A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid through a vapour compression or absorption refrigeration cycle. This fluid can then be circulated in a heat exchanger or other process stream (such as air or process water) to cool the equipment.

What is the difference between a chiller and an air conditioner?

In chillers, heat is extracted from a liquid through a vapour compression or absorption refrigeration cycle. The cooled liquid passes through pipes in a building and through coils in air handlers or fan-coil units that help dehumidify the air. Generally, chillers are cooled with air and water.

How does the chiller system work?

How Does a Chiller Work? In most process cooling applications, a pumping system circulates cold water or water/glycol solution from the chiller to the process. … High-pressure gas enters the condenser where ambient air or condenser water extracts heat to cool it into a high-pressure liquid

What is a chiller?

Industrial water chillers are used in a variety of applications where chilled water or liquid is circulated through process equipment. Typically used to cool products and machinery, water chillers are used in a multitude of different applications including injection moulding, tool and die cutting, food and beverage, chemicals, lasers, machine tool, semiconductors and more.

The function of an industrial chiller is to move heat from one location (usually the processing equipment or product) to another location (usually the air outside the production facility). It is very common to use water or water/glycol solution to transfer heat to and from the chiller, which may require the process chiller to have a reservoir and pumping system. Whatever your industry and process, making sure you have adequate cooling is crucial for efficiency and cost savings.

How Does a Chiller Work?

In most process cooling applications, a pumping system circulates cold water or water/glycol solution from the chiller to the process. This cold liquid removes heat from the process and warm liquid returns to the chiller. Process water is the medium through which heat is transferred from the process to the chiller.

Process chillers contain a chemical compound called refrigerant. There are many types and applications of refrigerants depending on the temperatures required, but they all work on the basic principle of compression and phase change to convert the refrigerant from a liquid to a gas and back to a liquid. This process of heating and cooling the refrigerant and its conversion from a gas to a liquid and back again is the refrigeration cycle.

The refrigeration cycle starts with a low-pressure liquid/gas mixture entering the evaporator. In the evaporator, heat from the process water or water/glycol solution boils the refrigerant, which changes it from a low-pressure liquid to a low-pressure gas. The low-pressure gas enters the compressor where it is compressed into high-pressure gas. The high-pressure gas enters the condenser where ambient air or condenser water extracts heat to cool it to a high-pressure liquid. The high-pressure liquid goes to the expansion valve, which controls how much liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator, thus starting the refrigeration cycle again.

There are two types of condensers used in chillers; air cooled and water cooled. An air-cooled condenser uses ambient air to cool the hot refrigerant gas and condense it back into a liquid. It can be located inside the chiller or remotely placed outside, but ultimately rejects heat from the chiller to the air. In a water-cooled condenser, water from a cooling tower cools and condenses the chiller.

A chiller is rated from 1 to 1000 tonnes of cooling energy. There are three different types of chillers: (1) air, (2) water and (3) evaporative condensing chiller. Within each of the above categories for industrial chillers there are four sub-categories: (1) reciprocating, (2) centrifugal, (3) screw drive (4) and suction chillers. The first three types are mechanical coolers fuelled by electric motors, steam or gas turbines. An absorption chiller is powered by a heat source such as steam and uses no moving parts.

Industrial Chiller Components

The mechanical compression cycle has four basic components through which the refrigerant passes: (1) evaporator (2) compressor (3) condenser (4) expansion valve. The evaporator in the refrigerant will operate at a lower pressure and a lower temperature than the condenser.