I havent assemble my AC myself but the man who assmbled AC for me did some thing in front of me.
The main spare parts is Compressor (Two types available for home AC 1. Rotary type, Its common now a days for AC have low sound. 2. Reciprocating, Its older type but effecient one little more sound than rotary type also some more costly too + consume few watts extra power. Mine is reciprocating. Most of the power is consumed by Compressor then 65 to 125 watts for Fan depend on type and speed of fan).
Then Condensor and evaporator is needed. Condensor is back unit in which hot refigrant gas flow so it throw hot air backword and evaporator is front one indoor unit which run cold refrigrant gas from which indoor evaporator gets cold and air flow from it become cold air and air moisture become liquid water by just passing through evaporator. Rest spare parts are Fan, Body cabinet, Filter net, remote controller with thermostat board, Power cord, Expansion Valves to join the pipes & control refrigrant gas and finally refrigrant gas is needed to fill in compressor after complete assembling, some foams for insulation.
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Check this site for more details:
HowStuffWorks "How Air Conditioners Work: The Parts of an Air Conditioner"
Window Mounted Room Air Conditioner Troubleshooting - Repair
The branded company buy/import compressors, they dont manufacture compressor as it is Machine/engine type spare parts. You can get different variety of compressor in the market too and with warranty as per manufacturer. Branded company gives us 5 yrs warrantry only on compressor. Get the condensor and evaporator from different range some made of allow and some of copper fins and pipe all depend on cost.