Air conditioning Methods from the History

Air Conditioning,

What is Air Conditioning.?

If any one asks you this question, what will you answer? The only answer we all will be having is AC Or Air conditioning is the process of cooling the defined space using a Machine by reducing the temperature in a place where it is being used.

As per the definition of Air Conditioning given in Wikipedia website. Air conditioning is the process of altering the properties of air to more comfortable conditions, typically with the aim of distributing the conditioned air to an occupied space such as a building or a vehicle to improve the thermal comfort and also the indoor air quality.

Okay, so by this you might have got the entire meaning and definition of Air conditioning. And also you all will know about the machine used for doing the process of Air Conditioning. Yes the Air Conditioner or commonly called as AC.

The sole purpose of this article is to give you a small idea about the process of Air conditioning from its origin to the working of this fantastic machine.

Can you guess how the air-cooling system would have been made in the pre historic times? This was mainly done   using snow and ice. They used to harvest ice during wintertime and store this to use in hot summer. This method was quite popular in the late 19^th century. As the time went this was taken over by the mechanical ice-making machine.

In the olden days the air-cooling was also done using water and water fans. They used to make manual fan leafs and cover it with the roots of certain plants and grasses which has the capacity to hold water and someone used to manually rotate it to make the air blow in between those wet surface hence by making the air cool and moist and by doing this for certain amount of time the entire area gets cooler than that the out side.

The core concept behind air conditioning was said to be invented and applied more effectively in the ancient Egypt.

As it is said Necessity is the mother of Inventions. The physiographic location of Egypt, and the harsh weather conditions during the hot and humid summer made them to think of air cooling and to find some beautiful ways to make the living area cool. Another major technique used in that era was by making the air moist by tickling the water through the windows and the air passage areas hence this will cool and reduce the temperature more effectively with out any physical exercise. In some other parts they used to make the water flow through the walls of the living area as this will also cool down the temperature inside.

Evaporative cooling.

Evaporative cooling is a type of air-cooling technique used by architects in olden days, before the invention of modern air conditioning methods to keep the temperature up to 20-25 degree cooler than that of the temperature outside the building. Evaporative cooling Technique is also called as Swamp cooler or Wet air cooler Techniques. This was one of the most common air-cooling techniques used by our ancient architectural designers to regulate the temperature inside the huge fortresses and palaces.

They have invented this technique by observing the fact that “when the water gets evaporated due to heat; it immediately brings down the temperature of the space around it “.  From this they have formulated a simple but very effective ventilation solution and deployed it to make the huge areas and innermost rooms in the building regulate the temperature through out the year. Even now if we visit any ancient palaces the temperature inside the rooms will be lower than outside.

The major idea behind water canals or water bodies around every old palaces and forts are not only for the protection but also for regulating the temperature inside.

Step well

In ancient India, mainly in areas of Rajasthan were the temperature is like 45 degree Celsius or more, another modification of this idea can be found in the form of Step well. This was the method used in ancient Rajastani architectures to keep the temperature cool inside with out any artificial cooling system or by using any fancy technology.

How does it work.?

If you look carefully on the above picture you can find that the base of the building is lowered to a few meters below the ground level in the form of a well to entrap the heat with in its descending sets of steps. And at the bottom, the stored water in the well will get heated up and get evaporated and it will immediately lower the temperature around the well due to the above-mentioned principle and hence this will create a cool climate in side the building.

Use of Latticed Screens

The Latticed screens or “Jaali” was used in ancient palaces and buildings to reduce the temperature by being a filter to the direct sun light and heat to the building. The use of Jaali gives a decorative out look to the building and also acts as a cooling outer skin to the building.

Wind Catcher.

The wind catcher or wind tower is a traditional Persian architectural element to provide natural ventilation to the buildings. Wind catcher was the architectural design got developed in the ancient Iran. The method of wind catchers was so effective that they used this method not only to keep the entire building cool but also used to store water in a near freezing temperature in the hot summer. many traditional water reservoirs (ab anbars) in Persian architecture are build with wind catchers.

The traditional wind catchers can be found in different types such as Uni-directional, Bi-directional and multi directional.

Ceramic wall coat

Most of the buildings in the ancient Persian regions can be found with thick walls with ceramic coating on both sides. This thick ceramic coating on the building will act as a high insulation agent towards the direct heat from the sun. And hence protects the interior of the building to being heated up. The town centered on desert oases can be found densely packed with high walls and ceilings with small windows, which faces away from the sun. This will maximize the shade at ground level and will also protect from heating up directly.

The Taka.

If we observe the houses in the ancient Egypt, the walls of the buildings will be built higher than the normal level and which will be consisting of a special type of ventilation called “Rusha” or “Taka”. Which will be positioned higher than the normal windows and facing. This causes the air movement inside in different speeds and which will in turn act as cross ventilation.  Hence the interior of the building will get cooled.

Building’s Envelop.

The color of the buildings also affects the cooling inside the building. So light colors were used in old buildings to reduce the heat gain. Along with the choice of building color some designs of projections were also used in the buildings and which will be acting as a shade to the building or as a shade to the ventilation. These projections in the building can reduce the glare of sun, as they are the most exposed elements towards direct sunlight.

The Shuksheika.

In every building roofs are directly exposed to the sun and will get heated up easily and this will increase the temperature inside. To avoid this the roofs where made using thermal resistant materials to reduce the heat. And also the roofs can be found to be highly elevated to reduce the heat inside as the hot air tends to move up words and this will also reduce the temperature inside.

 The Shuksheika is a type roof, which are made in the form of open galleries with lightweight roof covers. These open areas in the roof will act as a shade as well as ventilation system by providing cool air inside.

The Domes.

The Domes are the most useful way to adapt with the hot climate. This roof shape in the form of a half-cylinder or a hemisphere has many advantages in hot and humid climatic regions. The height of the space is increased inside and this will allow the warm air to rise up and spread above the normal level hence cooling the interior. Another advantage of half cylindrical roofs are that one portion of it will be always on the shade from direct sunlight and this will also help to reduce the temperature inside.





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