1902, American willis carrier designed the first air conditioning system. 1906 filed an American patent in the name of "air treatment device". Carrier's invention originated in a printing workshop. Due to the change of air temperature and humidity, the printing machine makes the paper stretch, the oil colors are not arranged correctly, and the printed things are blurred. For this reason, Carrier has opened the door to the commercialization of air conditioners. In the next 20 years, Carrier's air conditioners were gradually used to adjust the temperature and humidity in the production process. And enter many industries, such as chemical, pharmaceutical, food, arms and other industries.
In the 20 years after the invention of air conditioning, the object of enjoyment has always been machines, not people. 1922 carrier engineering co., ltd. has successfully developed a landmark product in the history of air conditioning-centrifugal air conditioner, referred to as centrifuge. The biggest feature of centrifuge is its high efficiency, which opens the door for large space air conditioning. Since then, people have become the object of air conditioning services.
The development of household air conditioners began in the mid-1920s. 1928 Carrier introduced the first generation of household air conditioners. However, due to the Great Depression and World War II, air conditioners were not widely used. After the economic take-off in the 1950s, household air conditioners began to really enter thousands of households.
In 1960s, a new type of gas air conditioner appeared in Japan. Gas-fired air conditioner is an air conditioner with gas as energy source. Compared with electric air conditioner, it has the following advantages: full function, high equipment utilization rate and low comprehensive investment; The equipment has high energy utilization rate and low operating cost; Natural gas is a clean energy source and produces less harmful gases after combustion; Less mechanical moving parts, less vibration, low noise, less wear and tear, long service life; The refrigeration working medium is lithium bromide aqueous solution, which is low in price and pollution-free; Most importantly, the widespread use of gas-fired air conditioners is not only conducive to improving the situation of tight power supply, but also plays a considerable role in improving the power load rate and the peak-valley balance rate of power. This can not only solve the comprehensive utilization of energy and reduce the waste of resources. Moreover, it has remarkable economic and social benefits for improving the operation utilization rate of power equipment, effectively controlling the blind growth of power equipment investment, reducing power cost and stabilizing power supply capacity. In addition, the widespread use of gas air conditioners is self-evident for effectively balancing the peak and valley of gas season, improving the utilization rate of gas pipeline network and reducing the comprehensive cost of gas supply.
At the end of 1960s, Japan promoted the development of gas air-conditioning from the government to the private sector, and it took about 10 years, and gas air-conditioning occupied about 85% of the central air-conditioning market in Japan. After learning from Japan's experience, South Korea has also promoted the production and application of gas air conditioners. Today, its share of gas-fired air conditioners in the domestic market has surpassed that of Japan.
At the end of 1970s, the research on solar energy utilization developed vigorously all over the world, and solar air conditioning technology also appeared. With the maturity of key technologies of solar refrigeration and air conditioning, especially in solar collectors and refrigerators, solar air conditioning has also developed rapidly.
In the early 1980s, inverter air conditioning technology began to be used in Japan. 1982, Japan produced the first AC inverter air conditioner. Frequency conversion air conditioner is an air conditioner with frequency conversion control system, which is based on ordinary air conditioner. Its basic structure and refrigeration principle are exactly the same as those of ordinary air conditioners. The traditional air-conditioning compressor relies on its constant "on-off" to adjust the indoor temperature, which is easy to cause the room temperature to be hot and cold and consume more electricity. The main engine of variable frequency air conditioner can automatically change speed continuously, which can automatically provide the required cooling (heating) amount according to the room situation; When the indoor temperature reaches the expected value, the air-conditioning host will run at a constant speed that can accurately maintain this temperature, and realize "non-stop operation", thus ensuring the stability of the ambient temperature. Frequency conversion air conditioner has the characteristics of energy saving, low noise, high temperature control accuracy, fast temperature control speed, low voltage requirement and low ambient temperature requirement.
In the mid-1990s, solar air conditioning technology made great progress, and vacuum tube collectors and lithium bromide absorption refrigerators entered the market in large quantities. There are two main ways to realize the new solar air conditioner. One is to realize photoelectric conversion first, and then use electricity to drive the conventional compression refrigerator for refrigeration. This realization method is simple in principle and easy to realize, but the cost is high. For example, Qingdao Haier has produced such solar refrigerators and air conditioners; The second is to use the heat energy of the sun to drive refrigeration, which has high technical requirements, but low cost, no noise and no pollution. The latter method is being used more and more widely.
During the period of 1998, the frequency conversion air conditioning technology made a major breakthrough. Japan has developed DC frequency conversion technology, and the performance of DC frequency conversion air conditioner is better than that of AC frequency conversion air conditioner. Since then, DC inverter air conditioning has quickly become the mainstream of modern air conditioning. At present, DC inverter air conditioners have accounted for more than 90% of the domestic air conditioning market in Japan, Europe and America. In China, Haier first introduced the first DC inverter air conditioner in China in 1998, and the domestic inverter air conditioner manufacturers also increased rapidly. The inverter air conditioner market in China, especially the DC inverter air conditioner market, began to develop by leaps and bounds.
During the period of 1999, gas-fired air conditioning has also made great progress in the field of central air conditioning. In the United States, a big air-conditioning country, the development of gas air-conditioning was limited for a long time because of its strong early power infrastructure. From June 65438 to July 0999, the continuous high temperature led to a sharp increase in the electricity consumption of air conditioners, and the voice of the United States to promote gas air conditioners was soaring. In the American central air-conditioning sales market in 2000, the share of gas air-conditioning increased rapidly to 7%. In recent years, countries in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia have gradually learned about gas air conditioning. Because of the huge market potential, many manufacturers began to fully promote gas-fired air conditioners and made substantial progress. The gas industry in China started late and developed slowly. The proportion of gas air conditioners in the whole air conditioner is still very low, and the proportion of gas consumed by gas air conditioners in the total gas consumption is even lower.
In 2 1 century, the development prospect of gas air conditioning will be broader. Nowadays, global energy experts have fully realized that natural gas will be the global energy in 2 1 century. With the great economic and social benefits of gas air conditioning being gradually understood and recognized by the world, the development prospect of gas air conditioning is very broad. The advantages of gas air-conditioning have been unanimously recognized by global energy experts and air-conditioning experts, and many countries have implemented or are preparing to implement a series of measures to promote gas air-conditioning.
In recent years, in order to meet the needs of consumers from all walks of life, many new air conditioners have appeared in the domestic air-conditioning market: (1) intelligent air conditioner, which adopts humanized intelligent design and can be automatically turned on and off without manual operation. The intelligent air conditioner can also automatically adjust the operating state according to the light intensity, the number of people, and the indoor and outdoor temperature difference to achieve the best room temperature. This trend-oriented air conditioner has naturally become the new mainstream; (2) Invisible air conditioner, specially designed for China families. Because the room area of China family is small, and the shelf of the room is short, the beauty of the room is often affected by the large space occupied by air conditioners. It has become a new trend to produce space-saving and even invisible air conditioners specially designed for families in China. (3) Double-sided air conditioner, a variable frequency air conditioner that can supply air from top to bottom, has changed the single air supply mode of the original air conditioner. Don't blow your body directly, and don't "air-condition". Redefine the concept of health for ventilated cabinet air conditioner with two-way fresh air function to further improve the quality of life; (4) Buy one get one free air conditioner. Nowadays, the housing structure of one household with multiple rooms has become the main type, and an ordinary air conditioner can no longer meet the requirements of multiple rooms. Buying multiple air conditioners not only increases the economic burden, but also affects the beauty of the room. The appearance of one-to-many air conditioner meets the new demand of new structure, especially the frequency conversion one-to-many air conditioner has become the first choice of consumers.
Looking forward to the future, the development of network technology will bring a brand-new technological revolution to air conditioning. The concept of traditional air conditioning will change qualitatively, and the arrival of air conditioning network information era has become an irreversible trend. Some new air conditioners began to reserve network interfaces to realize network opening. Through the optional network controller, remote network control thousands of miles away can be realized. The centralized controller can control 128 air conditioners at the same time, which provides convenience for property management in intelligent residential areas. The characteristics of high technology and high added value push the air conditioner, a simple and comfortable product, to a brand-new concept and become an indispensable humanized intelligent household appliance in people's work and life.