Are you wondering about the most common types of chillers? HVAC chillers are an essential component of the climate control of commercial and industrial applications.
Chillers utilize the concept of removing heat in the ambient air temperature of a building by chilling water and lowering the temperature to make it comfortable for building occupants.
Knowing the main types of HVAC chillers will better help you understand the main differences and how they can help your facility's occupants stay cool.
Water-Cooled Chillers
Water-cooled chillers are very similar to air-cooled chillers, however, they do not use fans over the condenser to dissipate heat into the outside air.
Instead, refrigerant is run through a water-piped system to absorb heat from the water in the building. The heat produced by the refrigerant is sent to cooling towers which water removes the heat and produces cool water for the building. Essentially, water cools the condenser rather than a fan, dissipating heat.
They are typically placed inside operating rooms in the basement or on the roof. It's important to note that water-cooling towers will make the system weigh substantially more than an air-cooled unit, so it's imperative to verify with engineers that your building is able to support it.
Air-Cooled Chillers
As the name suggests, air-cooled chillers dissipate the heat produced by the system using axial fans. The axial fans help blow heat produced by the sealed refrigerant lines away from the condenser coils and into the ambient atmosphere.
Like a conventional HVAC unit, air-cooled chillers use refrigerant in a closed, contained system to absorb the unwanted heat in the water via piping distributed throughout the building.
The heat is removed from the water and chilled by refrigerant, which is then fed into your building's air handle unit to cool specific zones. This cycle is repeated to help building occupants remain comfortable.
Absorption Chillers
Absorption chillers are quite different from water-cooled chillers and air-cooled chillers. Instead of using mechanical energy to drive the cooling process, absorption chiller systems use heat energy via water to generate cooling.
These unique systems operate by using heat from a waste heat source and non-conventional refrigerants to drive the water-cooling process inside buildings.
Unlike water-cooled and air-cooled chillers, absorption chillers do not use a compressor. This also means conventional refrigerants are not used nor are they compressed.
Instead of common refrigerants such as R-410A and R-134A, absorption chillers use water as the refrigerant and either ammonia or lithium bromide as the absorbent. Hot water and steam create a vapor inside the condenser and a constant cycle of heating and cooling effect to distribute cooled air into large facilities.
The interaction of heat, ammonia/lithium bromide, and water combined create a refrigerant cycle-like effect, similar to the other two systems, that produces chilled water for commercial and heavy industrial applications.
These systems are especially beneficial to large institutional facilities such as university campuses, governmental facilities, hospitals, and manufacturing plants where the electrical demand and noise generated from compressors found on other systems may be too great in such applications.
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That completes our quick and easy guide on various HVAC chiller systems. Estes Services is a family-owned and operated commercial HVAC company in Atlanta that provides commercial HVAC repair and maintenance.
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