A chiller is a refrigeration system that cools equipment to maintain proper temperatures. It prevents heat damage and ensures systems operate smoothly and efficiently.

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An industrial or commercial chiller system uses refrigerant to absorb heat. Water-cooled chillers use water towers to cool equipment, while air-cooled chillers rely on ambient airflow.

Types of Chillers

The main chiller types include air and water chillers. They are distinguished by their different vapor systems:

• Vapor compression: Low-pressure refrigerant vapor is drawn into a compressor and compressed into a high-temperature and high-pressure gas. The gas then travels to the condenser, where it releases heat to a cooling medium.
• Vapor absorption: The refrigerant vapor is absorbed by a solution like lithium bromide, and this process releases heat. The resulting solution travels to a generator, where a heat source turns the refrigerant back into vapor so it can be condensed into a liquid.

We’ve summarized air and water chillers below to help you better understand them. While both have the same parts, including a compressor, evaporator, expansion valve and condenser, their methods of extracting excess heat differ. This difference is indicated in their titles since air chillers extract heat using air, while water chillers use water to extract heat from the system.

Air Chillers

Fans blow cool air into air chillers to regulate the condenser and prevent it from overheating. These chillers are installed on a building’s exterior, saving internal space.

Water Chillers

In water-cooled chillers, water is pumped through a sealed condenser and sprayed through the cooling tower, extracting heat as the water evaporates. This highly effective method saves more energy and money spent on energy bills.

Some common applications for air and water chillers include:

• Commercial buildings: Support HVAC systems to cool shopping malls, office buildings and other large commercial infrastructure
• Data centers: Maintain IT equipment’s and servers’ ideal operating temperatures, as their heat sensitivity affects their ability to operate optimally
• Cooling systems: Required for food and beverage storage and transportation to maintain their integrity
• Medical and research facilities: Controls temperatures to ensure equipment and biological samples are stored correctly
• Pharmaceuticals: Ensures optimal temperatures for drug production and storage
• The automotive industry: Cools paint booths to maintain the correct temperatures for spray painting and helps control temperatures for vehicle component testing facilities

Considerations When Buying a Commercial Chiller

Before purchasing an industrial chiller, determine the right type for your specifications and choose the best product. Here are some aspects that may influence your decision.

Application

Equipment use is one of the first variables to consider when buying a chiller. Various applications require different chillers, and understanding which kind you need is an excellent start to the buying process.

Size

For many unit applications, size and efficiency go hand in hand. An oversized chiller can consume more energy than necessary, cutting your profit margins. Meanwhile, an undersized chiller may struggle to meet your facility’s needs. A compact chiller that removes the heat from your equipment allows you to cool it effectively while saving energy and money. To determine the correct chiller size for your facility, you must determine the heat load, temperature, flow rate, and coolant type required for your equipment.

While many industrial chiller manufacturers offer mass-produced cooling products, it’s best to partner with one that offers customization. An experienced chiller manufacturer can provide cooling options that meet your industry specifications. When you order a custom-sized chiller, you can rely on it to support your needs.

Location

The ideal chiller relies on your equipment location. Outdoor applications are prone to fluctuating ambient temperatures, while the air surrounding indoor applications may reach excessively high temperatures. Because of these natural temperature differences, indoor or outdoor equipment may require particular sizing or specific accessories such as sump heaters, heat tracing, insulated components, or special controls for components.

Safety

Installing a safe chiller is crucial for your equipment, employees and facility. If you operate in hazardous conditions or process flammable chemicals, an explosion-proof chiller is essential to preventing potential explosions. Only consult with an experienced manufacturer that designs and builds systems to meet National Fire Protection Association standards.

Temperature Control Needs

Choosing a high-quality chiller is vital for work requiring precise temperature control. Reliable, custom-designed chiller systems offer this feature to prevent damage and ensure your equipment operates efficiently.

If your leaving temperature must remain below 35 degrees Fahrenheit, you may require a low-temperature chiller. Choosing the correct chiller ensures your business operations continue smoothly without failure. Reputable manufacturers have the knowledge and technology to design and build quality low-temperature chiller systems, providing you with the necessary temperature control.

Cooling Fluid

Cooling fluid can affect your chiller system, so don’t neglect this factor. Common cooling fluids are propylene glycol mix, Dynalene heat transfer, and water and specialized fluids. Your municipal water supply can contain contaminants that corrode chiller components.

While using a glycol-water mix is always best, your cooling system may require additional filtration if you pull from a city water source. Consult with your manufacturer to determine if your operating temperatures can affect fluid viscosity.

Voltage

Some chillers may have voltages requiring specific electrical work. To decide which type of chiller you purchase, determine what voltage your facility can support and how much electrical work your budget allows. You should also consult the chiller manufacturer about which voltage options support more efficient operation.

Industrial Chiller Cost

Cost is also a critical factor. Before purchasing a chiller, consider its upfront cost, operating costs, potential maintenance costs, and expected life span. Air-cooled systems typically have a higher upfront cost and more installation work than water-cooled systems. They also consume a significant amount of energy to power fans, but they can reduce operating costs because they lack the cooling tower that a water-cooled system requires.

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Consider your daily usage. While a central chiller typically costs less than a portable chiller, a portable system may better suit your needs if you need cooling for various purposes at different times.

A chiller’s return on investment depends on its life span. While one model may have a higher initial cost, getting a system with longevity is worthwhile. Comparing different models and designs can help you choose the system with the best financial benefits.

How to Size a Chiller

Sizing a chiller depends on several variables. A critical factor in determining the cooling load requirements is all the heat the chiller must remove and where it originates. For example, several heat sources can exist in a building, including the processes that run machinery and equipment and the heat generated from them. People occupying the space also contribute to the total heat load.

Then, consider heat from external sources such as the temperature outside and heat that infiltrates, especially in warmer climates.

The correct formula helps determine the required chiller size. This process is represented in four steps:

1. Calculate the temperature differential: Calculate this variable with the formula of incoming water temperature (for example, 65 degrees Fahrenheit) minus the required chilled water temperature (55 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature differential is 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Calculate BTU/hr: British Thermal Units per hour indicate how much heat is removed from a space in an hour. For example, 4 gallons per minute x 60 minutes (4 GPM x 60) x 8.33 x 10 degrees Fahrenheit = 19,992 BTU/hr.
3. Calculate the tons of cooling capacity: Divide the BTU/hr by 12,000 to get the required tonnage.
4. Round up after oversizing the chiller by 20%: Determine the chiller size by multiplying the ideal ton size by 1.2 and rounding it up. For example, if the ideal ton size is 1.666 multiplied by 1.2 to get 1., you’ll need a 2-ton chiller.

To explain this further, if you need to cool 6 gallons per minute (GPM) from 65 degrees Fahrenheit — the incoming water temperature — to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the required chilled water temperature, the flow rate is 6 GPM.

Other factors in chiller sizing include choosing the appropriate chiller type for your application and knowing the required flow rate, inlet and outlet temperatures, and the cooling and buffer capacity.

Why Work With Smart Family of Cooling Products?

Choosing a high-quality chiller is essential — now you know how many factors influence your purchasing decision. Consulting with a reputable chiller manufacturer can help you navigate your options.

Smart Family of Cooling Products manufactures high-quality chillers and offers professional consultation to guide you through purchasing, installation and beyond. Our unique expertise informs clients about their options and determines which systems best meet their needs. When you work with Smart Family, you can discuss your specifications with a knowledgeable engineer who will help you make an informed decision.

Our experts focus on technical details such as application, sizing, location, cooling fluid, temperature control needs, voltage and safety features, equipping us with the information necessary to design and build effective systems.

As a leader in the cooling industry and one of the top chiller manufacturers in the USA, we have experience manufacturing chillers according to custom specifications. We are also one of the few manufacturers able to build explosion-proof and low-temperature systems according to strict codes and standards.

Find the Right Chiller With Smart Family of Cooling Products

Purchasing the chiller that meets your specifications lets you cool your equipment while saving energy and money. Before committing to a product, consider essential details and consult a reputable manufacturer about your application.

Smart Family of Cooling Products can guide you through purchasing by focusing on your needs. We offer reliable, efficient chiller systems to provide your company’s equipment with the necessary cooling you can count on.

How to select the right industrial chiller

It is an established fact that industrial chillers are an essential part of manufacturing procedures, especially where production downtime, due to excess heat, is not an option. In recent times there have been major advances and innovations in the design, performance, and efficiency of industrial chiller concepts. The significance of these developments is included in this guide.

Industrial Cooling

Why the right choice of chiller is important

Among the most compelling reasons for a chiller installation is minimising downtime through the continuous protection it provides in removing heat from valuable and temperature-sensitive process equipment. At the same time, a chiller saves water and associated costs by recirculating and re-using the plant’s own water supply. The cost of cooling water can add up quickly, especially if process equipment is running for several shifts a day. When a chiller is introduced into the system, it can bypass the costs and need for a monitored, municipal water supply and wastewater discharge, and contribute to substantial savings within production budgets. Furthermore, with the latest developments in chiller technology, capital investment payback can be realised over a very short period of the equipment lifetime.

Specifying a chiller installation

When specifying a chiller installation, a working knowledge of chiller performance factors is crucial to obtaining the right product fit. What needs to be determined is: the type of process fluid that will be used; the process cooling temperature; the flow and pressure requirements; the operating environment; ambient temperature; the chiller size needed and the spatial constraints of its location.

Process fluid performance

The main factors to bear in mind when considering the appropriate cooling fluids for a process are their performance characteristics and their equipment compatibility. The performance of a cooling fluid is based upon its properties at a given temperature. The relevant parameters are specific heat, viscosity, and freezing/boiling points. There is a direct relationship between specific heat and cooling capacity. In order to maintain system integrity and prolong optimum performance, mixing a percentage of ethylene or propylene glycol with water (typically in the 10 to 50% range) is recommended when low or high setpoint temperatures are required. In terms of compatibility, the potential for corrosion and the early degradation of seals are common failure modes for incorrectly sized systems. That is why the materials of construction and the nature of fluids should be an important consideration, and why inclusion of a corrosion inhibitor in the cooling fluid is recommended. However, in the latest developments of chiller technology, the storage tank and hydraulic parts of centrifugal pumps are constructed in stainless steel to prevent process water contamination with rust particles, as well as provide higher levels of reliability and temperature control. Similarly, state-of-art, all-aluminium microchannel condensers are designed to provide long life without corrosion and require 30% less refrigerant charge in comparison to other types of heat exchanger.

Cooling fluid temperature

The setpoint temperature will affect the cooling capacity of a chiller. Decreasing the temperature will put more load on the refrigeration system, and vice versa for increasing it. There is a direct relationship between the temperature at which the chiller has been set and its total cooling capacity. Therefore, it is important to review the chiller’s published performance data for relevance to the proposed installation. At the same time, if the chiller is destined for an exposed site, it is equally important to establish the level of freeze protection required, i.e., the coldest leaving fluid temperature of the chiller during operation.

Process flow and pressure requirements

While pump life is a primary consideration when configuring an industrial cooling system, pressure loss across the system and the necessary flow rate must first be determined by the pump size and performance.
Pressure: An undersized pump will reduce the fluid flow rate through the entire cooling loop. If the chiller has been equipped with internal pressure relief, the flow will be diverted around the process and back into the chiller. If there is no internal pressure relief, the pump will attempt to provide the necessary pressure and run at what is referred to as dead-head pressure, or limit. When this state occurs, the pump’s life can be drastically reduced; liquid ceases to flow and the liquid in the pump becomes hot, eventually vaporising and disrupting the pump’s ability to cool leading to excessive wear to bearings, seals, and impellers. Determining the pressure loss across a system requires siting pressure gauges at the process’s inlet and outlet, then applying pump pressure to obtain values at the desired flow rate.
Flow rate: Inadequate flow through the process will yield inadequate heat transfer so the flow will not remove the heat necessary for safe operation of the process. As the fluid temperature increases beyond the setpoint, the surface/component temperatures also will continue to rise until a steady-state temperature that is greater than the initial setpoint is reached. Most chiller systems will detail the pressure and flow requirements. When specifying the necessary heat load removal as part of the design, it is important to account for all hoses, fittings, connections, and elevation changes integral to the system. These ancillary features can significantly increase pressure requirements if not sized appropriately.

Chiller operating environment

Ambient Temperature. An air-cooled chiller’s ability to dissipate heat is affected by the ambient temperature. This is because the refrigeration system uses the ambient air/refrigerant temperature gradient to induce heat transfer for the condensation process. A rising ambient air temperature decreases the temperature differential (ΔT) and, subsequently, reduces the total heat transfer. If the chiller uses a liquid-cooled condenser, high ambient temperatures can still have negative effects on key components such as the compressor, pump, and electronics. These components generate heat during operation, and elevated temperatures will shorten their lifetime. As a guideline, the typical maximum ambient temperature for non-exterior rated chillers is 40°C.
Spatial Constraints: In order to maintain the proper ambient air temperature, it is important to provide adequate air circulation space around the chiller. Without proper airflow, recirculation of an inadequate volume of air rapidly heats it up. This affects chiller performance and potentially can damage the chiller unit.

Why size is important

Selecting a correctly sized chiller is a crucial decision. An undersized chiller will always be a problem – never able to properly cool the process equipment and the process water temperature will not be stable. In contrast, an oversized chiller will never be able to run at its most efficient level and prove more costly to operate. To determine the correct size of unit for the application it is necessary to know the rate of flow and the heat energy that the process equipment is adding to the cooling medium, i.e., the change in temperature between the inlet and outlet water, expressed as the ∆T. The formula for calculation purposes is: heat energy per second (or more commonly known as power) = mass flow rate × specific heat capacity × change in temperature (∆T)’. The specific heat capacity of the water is nominally expressed as 4.2 kJ / kg K but if it contains a percentage of glycol additives that value is increased to 4.8 kJ / kg. K Note: 1K = 1°C and the density of water is 1 i.e.,1l of water volume = 1kg of water mass. Here is an example of the formula application to determine the correct kW sized chiller to handle a water flow rate of 2.36 l/s (8.5 m3/hr) with a temperature change of 5°C: heat energy per second (kJ/s or kW) = 2.36 l/s (Flow Rate) X 5°C (∆T) X 4.2 kJ /kg K (Specific Heat Capacity of pure water), chiller size required = 49.6 kW. Alternatively, the heat load to be cooled may already be known in which case the formula can be re-arranged to determine the temperature difference (∆T) that can be attained with different flow rates (achievable with different pump sizes). There may be other circumstances that can influence size choice. Planning for future plant expansion, exposure to high ambient temperatures, or location at high altitudes, could all lead to the specification of a different size of unit.

Maintenance, safety, and control

In the latest, advanced generation of industrial chillers, ease of maintenance, operational safety, and intelligent control and connectivity are prominent features of their designs. For example, they are constructed with IP54-rated, sound-attenuated canopies that allow chillers to operate indoors or outdoors, even at ambient temperatures down to -45°C. They are specifically designed for easy access to the installed components − refrigeration systems in the front and the cooling water circulation assembly in the back. Wide canopy doors and intelligent layout reduces maintenance time and allows for easy inspection to prevent breakdowns. Innovative new models on the market feature a wide range of safety devices, such as flow and level switches, thermal probes, pressure probes, crankcase heating and strainers which allow the chiller to operate securely. Additionally, a fully hermetically sealed refrigeration system prevents refrigerant gas from leaking and requires zero maintenance. UK FGAS Regulations do require an annual, and on larger refrigeration systems, bi-annual inspection by a FGAs certified engineer. The provision of a phase sequence relay ensures no risk of compressor damage in case of incorrect wiring. In these new designs, a touch screen controller operates with energy-efficient algorithms, combines all the chiller sensors into one system and issues timely warnings in case of deviation from the operating parameters. Full connectivity is achieved with built-in smart remote monitoring capability on chiller sizes 11 Kw and above. This provides user’s machine data, in real time, in a clear format to ensure optimum efficiency.

Conclusion

In general, potential users of an industrial chiller system are advised to take into account the conditions in which the process chiller will be used, and the process for which it will be used. This will help to identify the features most needed in the system.

It is also wise to consider the possibility of expansion in the future. If the amount of heat output by one machine is increased, then the cooling power of the chiller has to be increased accordingly. If there is a variable heat rate, choose the kW rating that can handle the highest heat output.

In summary, taking all of these considerations on board, recognising the important technological advances, and the availability of chiller suppliers who incorporate them in their product offering, all helps in determining the optimal industrial cooling system for any particular application. 

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