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Types of Air
Conditioning
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| Centralised
As the name implies, one
central unit worksto
maintain the conditions in several areas by supplying air
through a ductwork system or water through a pipework system.
This type of system would be used to control, whole buildings
or floors of a building at the same conditions throughout.
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| Partially
Centralised
Using
central plant as above but providing some additional form of localised
control such as re-heat.
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| Packaged
or Split-System
In
the UK this is fastest growing sector of the air conditioning
market. Why? Because it enables individual rooms to be conditioned
independently and installed one at a time so spreading the
capital cost.
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Installed
prices can start from below £1,000 per room compared
to a central plant at £4,000 plus for a suite of rooms.
The system will typically comprise an indoor unit to circulate,
heat and cool the air as required. These will run in conjunction
with condensing units that need to be located outside of the
temperature controlled area. |
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| Multi-Split
System
A
refinement of the individual split system is the development of
the multi-split. Once again each room can be served by it's own
air handling unit, thereby still enabling individual control of
the personal environment. The difference is that several internal
units can be matched to just one external condensing unit.
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This option
is particularly useful if external space for siting condensing
units is limited. Some savings can be made as just one electrical
supply is required rather than several. On the other hand multi-splits
are generally more expensive to install than multiple single-splits
and are really only worth considering if external space is a problem.
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Close control or Comfort
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