Industrial chillers are an essential component of building heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. They are used to keep water and glycol chilled to meet cooling requirements in buildings and facilities like factories, hospitals and warehouses.
Whether they’re air- or water-cooled, chillers work the same way as refrigeration systems built into your home and car, by cycling refrigerant in a continuous cycle of compression, cooling, expansion and reheating. Throughout this cycle, temperature and pressure changes happen at each stage, with different effects on the system. Incorrect operating practices, lack of maintenance and improper chiller sizing can lead to energy waste in the system.
The key to optimizing chiller performance is understanding each of the five cooling phases. Using data analytics solutions to monitor and manage chillers helps to identify opportunities for energy savings. These systems can also help to detect equipment problems before they become major system issues.
A chiller consists of three parts: the compressor, condenser and expansion valve. The compressor pumps hot liquid refrigerant to the condenser, where it cools down by absorbing heat from the surroundings, such as water or ambient air. The liquid then passes through the metering device, where it drops its pressure and turns into a gas.
This cooled liquid then travels to the evaporator, where it absorbs more heat from the environment or machine and cools down again. The coolant then flows back to the compressor, where it repeats the cycle of condensation, cooling and reheating. chillers