People not in the refrigeration business often think that refrigeration equipment produces cold air; in fact, the equipment is actually removing heat from air and leaving what’s left — the cold. When the sensor determines the target temperature has been reached, the equipment can take a pause, and when the temperature goes back up, the equipment goes on again.
It’s a fairly simple concept, but we all recognize that there is more to refrigeration equipment than that. In this article, you will learn about ways in which heat flows and factors that determine the speed of heat transfer. You will also learn about the four laws that describe how temperature and pressure changes affect the state of refrigerant in a sealed piping system. As a technician, you’ll need to know all of this as you troubleshoot equipment.