most accurate calculations and choose the optimal power for such a device as an air conditioner.