How does an automotive A/C system work?
All matter has a certain amount of heat except at absolute zero (-460º F). Ice cubes feel cool to the touch, but actually it just has less heat than your hand. Heat is transferring from your hand to the ice cube. This is the principle behind how an A/C cools the air in a car. Heated air is circulated across a gas filled evaporator and is transferred to the refrigerant gas making the air less hot. The heat-laden refrigerant then is drawn into the compressor, is super heated by compression and forced through the condenser where the cooler outside air takes the heat from the refrigerant. Its next stop is the expansion device (TXV or Orifice tube), which meters refrigerant into the evaporator where it expands into a gas and it starts over again.
