What is the fuel consumption when idling with the air conditioning on?
1 Answers
Idling with the air conditioning on consumes approximately 1.4-2.5 liters of fuel depending on the engine displacement, with an average of around 1.6 liters. Below are the four cyclic processes of a car's air conditioning system: 1. Compression process: The compressor draws in low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant gas from the evaporator outlet and compresses it into high-temperature, high-pressure gas before discharging it. 2. Heat dissipation process: The high-temperature, high-pressure superheated refrigerant gas enters the condenser, where it condenses into a liquid due to the reduction in pressure and temperature, releasing a significant amount of heat. 3. Throttling process: The higher-temperature and higher-pressure refrigerant liquid passes through the expansion device, where its volume increases, and its pressure and temperature drop sharply, exiting as a mist (fine droplets). 4. Heat absorption process: The mist-like refrigerant liquid enters the evaporator. Since the boiling point of the refrigerant is much lower than the temperature inside the evaporator, the refrigerant liquid evaporates into gas, absorbing a large amount of surrounding heat in the process. The low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant vapor then re-enters the compressor. These processes repeat continuously to achieve the cooling of the air around the evaporator.