Figure 8-1 illustrates the refrigeration process within an air-cooled condenser. Figure 8-2 shows some of the various types of compressors and condensers mounted as a unit. These units may be located outside the cooled space. Such a location makes it possible to exhaust the heated air from the cooled space. Note that the condenser has a large-bladed fan that pushes air through the condenser fins. The fins are attached to coils of copper or aluminum tubing. Tubing houses the liquid and the gaseous vapors. When the blown air contacts the fins, it cools them. Heat from the compressed gas in the tubing is thus transferred to the cooler fin.
Heat given up by the refrigerant vapor to the condensing medium includes both the heat absorbed in the evaporator and the heat of compression. Thus, the condenser always has a load, that is, the sum of these two heats. This means the compressor must handle more heat than that generated by the evaporator. The quantity of heat (in Btu) given off by the condenser is rated in heat per minute per ton of evaporator capacity. These condensers are rated at various suction and condensing temperatures.
The larger the condenser area exposed to the moving air stream, the lower will be the temperature of the refrigerant when it leaves the condenser. The temperature of the air leaving the vicinity of the condenser will vary with the load inside the area being cooled. If the evaporator picks up the additional heat and transfers it to the condenser, then the condenser must transmit this heat to the air passing over the surface of the fins. The temperature rise in the condensing medium passing through the condenser is directly proportional to the condenser load. It is inversely proportional to the quantity and specific heat of the condensing medium.
To exhaust the heat without causing the area being cooled to heat up again, it is common practice to locate the condenser outside of the area being conditioned. For example, for an air-conditioned building, the condenser is located on the rooftop or on an outside slab at grade level (see Fig. 8-3).
Some condensers are cooled by natural airflow. This is the case in domestic refrigerators. Such natural convection condensers use either plate surface or finned tubing (see Fig. 8-4).
Air-cooled condensers that use fans are classified as chassis mounted and remote. The chassis-mounted type is shown in Fig. 8-2. Here, the compressor, fan, and condenser are mounted as one unit. The remote type is shown in Fig. 8-3. Remote air-cooled condensers can be obtained in sizes that range from 1 to 100 ton. The chassis-mounted types are usually limited to 1 ton or less.
