Water Chiller
What is Water Chiller
A water chiller is a device used to lower the temperature of water. Most chillers use refrigerant in a closed loop system to facilitate heat exchange from water where the refrigerant is then pumped to a location where the waste heat is transferred to the atmosphere. However, there are other methods in performing this action. The industrial chiller can provide chilled water with constant temperature, constant flow and constant pressure. During operation, the chiller first injects a certain amount of water into the internal water tank of the machine, cools the water through the chiller refrigeration system, and then the water pump injects the low temperature frozen water into the equipment to be cooled. The chilled water takes away the heat inside the machine, and returns the high temperature hot water to the water tank again for cooling. In this way, the circulating exchange cooling can achieve the function of cooling the equipment.
Advantages of Water Chiller
Energy efficient
Water chiller bring increased energy efficiency for a couple of key reasons. First, they operate independently of ambient conditions. This means that, unlike air cooled chillers, they are not subject to system inefficiencies caused when those ambient conditions fluctuate.
Quiet
The noise level associated with most manufacturing and production processes is high enough without adding a noisy cooling system to it. Water cooled chillers have relatively few dynamic components so they do not generate much noise when in operation.
They have a long lifespan
When installed, most component parts of a water cooled chiller are placed in an enclosed environment. This means that the majority of the system will be protected from damaging natural elements like wind, rain, snow, ice and excessive heat. This in turn leads to less wear and tear.
Flexible
Industrial water chillers are highly adaptable. They can be configured to suit a wide variety of settings and applications to ensure maximum process compatibility. Whatever your operation requirements, a properly sized and well maintained water cooled chiller can maximise productivity, minimise equipment downtime and provide a safe working environment.
Why Choose Us
Our Factory
In 2016,the company formally moved in to Renhe advanced manufacturing base in Yuhang District. The newly moved office area is spacious and bright with complete equipped facilities, which will greatly improve the office environment and work efficiency of all employees, create a good service environment for customers and enhance the company image.
Product Application
The products are widely used in electric power, shipbuilding, aerospace, electronics, metallurgy, machinery, automobile manufacturing, petroleum, chemical industry, textile, chemical fiber, light industry, paper-making, rubber, instrumentation, food, air separation, cigarette, medicine, biology, daily chemicals and other industries.
Production Market
We are sold well in more than 30 provinces and cities in China, and nearly 10000 users have played an active role in national key projects. The products have been exported to Pakistan in complete sets for many times West, Australia, Iran, India, Sudan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and other Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
Our Service
Strong and perfect after-sales service network, there are 9 customer service centers in major regions of China, each center has professional service engineers, a total of more than 50 people, quickly and timely solve problems in after-sales service, such as equipment start-up debugging and troubleshooting.
How Do Industrial Water Chillers Work
Nearly every industrial process generates heat. If this unwanted byproduct accumulates over time, inefficiency can drag down the productivity of your machinery and factory; excessive heat could even lead to shutdowns or early equipment failure. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate the cooling process into your industrial process system design to avoid these issues.
The essential components of a chiller are a compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and evaporator. They work in unison to circulate a refrigerant that removes heat from a process, operation, or space.
Compressor: This is the major component of a refrigeration unit. Compressors in all chillers have the same function: to circulate the refrigerant (freon gas) and convert the gas from low-pressure to high-pressure before it travels to the condenser, where it discharges its heat.
Condenser: It cools the gas by transferring the heat from the refrigerant to the outdoor cooling medium (air or water). It also works to condense the refrigerant, converting it from a gas to a liquid.
Expansion valve: This is where the liquid refrigerant passes through before it enters the evaporator for heat exchange. Its primary function is to lower the high pressure and temperature of the refrigerant liquid when passing through the expansion valve (also known as a throttle valve). Next, the valve converts the refrigerant into a low-pressure and low-temperature wet vapor. This is then sent into the evaporator for heat exchange.
Evaporator: This is where the actual heat exchange happens. At this stage, the processed water from the expansion valve enters the evaporator to kick off the heat exchange and cooling process.
Application of Water Chiller
Food & beverage water chillers
Maintaining optimal temperatures for food and beverage products is critical to ensure their safety and quality. Food and beverage water chillers are used in the industry to achieve this, whether it's to cool liquids like milk or juice or to keep food products fresh. Different types of water chillers are available, including air-cooled and water-cooled units, with the size of the water chiller depending on the amount of product being cooled and temperature requirements.
Medical water chillers
Medical water chillers designed for healthcare applications play a vital role in maintaining optimal temperature levels, particularly when it comes to sensitive medical equipment like mri machines and ct scanners. With precise temperature control, these water chillers ensure consistent performance and prevent overheating, which can impair equipment and patient safety. Water chillers also help maintain sterile environments by precisely controlling humidity levels.
Hvac water chillers
Hvac water chillers are critical components of various industrial and commercial applications, including hospitals, data centers, and manufacturing plants. These water chillers help to cool water or other fluids to provide air conditioning or process cooling. Thes water chillers can range in size from small units that fit under a desk to large systems requiring an entire room. Choosing an appropriate water chiller size and type can help businesses improve efficiency and reduce energy costs while extending the life of their hvac mechanical systems.
Metal finishing water chillers
Industrial water chillers for metal finishing ensure high-quality metal plating and chemical processes. The precise control of temperature provided by these water chillers is necessary to avoid corrosion, pitting, and other defects resulting from incorrect temperature regulation. Therefore, when selecting an industrial water chiller for metal finishing, it's important to consider factors such as the size of the application, the required temperature range, and the type of chemicals being used.
Industrial water chillers
Industrial water chillers are applicable in a wide range of commercial and industrial operations where they can be used to cool large-scale machinery and equipment to ensure optimal performance. Different industrial water chillers are available, including air-cooled, water-cooled, and evaporative cooling systems. With proper planning and adequate maintenance, industrial water chillers can provide reliable cooling for several years.
Plastic processing water chillers
Maintaining precise temperature control is crucial in the plastics industry, which is why water chiller systems play an essential role. The right water chiller system can improve productivity and enhance product quality while reducing energy costs. Air-cooled and water-cooled water chillers are available to meet various application-specific requirements.
Types of Water Chillers
Air-cooled Water Chiller
These types of water chillers have condensers designed to exchange heat from refrigerant to ambient air. They use air as the condensing medium.
An air-cooled condenser unit typically features finned coils. This increases the surface area of the condenser in contact with air. One or more fans are used to blow air over the finned coil to further improve heat transfer. The amount of heat rejected by an air-cooled condenser depends on the rate of airflow over the coils and the air‘s dry-bulb temperature.
The advantage of using air-cooled water chillers is their simplicity and low cost. They can be installed as stand-alone units without requiring additional infrastructures such as cooling water supply lines and cooling towers.
Water-cooled Water Chiller
As the name suggests, water-cooled water chillers use water as the condensing medium. Since these types of chillers also use water as their cooling medium, two water loops exist in the system.
Water-cooled condensers typically operate with a cooling tower. Cooling towers are heat exchangers, but instead of the usual conduction-convection type of heat exchangers, it generates cooling by bringing water and air into contact. They supply cooling water to the condenser unit which is used to cool the refrigerant.
Water-cooled chillers are used in large industrial plants where a cooling water supply is readily available. Cooling is provided to the condenser at a much higher efficiency compared to air-cooled types.
Design Considerations for Water Chillers
Cooling Load and Cooling Capacity
Cooling load is the rate at which energy or heat is extracted from a closed space to keep a required temperature and humidity range. It is usually specified in tons of refrigeration (TR or TOR) or in BTU per hour. One TOR is equal to 12,000 BTU/hr or around 3.5 kW.
For refrigeration equipment and process cooling applications, the cooling load is determined based on the requirements of the downstream system. Methods of heat generation vary from each industry. But typically, their heat load calculations are much simpler than air-conditioning and ventilating applications. Equipment cooling specifications are usually provided by the manufacturer along with other design parameters such as chilled water flow rate and temperature.
After calculating the cooling load, the cooling capacity can be established. Cooling capacity refers to the rate of cooling a chiller unit can provide. They are usually slightly higher than the cooling load.
Chilled Water Supply Temperature and Flow Rate
The process of determining the chilled water temperature and flow rate starts by establishing the cooling coil specifications. In HVAC, the cooling coil exchanges heat between the chilled water and returning air. Air parameters influence the chilled water supply temperature and flow rate. They are evaluated together with the cooling load.
In refrigeration equipment and process cooling, the cooling coils are integrated into the system in the form of cooling jackets and coils. Most of the time, there is no psychrometry involved. Thus, the chilled water supply temperature and flow rate are easily determined using heat exchanger calculations. Other methods are also employed depending on the application.
Cooling Capacity Control
In addition to determining the cooling capacity, the frequency and duration of the peak load must be evaluated. Some applications have changing conditions that most of the time, the chiller unit will operate at partial loads. Therefore, the method of varying cooling capacity must be considered.
Different types of water chillers feature different designs of capacity control. For example, scroll water chillers control their capacity by motor speed control using variable frequency drives (VFD) or inverter, or by variable displacement utilizing solenoids to open or close compression chambers.
Centrifugal and screw water chillers, on the other hand, are controlled by reducing refrigerant flows into the compressor. Inlet guide valves or inlet valves are used to adjust the flow. Capacity control using VFDs is also available for centrifugal compressors.
Multiple Water Chiller Configurations
For large-scale applications, multiple water chillers may be a desirable route than a large, single chiller. Using multiple chillers offers several advantages.
Higher Operating Flexibility. Chillers frequently operate at partial loads. Having two or more chillers in a partially loaded system presents an option to shut down one chiller to decrease capacity. This allows the other chillers to operate at their rated capacities. Thus, the system maintains its optimum efficiency.
Reliability. In a single chiller configuration, if the unit breaks down, the whole cooling system will be as well. No cooling will be available for the entire facility. For multiple chiller systems, some cooling capacity is still available without shutting down the whole system. Also, downtime can be eliminated by installing a spare chiller.
Parts of an Water Chiller
Evaporator - In the evaporator of an industrial water chiller, heat boils the refrigerant and changes it from a liquid to a gas to be sent on to the compressor. The key to the process is the pressure under which the vapor leaves the evaporator.
Compressor - The most common type of compressor for industrial water chillers are scroll compressors, which work by compressing the refrigerant between spiral plates with one plate being stationary while the other one orbits. As the orbit plate swirls, the trapped gas is forced into a small space and exits through the compressor's center outlet. Large industrial water chillers may have multiple scroll compressors for a single industrial water chiller for redundancy, efficiency, and the handling of heavy loads.
Condenser - The condenser of an industrial water chiller is responsible for removing heat from the high pressure and high temperature refrigerant vapor by functioning like a heat exchanger. It efficiently makes the phase transition of the refrigerant from a vapor to a liquid, which makes it possible for the refrigerant to fit into the water chiller cycle.
Expansion valve - The liquid refrigerant moves from the condenser to expansion valves where the pressure of the refrigerant is reduced before being sprayed into the evaporator. The pressure drop cools the refrigerant. When the capacity of the evaporator increases, the expansion valve releases more refrigerant into the evaporator. As the capacity decreases, the expansion valve releases less refrigerant. Additionally, the expansion valve maintains the pressure difference between the condenser, which is at high pressure, and the evaporator that is at low pressure.
How to Maintain Water Chiller
Tubes are the main path for heat transfer in chillers and can be largely responsible for the performance of your industrial chiller. Contaminants and impurities can increase thermal resistance. This would reduce heat transfer efficiency as the resistance would affect the consistencies in approach temperatures in the chiller. It is important to brush these tubes at least once per year. With a strong monitoring system, you'll be able to see problems before they occur. Giving you the opportunity to clean the tubes before they become too much of a problem.
Keeping the condenser water clean is important for both boilers and chillers maintenance for many of the same reasons. Corrosion and scaling both reduce efficiency. Both of which, build up over time if the water is not well-treated. Untreated can result in higher condenser pressures, impeded heat transfers and inconsistencies in water temperature and water flow. Regular chemical treatments can help keep the water clean and filters should be replaced often.
If you're working with a new chiller, it is standard practice to do an oil and filter change after the first year. As well as, analyze the oil to determine the frequency of future oil changes. The dirtier, the more frequently your system will likely require a change. We also recommend doing a spectrometric chemical analysis of this oil once a year. This will help acquaint you with your system and its potential issues. Learning how to address various problems, from high water content to the size of the particles contaminating the oil, can be invaluable.
There are also many chillers that have completely eliminated oil from the equation, thus lowering potential chiller maintenance costs.
This process is only for low pressure machines. It involves purging the system of non-condensable gases. These gasses can be produced in a chiller on the low pressure side where there is a pump or filter. Because the evaporators operate in a vacuum, these non-condensable elements are able to leak in. Ensure the air and moisture are at an all-time low by purging.
FAQ