Air Conditioner Compressor 101

Have you ever taken a look at an air conditioner and wondered, “What the heck is that thing?” I mean, it looks like a big metal box with tubes and wires coming out of it. Well, let’s take a closer look and find out what all those pieces do:

The air conditioner compressor is made up of two parts – the compressor head and the suction tube.  It has six main components inside – three valves (the oil separator, discharge valve, liquid receiver), two seals (the suction seal & the shell seal),  and one or more rotors  (with oil grooves). Let’s talk about each piece in detail…

1. The Compressor Head

The compressor head holds the Compressor Rotor Assembly inside.  This is the part that does all of the squishing! When you press your air conditioner remote control and tell it to cool things off in your home, the compressor head gets to work compressing gas, which makes a high-pressure liquid.

2. The Suction Tube

The suction tube carries the high-pressured liquid from the compressor head to other parts inside your air conditioner so they can use it as a coolant. It also helps maintain a solid connection between the compressor and other parts because it’s made from very thin metal ..

3. Five Valves There are three valves that do important jobs: The Oil Separator Valve, the Discharge Valve, and the Liquid Receiver. They make sure liquid flows through your air conditioner without any problem…

4. Two Seals The liquid receiver and suction seal make sure liquid can’t escape from your air conditioner throughout the operation.  If liquid escaped out of your AC, it’d be an expensive mess! …

5. Rotors with Oil Grooves The compressor rotor (or compressor wheel) is a part that’s inside the compression head and has oil grooves running along its surface.  The oil comes up to touch every part of this rotor as it spins during operation – helping the compressor run smoothly…

6. Compressor Block The final piece of internal equipment in your air conditioner is called the compressor block, which is made of metal to withstand high pressure.  It helps hold together all the other parts inside the compressor. And that’s what makes up your air conditioner compressor!

Now let’s talk about how it works…

When you turn your AC on, the compressor head quickly compresses the gas into a liquid. This process causes heat, so the hot liquid needs to be removed…

The three valves work in unison to remove this built-up heat and allow gas to re-enter the compression chamber. If one of these valves didn’t exist, your air conditioner would fail to function properly – or even stop working completely!…

Next, oil travels along the suction tube to lubricate every part it reaches.  If there wasn’t an oil separator valve, your air conditioner would seize up and stop working. Each time the suction tube receives oil from the compressor head, this keeps it lubricated and running smoothly…

Finally, once everything’s cooled off and ready to work again, the pressure becomes low enough that the liquid receiver opens up. This releases out any remaining liquid in your AC. …

And finally: you get sweet, cool comfort! Your home is nice and chilly because of all those soothing cold molecules pumping through your ac system (thanks to the high-pressure liquid from before). …

Whew – that was a lot of information, but you did it! Now you know what makes an air conditioner tick.