Chiller
For other uses, see Chiller (disambiguation).
A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liq-
York International water-cooled chiller
uid via a vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration
cycle. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat
exchanger to cool equipment, or another process stream
(such as air or process water). As a necessary by product,
refrigeration creates waste heat that must be exhausted to
ambient or, for greater eciency, recovered for heating
purposes.[1]
Chilled water is used to cool and dehumidify air in mid-
to large-size commercial, industrial, and institutional fa-
cilities. Water chillers can be water-cooled, air-cooled,
or evaporatively cooled. Water-cooled systems can pro-
vide eciency and environmental impact advantages over
air-cooled systems.[2]
1 Use in air conditioning
In air conditioning systems, chilled water is typically dis-
tributed to heat exchangers, or coils, in air handling units
or other types of terminal devices which cool the air in
their respective space(s). The water is then re-circulated
back to the chiller to be cooled again. These cooling coils
transfer sensible heat and latent heat from the air to the
chilled water, thus cooling and usually dehumidifying the
air stream. A typical chiller for air conditioning applica-
tions is rated between 15 and 2000 tons, and at least one
manufacturer can produce chillers capable of up to 5,200
tons of cooling.[3] Chilled water temperatures can range
from 35 to 45 F (2 to 7 C), depending upon application
requirements.[4]
1
Rental chiller mounted on a trailer
When the chillers for air conditioning systems are not
operable or they are in need of repair or replacement,
emergency chillers may be used to supply chilled water.
Rental chillers are mounted on a trailer so that they can
be quickly deployed to the site. Large chilled water hoses
are used to connect between rental chillers and air condi-
tioning systems.[5]
2 Use in industry
In industrial application, chilled water or other liquid
from the chiller is pumped through process or labora-
tory equipment. Industrial chillers are used for controlled
cooling of products, mechanisms and factory machinery
in a wide range of industries. They are often used in
the plastic industries, injection and blow molding, metal
working cutting oils, welding equipment, die-casting and
machine tooling, chemical processing, pharmaceutical
formulation, food and beverage processing, paper and
cement processing, vacuum systems, X-ray diraction,
power supplies and power generation stations, analyti-
cal equipment, semiconductors, compressed air and gas
cooling. They are also used to cool high-heat specialized
items such as MRI machines and lasers, and in hospitals,
hotels and campuses.
Chillers for industrial applications can be centralized,
where a single chiller serves multiple cooling needs, or
decentralized where each application or machine has its
own chiller. Each approach has its advantages. It is also
possible to have a combination of both centralized and
decentralized chillers, especially if the cooling require-
ments are the same for some applications or points of use,
2 3 VAPOR-COMPRESSION CHILLER TECHNOLOGY

but not all. cooling heat rejection, their coecients-of-performance

Decentralized chillers are usually small in size and cool- (COPs) are very high; typically 4.0 or more.
ing capacity, usually from 0.2 to 10 short tons (0.179 to
8.929 long tons; 0.181 to 9.072 t). Centralized chillers
generally have capacities ranging from ten tons to hun- power Cooling
dreds or thousands of tons. =
power Input
Chilled water is used to cool and dehumidify air in mid- to
large-size commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) Current vapor-compression chiller technology is based
facilities. Water chillers can be water-cooled, air-cooled, on the reverse-Rankine cycle known as vapor-
or evaporatively cooled. Water-cooled chillers incorpo- compression. See the attached diagram which outlines
rate the use of cooling towers which improve the chillers the key components of the chiller system.
thermodynamic eectiveness as compared to air-cooled
chillers. This is due to heat rejection at or near the
airs wet-bulb temperature rather than the higher, some-
times much higher, dry-bulb temperature. Evaporatively
cooled chillers oer higher eciencies than air-cooled
chillers but lower than water-cooled chillers.
Water-cooled chillers are typically intended for indoor
installation and operation, and are cooled by a separate
condenser water loop and connected to outdoor cooling
towers to expel heat to the atmosphere.
Air-cooled and evaporatively cooled chillers are intended
for outdoor installation and operation. Air-cooled ma-
chines are directly cooled by ambient air being mechani-
cally circulated directly through the machines condenser
coil to expel heat to the atmosphere. Evaporatively cooled
machines are similar, except they implement a mist of
water over the condenser coil to aid in condenser cool- Diagram showing the components of a water-cooled chiller
ing, making the machine more ecient than a traditional
air-cooled machine. No remote cooling tower is typically Key components of the chiller:
required with either of these types of packaged air-cooled Refrigeration Compressors - are essentially a pump for re-
or evaporatively cooled chillers. frigerant gas. The capacity of the compressor, and hence
Where available, cold water readily available in nearby the chiller cooling capacity is measured in kilowatts in-
water bodies might be used directly for cooling, place or put (kW), Horse Power input (HP), or volumetric ow
supplement cooling towers. The Deep Lake Water Cool- (m3 /h, ft3 /h). The mechanism for compressing refrig-
ing System in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an example. erant gas diers between compressors, and each has its
It uses cold lake water to cool the chillers, which in turn own application. Common refrigeration compressors in-
are used to cool city buildings via a district cooling sys- clude Reciprocating, Scroll, Screw, or Centrifugal. These
tem. The return water is used to warm the citys drink- can be powered by electric motors, steam turbines or
ing water supply, which is desirable in this cold climate. gas turbines. Compressors can have an integrated motor
Whenever a chillers heat rejection can be used for a pro- from a specic manufacturer, or be open drive - allowing
ductive purpose, in addition to the cooling function, very the connection to another type of mechanical connection.
high thermal eectiveness is possible. Compressors can also be either Hermetic (welded closed)
or semi-hermetic (bolted together).
In recent years, application of Variable Speed Drive
3 Vapor-compression chiller tech- (VSD) technology has increased eciencies of vapor
compression chillers. The rst VSD was applied to cen-
nology trifugal compressor chillers in the late 1970s and has be-
come the norm as the cost of energy has increased. Now,
There are four basic types of compressors used in vapor VSDs are being applied to rotary screw and scroll tech-
compression chillers: Reciprocating compression, scroll nology compressors.
compression, screw-driven compression, and centrifugal Condensers can be air-cooled, water-cooled, or evapo-
compression are all mechanical machines that can be rative. The condenser is a heat exchanger which allows
powered by electric motors, steam, or gas turbines. They heat to migrate from the refrigerant gas to either wa-
produce their cooling eect via the "reverse-Rankine" cy- ter or air. Air cooled condenser are manufactured from
cle, also known as 'vapor-compression'. With evaporative copper tubes (for the refrigerant ow) and aluminium
4.1 Industrial chiller technology 3

ns (for the air ow). Each condenser has a dier- steam or hot water. The steam or hot water transfers
ent material cost and they vary in terms of eciency. heat into the pool of dilute lithium bromide solution.
With evaporative cooling condensers, their coecients- The solution boils, sending refrigerant vapor upward
of-performance (COPs) are very high; typically 4.0 or into the condenser and leaving behind concentrated
more. lithium bromide. The concentrated lithium bromide
The expansion device or refrigerant metering device solution moves down to the heat exchanger, where it
(RMD) restricts the ow of the liquid refrigerant causing is cooled by the weak solution being pumped up to
a pressure drop that vaporizes some of the refrigerant; this the generator.
vaporization absorbs heat from nearby liquid refrigerant. 3. Condenser : The refrigerant vapor migrates through
The RMD is located immediately prior to the evapora- mist eliminators to the condenser tube bundle. The
tor so that the cold gas in the evaporator can absorb heat refrigerant vapor condenses on the tubes. The heat is
from the water in the evaporator. There is a sensor for removed by the cooling water which moves through
the RMD on the evaporator outlet side which allows the the inside of the tubes. As the refrigerant condenses,
RMD to regulate the refrigerant ow based on the chiller it collects in a trough at the bottom of the condenser.
design requirement.
Evaporators can be plate type or shell and tube type. The 4. Evaporator : The refrigerant liquid moves from the
evaporator is a heat exchanger which allows the heat en- condenser in the upper shell down to the evaporator
ergy to migrate from the water stream into the refriger- in the lower shell and is sprayed over the evapora-
ant gas. During the state change of the remaining liquid tor tube bundle. Due to the extreme vacuum of the
to gas, the refrigerant can absorb large amounts of heat lower shell [6 mm Hg (0.8 kPa) absolute pressure],
without changing temperature. the refrigerant liquid boils at approximately 39 F (4
C), creating the refrigerant eect. (This vacuum is
created by hygroscopic action - the strong anity
lithium bromide has for water - in the Absorber di-
4 How absorption technology rectly below.)
works
5. Absorber : As the refrigerant vapor migrates to
the absorber from the evaporator, the strong lithium
The thermodynamic cycle of an absorption chiller is
bromide solution from the generator is sprayed over
driven by a heat source; this heat is usually delivered to the
the top of the absorber tube bundle. The strong
chiller via steam, hot water, or combustion. Compared
lithium bromide solution actually pulls the refriger-
to electrically powered chillers, an absorption chiller
ant vapor into solution, creating the extreme vacuum
has very low electrical power requirements - very rarely
in the evaporator. The absorption of the refriger-
above 15 kW combined consumption for both the so-
ant vapor into the lithium bromide solution also gen-
lution pump and the refrigerant pump. However, its
erates heat which is removed by the cooling water.
heat input requirements are large, and its COP is often
Now the dilute lithium bromide solution collects in
0.5 (single-eect) to 1.0 (double-eect). For the same
the bottom of the lower shell, where it ows down to
tonnage capacity, an absorption chiller requires a much
the solution pump. The chilling cycle is now com-
larger cooling tower than a vapor-compression chiller.
pleted and the process begins once again.[6]
However, absorption chillers, from an energy-eciency
point of view, excel where cheap, high-grade heat or
waste heat is readily available. In extremely sunny cli- 4.1 Industrial chiller technology
mates, solar energy has been used to operate absorption
chillers. Industrial chillers typically come as complete, packaged,
The single-eect absorption cycle uses water as the re- closed-loop systems, including the chiller unit, condenser,
frigerant and lithium bromide as the absorbent. It is the and pump station with recirculating pump, expansion
strong anity that these two substances have for one an- valve, no-ow shutdown, internal cold water control. The
other that makes the cycle work. The entire process oc- internal tank helps maintain cold water temperature and
curs in almost a complete vacuum. prevents temperature spikes from occurring. Closed-loop
industrial chillers recirculate a clean coolant or clean wa-
1. Solution Pump : A dilute lithium bromide solution ter with condition additives at a constant temperature and
(63% concentration) is collected in the bottom of pressure to increase the stability and reproducibility of
the absorber shell. From here, a hermetic solution water-cooled machines and instruments. The water ows
pump moves the solution through a shell and tube from the chiller to the applications point of use and back.
heat exchanger for preheating.
If the water temperature dierentials between inlet and
2. Generator : After exiting the heat exchanger, the outlet are high, then a large external water tank would be
dilute solution moves into the upper shell. The solu- used to store the cold water. In this case the chilled water
tion surrounds a bundle of tubes which carries either is not going directly from the chiller to the application,
4 7 SEE ALSO
but goes to the external water tank which acts as a sort of
temperature buer. The cold water tank is much larger
than the internal water goes from the external tank to the
application and the return hot water from the application
goes back to the external tank, not to the chiller.
The less common open loop industrial chillers control the
temperature of a liquid in an open tank or sump by con-
stantly recirculating it. The liquid is drawn from the tank,
pumped through the chiller and back to the tank. In in-
dustrial water chillers is the use of water cooling instead
of air cooling. In this case the condenser does not cool
the hot refrigerant with ambient air, but uses water that
is cooled by a cooling tower. This development allows
a reduction in energy requirements by more than 15%
and also allows a signicant reduction in the size of the
chiller, due to the small surface area of the water-based
condenser and the absence of fans. Additionally, the ab-
sence of fans allows for signicantly reduced noise levels.
Most industrial chillers use refrigeration as the media for
cooling, but some rely on simpler techniques such as air or
water owing over coils containing the coolant to regulate
temperature. Water is the most commonly used coolant
within process chillers, although coolant mixtures (mostly
water with a coolant additive to enhance heat dissipation)
are frequently employed.[7]
5 Industrial chiller selection
Important specications to consider when searching for The refrigerants used in the chillers sold in Europe
cumond industrial chillers include the total life cycle cost, are mainly R410a (70%), R407c (20%) and R134a
the power source, chiller IP rating, chiller cooling ca- (10%).
pacity, evaporator capacity, evaporator material, evapo-
rator type, condenser material, condenser capacity, am-
bient temperature, motor fan type, noise level, internal 7 See also
piping materials, number of compressors, type of com-
pressor, number of fridge circuits, coolant requirements,
uid discharge temperature, and COP (the ratio between
the cooling capacity in RT to the energy consumed by the
whole chiller in KW). For medium to large chillers this
should range from 3.5 to 7.0, with higher values meaning
higher eciency. Chiller eciency is often specied in
kilowatts per refrigeration ton (kW/RT).
Process pump specications that are important to con-
sider include the process ow, process pressure, pump
material, elastomer and mechanical shaft seal material,
motor voltage, motor electrical class, motor IP rating and
pump rating. If the cold water temperature is lower than
5 C, then a special pump needs to be used to be able to
pump the high concentrations of ethylene glycol. Other
important specications include the internal water tank
size and materials and full load current.
Control panel features that should be considered when se-
lecting between industrial chillers include the local con-
trol panel, remote control panel, fault indicators, temper-
ature indicators, and pressure indicators.
Additional features include emergency alarms, hot gas by-
pass, city water switchover, and casters.[6]
Demountable chillers are also an option for deployment
in remote areas and where the conditions may be hot and
dusty.[8]
6 Refrigerants
Main article: Refrigerant
A vapor-compression chiller uses a refrigerant internally
as its working uid. Many refrigerants options are avail-
able; when selecting a chiller, the application cooling
temperature requirements and refrigerants cooling char-
acteristics need to be matched. Important parameters to
consider are the operating temperatures and pressures.
There are several environmental factors that concern re-
frigerants, and also aect the future availability for chiller
applications. This is a key consideration in intermit-
tent applications where a large chiller may last for 25
years or more. Ozone depletion potential (ODP) and
global warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant need
to be considered. ODP and GWP data for some of
the more common vapor-compression refrigerants (not-
ing that many of these refrigerants are highly ammable
and/or toxic):[9]
R12 is the ODP reference. CO2 is the GWP reference
[12]
Architectural engineering
BTU
Building services engineering
Chemical engineering
Cooling tower
Evaporative cooling
Free cooling
Heat Pump
HVAC
Mechanical engineering
MOKON
Pipetter
Seasonal thermal energy storage
 5

8 References
[1] The Science Behind Refrigeration. Berg Chilling Sys-
tems Inc. Retrieved 2016-02-24.

[2] III, Herbert W. Stanford (2016-04-19). HVAC Water

Chillers and Cooling Towers: Fundamentals, Application,
and Operation, Second Edition. CRC Press. p. xvii. ISBN
9781439862117.

[3] TITAN Multistage Industrial Chillers (FORM 160.72-EG1)

(PDF). York International. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

[4] American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and

Air-Conditioning Engineers http://www.ashrae.org/
publications/page/158

[5] Request for Proposal #946 - Emergency Chillers Rentals

(PDF). Montclair State University. Retrieved 23 July
2015.

[6] http://matsu.com.au/chiller-range/chiller-range-2

[7] III, Herbert W. Stanford (2016-04-19). HVAC Water

Chillers and Cooling Towers: Fundamentals, Application,
and Operation, Second Edition. CRC Press. p. 113. ISBN
9781439862117.

[8] Summit Matsu Chillers - Chillers for Mining - Summit

Matsu Chillers. Summit Matsu Chillers.

[9] Refrigerants. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013.

Retrieved 5 July 2013.

[10] R744 (Carbon dioxide)". Archived from the original on

5 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.

[11] Kilicarslon, Ali; Mller, Norbert (18 July 2005). A com-

parative study of water as a refrigerant with some current
refrigerants (PDF). Int. J. Energy Res. Wiley. 29: 947
959. doi:10.1002/er.1084.

[12] Eurovent Market Intelligence https://www.

eurovent-marketintelligence.eu/

9 External links
Glossary of Basic Chiller Terms

Chiller Energy Consumption Calculator (requires

Java)
6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Hooperbloob, Atlant, JoaoRicardo, Gene Nygaard, Mindmatrix, Lukemcguire, AndrewWatt, SDC, Viswaprabha, Alaney2k, Old Moon-
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Copeland.James.H, Mbeychok, NipponBill, Paul Raftery, P199, Peter Horn, Hu12, MikeWazowski, Alan.ca, DouglasCalvert, TherstM,
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less, Nfette, IG-2000, MikeySq, JALsnipe, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Andy Dingley, Zaccuardi, Sneakernets, Tombomp, FusionNow, Myger-
ardromance, Dabomb87, Elassint, ClueBot, Bastien Sens-My~enwiki, Shaded0, Bobdonnell, Eeekster, Kjnorth, Apparition11, Shawis,
XLinkBot, PL290, Kbdankbot, Munon, Addbot, Grayfell, Flood78, AkhtaBot, Arbitrarily0, , Luckas-bot, Yobot,
AnomieBOT, Rjanag, Daniele Pugliesi, Piano non troppo, Hmvont, Materialscientist, ArthurBot, Xqbot, Vascer, 4twenty42o, A tomasi,
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ClueBot NG, Pmccawley, Coastwise, McQuayMarcom, Eurovent, LightRobb, Widr, Reify-tech, Helpful Pixie Bot, Tasiosvas, Cool1492,
HMSSolent, BG19bot, Nen, Yannick Lu-Cotrelle, Frze, , BattyBot, Hebert Per, ChillerExpert, EuroCarGT, Radissa,
Chillmechanic, Frosty, Reatlas, I am One of Many, Summitmatsu, Joasia.gajda, Aditimandavgane11, CarbonWHO, Delta T Systems,
Kamalgaugan, KH-1, Khushitech, Taniamcintosh, Maria Fraser 81, KasparBot, Loganjessem, Ateebahsan, Sro23, InternetArchiveBot,
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