Although it might seem like air conditioners produce cold air, they actually work by removing hot air from the cabinet and transferring the heat away from the cabinet itself. The air flowing back into the enclosure has the heat removed and thus feels colder.
Air conditioners designed for cooling electronics have two basic systems at work within them: The first is the compressor, refrigerant, evaporator coil, and condenser coil system, which transfers the heat from inside the cabinet to outside the enclosure. The second is the air mover system, which is comprised of a cabinet-side blower and exterior-side blower. The cabinet side blower circulates the hot enclosure air over the evaporation coil, so that the refrigerant can pick up the heat energy and move it to the exterior of the air conditioner. The exterior-side blower then exhausts the heat away from the condenser coil to the outside of the air conditioner.
Unlike domestic building cooling, where the evaporator coil and blower are separate from the condenser coil, compressor, and condenser blower, systems designed for electronics cooling usually package these components together in one unit. Because electronics cooling is not designed for human comfort, the thermostat is typically not set any lower than 75° F (23.8° C). This higher temperature range reduces the chance of condensation forming inside the enclosure or on vital electronic equipment.
