How Reverse Cycle
Air Conditioners Work
The outdoor unit (compressor) extracts the coolness from the outside air, even on mid-summer days, and pumps it into the indoor unit located in the ceiling space. A refrigerant is passed through an external coil, absorbing the coolness from the outside air. This refrigerant is then pumped through a compressor into a fan coil unit (condensor) inside the roof space of the home, releasing its cooling into the room. Three or more units of cooling can be transferred for every unit of electricity used to run reverse cycle air conditioners.
By reversing the flow of this refrigerant, reverse cycle air conditioners also provide efficient heating in winter. Three units of heat can be transferred for every unit of electricity used. Running costs can be as low as one-third of those of direct element heaters (eg portable heaters and off peak storage heaters) which use one unit of electricity to produce one unit of heat.
How Inverters and Digital Scroll Works
Inverter - a frequency inverter drive controls the voltage and alternating current frequency supplied to the compressor motor.
Digital scroll has a kind of clutching system piloted by a solenoid valve. The capacity reduction is achieved by modulating this solenoid with a PWM controller. If 70% of capacity is required, 70% of the time the compressor will be in full load and 30% of the time it will be stopped.
For the main features and average running costs of reverse cycle systems, click splits or ducted refrigerated.
