Heat pump and refrigeration cycle
The vapor compression cycle is used by many refrigeration, air conditioning, and other cooling applications. It is also used within heat pumps for heating applications. The vapor compression cycle has two heat exchangers. One of them is the condenser, which is hot and releases heat. The other is the evaporator, which is cold and takes heat. For applications that need to operate in both heating and cooling modes, such as heat pumps, a reversing valve is used to switch the roles of the heat exchangers.