Packaged terminal air conditioner

A removed PTAC unit showing it's components.

A packaged terminal air conditioner (PTAC) is a kind of self-contained heating and air conditioning system. It is commonly found in hotels, motels, senior housing facilities, hospitals, condominiums, apartment buildings, add-on rooms & sunrooms. Many PTACs are designed to be installed in a wall. They have vents and heat sinks both inside and outside. Different standard dimensions are found in the market including 42×16 inches, 36x15 inches, and 40x15 inches.

The older units usually use mechanical control with mechanical push buttons to select the mode of operation and fan speed control. Another rotary knob is used to set the desired temperature of the unit. This was the most cost-effective and simplest method of control in the past. The development and the reduction in the cost of electronic controls have enabled manufacturers to implement electronic control touchpad that comes with remote control. Some of the electronic controls that have been built into the system including a timer control where you will be able to set when to ON or OFF the unit, Mode control is operated by pushing the same button to select the mode of operation. Temperature setting is displayed by the use of 7 segment display and buttons used to change the settings. Energy-saving features such as sleep or economizer functions where the set temperature will be automatically adjusted according to the duration that has elapsed.

History

The first practical packaged terminal air conditioner was invented by engineers at Chrysler Motors.