Evaporator for air conditioning with phase change material for a thermal syphon operation mode

An evaporator (100) having a manifold (108) and a plurality of refrigerant tubes (106) extending downward in the direction of gravity from the manifold. The evaporator (100) includes at least one pcm housing (102) engaging the upper portion (104) of the refrigerant tube (106) for storing a phase change material. When operating in a first operating mode, heat is transferred from the phase change material to the refrigerant to freeze and cool the phase change material. When operating in a second operating mode, heat is transferred from the refrigerant to the frozen phase change material to condense the refrigerant. The condensed refrigerant falls downwardly through the tubes (106) and receives heat from a flow of air to cool the air and evaporate the refrigerant. The evaporated refrigerant rises upwardly back to the low pressure of the cold manifold (108).