Air conditioning. What and when was it invented How did it develop - Essay Example

14 February How were air conditioners developed? The concept of the circulation of cool air in a structure dates back to the time of ancient Romans. The rich among them used to pipe aqueduct water through the interiors of their walls in order to keep their large houses cool in the summer. Nowadays, air conditioning has become one of the most fundamental necessities of people both within the house and outside it. This paper checks how air conditioners were developed. Air conditioners have been developed by using different kinds of powers and cooling agents at different points in time.

In about 180 A.D., the first ever ventilation system was found. It was fan-powered. It was Ding Huan who made a fan which passed air from cold water which then spread in the house. This idea was found in the dynasties of Tand and Song. First, people powered the fans manually. Later on, water was used to drive the fans. One very difficult design of powering the fan was found in the Tang dynasty in which the fountain water that went upwards was used to push the gears and hence, the fans were turned on.

In the air-coolers in which water was used as the main cooling thing, the evaporation of water made the space very humid. Michael Faraday as a scientist of British origin who in 1820 made a compressor in which, ammonia was used. The challenge in front of Faraday was to exhaust the fumes of ammonia. This was difficult because of the toxic property of ammonia. Although the cooling agent was unsafe, yet the technology of compressing he introduced is used even today. Compression was later used by John Gorrie who was from Florida.

He made ice with it. With this ice, he cooled down the structures. The commercial air conditioner was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier in the year 1902 (“History of Air Conditioning”). Carrier was a very hard working person. “I fish only for edible fish, and hunt only for edible game even in the laboratory” (Carrier cited in Bellis). His air conditioner was to be used to lower down the temperature of the machinery that was used in the process of printing. But one thing that Carrier noticed and was very good about his design was that in addition to cooling down the air, his air conditioner also regulated the humidity in the air.

This property assisted in calibrating the ink in the printing press and also made the alignment of the papers very good. This was a very wonderful achievement and laid the basis of air conditioning in both the commercial and the industrial sectors. Carrier decided to do good business with his air conditioners, so he opened up his own factory in Syracuse, New York. For most of the 1900s, the Carrier Air Conditioning Company was the biggest supplier of air conditioners in the world. It was after the mid 20th century when the window air conditioners started to become common in home use.

Central air-conditioning units were made in the 1970s. In the 1990s, Carrier and Honeywell brands made coolants that were ozone-friendly which replaced Freon (Paventi).Works Cited:Bellis, Mary. “The Father of Cool.” 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. .“History of Air Conditioning”. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. .Paventi, Jared. “When Was Air Conditioning Invented?” 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. .