Mostly people have the desire to heat their rooms with sunlight because that is nature’s way of giving heat to the earth but are you may not be aware of the fact that with sun’s heat you can even cool your rooms. It is actually possible with the help of solar air conditioners. The solar air conditioner uses both electrical energy and sun’s thermal energy for operation. The electrical energy is required for the operation of the fans and other electric controlled components whereas the sun’s thermal energy is mainly used to maintain the refrigeration process which in turn can reduce the amount of electrical energy that is used to run the compressor.

A solar air conditioner functions following the principles of conventional air conditioning where the process of refrigeration takes place as a result of the phase transition of the refrigerant. The main difference between the air conditioning system and a conventional system is the change of the vapor to the liquid state in the refrigeration cycle. There are different kinds of solar air conditioners available in the market but the common feature among all of them is that they use the sun’s thermal energy. In a solar air conditioner, the sun’s energy is captured using the photo voltaic cells and is converted to DC energy and then to AC energy through an inverter box. Once this process of conversion has taken place, the energy can be wired into a home’s electrical box for further use.

There are basically two types of solar air conditioners in which the sun’s energy or the solar power is used. It is the hybrid and the absorption chiller.

It has been seen that the hybrid-powered solar air conditioner is commonly used by people who have just started with the use of solar air conditioners. In a hybrid powered solar air conditioner, solar energy is captured using solar panels and then it is used to power the air-conditioning home of your home. The best thing about hybrid-powered solar air conditioner is that it has a switch inside so that it can change from one power source to another. Thus, if you want to use it for back-up energy like electricity you could easily do it.

On the other hand, in case of the absorption chiller the sun’s energy and water is used to cool the room. These air conditioners take the advantage of the absorption process and water is used to transfer heat into the homes and create the requisite cooling. The absorption chillers are highly efficient in cooling the rooms and they can do so without refrigerant or electricity.

As solar air conditioners largely depend on solar power they have reduced impact on the environment and so it can be said that solar air conditioners are greatly energy efficient. Moreover the best part of solar air conditioners is that they being non-dependent on electricity you can easily cool even those places where electricity has not yet paved its path. But the problem with solar air conditions is that as people have not yet started using it in large numbers, the price still remains on the higher side when compared to the traditional air conditioners.