Air conditioning

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Air conditioning refers to the cooling and dehumidification of indoor air for thermal comfort. In a broader sense, the term can refer to any form of cooling, heating, ventilation or disinfection that modifies the condition of air. An air conditioner (often referred to as AC or air con.) is an appliance, system, or mechanism designed to stabilise the air temperature and humidity within an area (used for cooling as well as heating depending on the air properties at a given time), typically using a refrigeration cycle but sometimes using evaporation, most commonly for comfort cooling in most buildings and motor-cars.

The concept of air conditioning is known to have been applied in Ancient Rome, where aqueduct water was circulated through the walls of certain houses to cool them. Similar techniques in medieval Persia involved the use of cisterns and wind towers to cool buildings during the hot season. Modern air conditioning emerged from advances in chemistry during the 19th century, and the first large-scale electrical air conditioning was invented and used in 1902 by Willis Haviland Carrier.

For more information about Air conditioning, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

News tagged with air conditioning

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Invading camels to be shot in Australian town

Biology / Ecology

Nov 26, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(AP) -- Australian authorities plan to corral about 6,000 wild camels with helicopters and gun them down after they overran a small Outback town in search of water, trampling fences, smashing tanks and contaminating ...

Green heating and cooling technology turns carbon from eco-villain to hero

Technology / Other

Nov 10, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 1

Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a novel way to miniaturise a technology that will make carbon a key material in ...

Color-changing roof tiles absorb heat in winter, reflect it in summer

Technology / Engineering

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (19) | 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Anyone who has ever stepped barefoot onto blacktop pavement on a hot sunny day knows the phenomenon very well: Black surfaces absorb the sun's heat very efficiently, producing a toe-scorching ...

Researchers closer to the ultimate green 'fridge magnet'

Physics / Condensed Matter

May 15, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (18) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are a step closer to making environmentally-friendly 'magnetic' refrigerators and air conditioning systems a reality, thanks to new research published today in Advanced Materials.

Breakthrough made in energy efficiency, use of waste heat

Technology / Engineering

Apr 01, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (12) | 4

Engineers at Oregon State University have made a major new advance in taking waste heat and using it to run a cooling system - a technology that can improve the energy efficiency of diesel engines, and perhaps some day will ...

Keeping cool using the summer heat

Technology / Energy

Jan 23, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (6) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- While most Australians are taking care to shield themselves from the harsh summer heat, scientists from the CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship are working on ways to harness the sun’s warmth ...