An air cooled chiller is essentially a refrigeration machine. Its task is to remove heat from the cooled body. But cooling the water is not the finish, because the heat that the chiller took from the water must be transferred somewhere. Therefore, the overall purpose of an air-cooled chiller is to transfer heat from the chilled water to the outside air.
For this purpose, freon circulates inside the chiller. It changes its state of aggregation, that is, it goes from liquid to gaseous (evaporates), then gaseous to liquid (condenses). When freon evaporates, energy is absorbed, and when it condenses, it is released. Now let’s take a look at how this happens in an air-cooled chiller.
The main components of a device called a chiller are an evaporator (freon cooler). It is a heat exchanger through which freon circulates along the internal circuit. Besides, a compressor, a thermostatic expansion valve, and an air condenser. Now about the process:
- The cooled liquid freon after the expansion valve enters the evaporator, where it evaporates and takes heat from the water, that is, it cools it.
- Further, already gaseous freon enters the compressor, where it is compressed and heated.
- Then it enters the condenser. Here it becomes liquid and transfers heat to the outside air.
- Then it enters the expansion valve, where its pressure and temperature decrease and the cycle repeats.
Pros of Using an Air-cooled Chiller
- The simplicity of the device and low price. Buying a chiller is more profitable than installing several condensing units or a VRV system.
- An unlimited number of fan coil units of different types (for example cassette, duct, wall, floor, or ceiling), ventilation units. They can be connected to an air-cooled chiller, their operation is independent of each other.
- An air-cooled chiller, unlike any type of air conditioner, can be installed at any distance from fan coil units, ventilation units, etc.
