Copeland A/C Compressor

Why Copeland Leads the A/C Compressor Category

Copeland is one of the most recognized names in the A/C compressor industry, and for good reason. The Copeland brand traces its history to inventor Edmund Copeland, who founded a company in Detroit in 1921 to transform the refrigeration industry with his unique inventions. When Emerson acquired Copeland in 1986, it continued to honor the spirit of enterprise and inventiveness embodied by the brand's early founder and champions, making significant investments in the development of a new scroll compressor product — and in 1987, introduced the first scroll compressor sold under the Copeland brand. That pioneering move permanently reshaped the HVACR landscape.

The Copeland Scroll™ Advantage

When Copeland first pioneered the use of scroll technology in compressors, it changed the industry forever. Since then, Copeland scroll compressors have been installed over 170 million times and the technology remains at the forefront for HVACR applications, impressing contractors and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with its superior efficiency, proven reliability, and ease of installation.

The scroll compressor's operating principle is a key reason for its dominance in the A/C segment. Copeland scroll compressors work with one scroll orbiting in a path defined by a matching fixed scroll. The fixed scroll is attached to the compressor body while the orbiting scroll is coupled to the crankshaft. The orbiting motion creates a series of gas pockets traveling between the two scrolls. Copeland's scroll compressors have only three moving parts, which significantly reduces wear and tear over time and allows you to quickly zero in on the source of maintenance issues — compared to an average reciprocating compressor that can have as many as nine moving parts for each cylinder.

A Full Spectrum of A/C Compressor Solutions

With the broadest product line in the industry, Copeland scroll compressors range from 1–60 HP and are installed in more than 100 million installations around the world. Whether you're servicing a residential split system or a large commercial rooftop unit, Copeland offers a compressor engineered for the job.

• Variable Speed Scroll Compressors: Copeland scroll variable speed compressors and drives offer the perfect combination of performance, optimized efficiency, and premium comfort for residential and commercial applications — featuring innovative variable speed scroll technology that allows cooling capacity to be regulated with precise control, and built-in CoreSense™ technology that monitors the compressor for optimal performance.
• Two-Stage Scroll Compressors: The Copeland two-stage compressor provides superior comfort with a revolutionary two-step capacity design. While built on established scroll technology, it operates with fewer moving parts and no volumetric efficiency drop-off or compression leakage, delivering the reliability expected from a Copeland scroll compressor.
• Hermetic Compressors: Versatility and a wide choice of operating ranges make Copeland hermetic compressors the first choice for every refrigeration need, with a selection range from 1/4 HP through 40 HP across air-cooled, water-cooled, and refrigerant-cooled configurations.
• Commercial Fixed-Capacity Scrolls: Fixed capacity compressors offer proven reliability for commercial air conditioning needs, backed by Copeland's Advanced Scroll Temperature Protection (ASTP) system. This feature protects your compressor from excessively high discharge temperatures and eliminates the need for a discharge line thermostat through Copeland's unique internal protection system, providing superior reliability and reduced warranty rates.

Built for Modern Refrigerant Standards

Next-gen Copeland scroll technology has been designed for maximum efficiency and a full range of low-GWP refrigerants, and comes complete with smart features like plug-and-play electronics to provide the performance and flexibility needed for regulation-ready system design. Many Copeland products are also equipped with smart features to provide advanced monitoring and protection, diagnostics, power consumption measurements, and communication capabilities.

Copeland is specified by more HVACR professionals than any other compressor brand, and that trust extends directly to the A/C compressor category. Whether you're a technician replacing a failed unit or a system designer specifying new equipment, Copeland's depth of product lineup, technological leadership, and century-long legacy make it a reliable choice from residential comfort systems to demanding commercial applications.