Packaged air conditioners are usually installed where cooling capacities are required in the range of 4 to 20 tons
. They are available in the range of 5, 7, 10 and 15 tons capacities.
In packaged air conditioners, all important components are place in the single casing as in windows air conditioners. Depending upon the cooling mechanisms installed in these units, they are divided into two categories:
Equipped with water cooled condenser
Equipped with air cooled condenser
Equipped with Water Cooled Condenser
The condenser in these packaged air conditioners is cooled with water. The sheet and tube type construction of the condenser has coolant flowing in the tube side and water in the shell side. The water supply needs to be regularly supplied to these systems for their proper functioning.
These air conditioning units are compact in shape and are enclosed in one single unit which looks like a box with control panels on the external control board. The compressor is placed at the bottom along with the condenser. The centrifugal blower along with the air filter comprises the air handling section. The blower can handle very large air volume necessary for cooling multiple rooms.
Air Cooled Condensers
The condenser of the air conditioning unit gets cooled by atmospheric air. The outdoor unit consists of compressor and condenser. The external unit is placed in the open air where there is a good flow of atmospheric air. The fan in this unit sucks the air from outside and cools the condenser coil by blowing the air over it.
Condenser coil comprises of several turns of copper tubes which are finned externally. These air conditioners are more popular than water cooled ones as it is difficult to arrange for the continuous flow of water for them. The cooling unit in these units has an expansion valve and an evaporator with an air handling blower. The filter is located on floor. The ducts connected to the cooling unit are extended to different rooms which are to be cooled by the AC unit.
As we discussed above, though both of the packaged AC types are excellent in performance yet packaged air conditioners with air cooled condensers are preferred over water cooled type due to less hassles as no cooling water supply is needed.