Alpha Technologies Radium MiniBay - Manual (Page 34)

4 044-001-C0-00, Rev. C
3.0 AC Air Conditioner
IceQube AC Air Conditioner Overview, Basic Theory of Refrigeration:
1. The compressor pump draws in and compresses cool, low-pressure gas into a high pressure gas.
Compression raises the boiling point of the gas.
2. The hotter, high-pressure gas passes through a coil called a condenser. A fan blows air over the
coil which cools the gas into a liquid.
. This high-pressure liquid passes through an expansion valve, where the liquid expands to boil off
as a gas. As the gas expands, it absorbs heat.
4. The cool low-pressure gas is sent through another set of coils called an evaporator or heat
exchanger. Warm interior air is blown over the coil and back into the interior, several degrees
cooler.
5. The low-pressure gas is then drawn into the compressor, where the cycle starts over. The
air conditioning system is actually three systems, which function simultaneously to maintain
environmentally friendly conditions for your equipment within the enclosure: The closed-loop cold
air system, warm air system, and vapor-compression refrigeration system.
The closed-loop cold air system circulates cold air from the cooling system to the electronics
enclosure. This air captures the heat and humidity within the enclosure and carries it through the heat
exchanger, the part of the vapor-compression system that removes the heat/humidity.
The vapor-compression refrigeration system is run by an efficient rotary compressor which circulates
NON-CFC refrigerant to transfer heat from the heat exchanger (evaporator) in the closed-loop air
stream to a condenser located in the warm air system. Heat from the enclosure transfers from the
warm air heat exchanger and dissipates to the ambient.
Air Filter Access
Fig. -1, AC Air Conditioner