In our series "Introducing a Product," we provide you with essential and fundamental information about various vehicle technologies and devices – concise, competent, straightforward. Today, we're discussing the climate condenser. What is its purpose? And how does it work? Here, you'll find answers.
MAHLE Aftermarket offers around 1,200 different climate condensers for passenger cars, vans, and commercial vehicles. As a customer of MAHLE Aftermarket, you benefit from a broad expertise in original equipment manufacturing and more than 30 years of experience in climate service.
Heads Up: Climate service is a crucial component of service, becoming even more important with electric and hybrid vehicles, as their batteries and power electronics need cooling. This elevates the role of thermal management components.
They are no longer just responsible for comfort, but rather for the lifespan of other components as well as the functionality of the electrified drivetrain. Therefore, regular inspection and maintenance are necessary.
The climate condenser is one of the five key players in vehicle air conditioning systems. In addition to it, there are the climate compressor, the evaporator, the filter dryer, and the expansion valve. Following the path of the refrigerant, it comes right after the climate compressor. The "workplace" of the climate condenser is usually located at the front of the vehicle behind the grille and in front of the coolant cooler. Behind these components, there is a fan that automatically turns on when the driving wind does not provide sufficient cooling.
Condensing means that a substance changes from a gaseous to a liquid state. In an air conditioning system, this substance is the refrigerant. The compressor sucks in the refrigerant in its gaseous state and compresses it.
This process significantly heats it up and then pushes it with high pressure into the top of the climate condenser. The task of the condenser is to cool down the hot refrigerant through pipes and fins, thereby releasing heat to the surroundings. As a result, the pressure drops, and the refrigerant liquefies.
Through cooling, the refrigerant then exits the condenser in a liquid state from the lower connection.
Due to its position at the front of the vehicle, the climate condenser is constantly exposed to wind, weather, and stone chips. It's likely to get damaged over the vehicle's lifetime. Incidentally, leaks in the climate condenser are one of the most common reasons for the air conditioning system's failure. Thermal overload, for instance, caused by a defective fan or insufficient heat exchange due to dirt, also affects the condenser.
A defect in the climate condenser thus reduces the cooling performance, potentially leading to the failure of the entire air conditioning system. This can be a gradual process, for example, if corroded or missing fins reduce the condenser's cooling performance. Constant operation of the condenser/coolant cooler fan could indicate a defect. Therefore, if a customer's vehicle comes into your workshop with these symptoms, it is advisable to check whether there is enough refrigerant in the cooling circuit, as well as for leaks, dirt, or damage, and to perform a pressure test on the high and low-pressure sides.
Symptoms of a defective air conditioning condenser:
Test steps for troubleshooting: