What’s the difference of air cooled chiller and water cooled chiller?

Water cooled chillers and air-cooled chillers have their own characteristics, which should be selected according to different use environment, space, and the refrigerating capacity of the required chillers, as well as different cities and regions. The larger the building is, the priority is given to water-cooled chillers. The smaller the building is, the best choice is air-cooled chillers.

drawing of air cooled chiller working principle

The air cooled chiller is mainly used in dry and water scarce areas. Its advantages are that it saves the area of the machine room and is easy to install. Compared with the water-cooled chiller, its operating condition is unstable under the influence of environmental temperature, while the water-cooled chiller is mainly used in areas with relatively sufficient water source, and its operation is stable. However, due to the problem of cooling water antifreeze, it is more troublesome in winter. Because of the simple use of cooling tower, heating cannot be made in the north in winter, so it is necessary to choose water source or ground source heat pump system, The refrigeration and heating effect is good, which is the best choice at present. It is difficult for water cooled chillers to use heat pumps for heating in the north, and they need electric auxiliary water heating devices to be perfect.

In the actual air conditioning and refrigeration engineering design, the selection of air-cooled chillers and water-cooled chillers can be considered and determined in the following ways:

1、 In areas with strict restrictions on the use of water resources, there is no doubt that air-cooled chillers should be mainly considered for the design of refrigeration system. The building structure should be considered in terms of ventilation section and bearing capacity of machine room floor, so as to meet the requirements of ventilation and heat exchange conditions of chillers as far as possible.

2、 If, due to the requirements of architectural design form or the limitations of the objective environment where the building is located, there is no place for outdoor cooling tower in the building or outdoor cooling tower is not allowed to be set, the design of central air-conditioning system needs to be coordinated with the building and structure to consider the use of air-cooled chiller refrigeration system, and the design of building and structure for the main air-conditioning room needs to focus on bearing and meeting the requirements of ventilation and heat exchange.

3、 In the absence of the above constraints, the main engine of the air conditioning and refrigeration system should try to use water-cooled chillers. This design form and technical cooperation have been very common and mature in the current engineering industry.

4、 System combination design considerations. In some specific cases, using small capacity air-cooled chillers as the auxiliary combination design of water-cooled chiller system is a good design choice. 5、 Generally, water-cooled chillers are used in areas with large load, large refrigerating capacity of chillers, or rich water sources.

With the advantages of high efficiency, low noise, reasonable structure, simple operation, safe operation and convenient installation and maintenance, water-cooled chillers are widely used in comfortable central air-conditioning systems for public facilities such as exhibition halls, airports and gymnasiums, and can meet the different use requirements of technological air-conditioning systems in electronic, pharmaceutical, biological, textile, chemical, metallurgy, electric power, machinery and other industries. It is widely used in factory workshops, office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, entertainment centers, villas, electronic industry, construction industry, food freezing, refrigeration, power stations, plastic products, hardware, electronics, food preservation, laser carving, vacuum coating, ultrasonic cleaning, plastic cooling, food preservation, bath temperature rise and fall, medical storage and other industries.

Industrial application: the main industrial applications of water cooling chillers are as follows:

Plastic industry: accurately control the mold temperature of various plastic processing, ensure the stability of product quality, and improve production efficiency. Electronic industry: stabilize the molecular structure of electronic components in the production line, improve the qualification rate of electronic components, and apply it to the ultrasonic cleaning industry to effectively prevent the volatilization of expensive cleaning agents and the harm caused by volatilization. Electroplating industry: control the electroplating temperature, increase the density and smoothness of plated parts, shorten the electroplating cycle, improve production efficiency and improve product quality. Machinery industry: control the pressure and oil temperature of the oil pressure system, stabilize the oil temperature and increase the oil pressure, prolong the service time of the oil quality, improve the efficiency of mechanical lubrication and reduce wear. Construction industry: provide chilled water for concrete, make the molecular structure of concrete suitable for construction purposes, and effectively enhance the hardness and toughness of concrete.

Vacuum coating: control the temperature of the vacuum coating machine to ensure the high quality of the plated parts.

Food industry: it is used for high-speed cooling after food processing to meet the packaging requirements. In addition, the temperature of fermented food is controlled.

Chemical fiber industry: freeze dry air to ensure product quality.

The water-cooled chiller is also used in CNC machine tools, coordinate boring machines, grinding machines, machining centers, modular machine tools and all kinds of precision machine tools for spindle lubrication and cooling of transmission medium of hydraulic system. It can accurately control the oil temperature, effectively reduce the thermal deformation of machine tools and improve the machining accuracy of machine tools.

The air-cooled chiller can be directly placed on the roof, podium platform or horizontal ground without building a special machine room and boiler room. It is safe and clean, and takes outdoor air as the direct cooling (heating) source. It is a relatively economical and simple model in the maintenance and repair of cold (hot) water air conditioning equipment at present. It is widely used in office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, entertainment centers, cinemas, stadiums, villas, factories and other public places, as well as places of technological air conditioning and thermostatic equipment for processes such as textile and clothing manufacturing, institutional manufacturing, metallurgy and chemical industry, electronic power, medical and pharmaceutical. It can also meet the different use requirements of technological air conditioning systems in electronic, pharmaceutical, biological, textile, chemical, metallurgical, electric power, machinery and other industries. The air-cooled chillers are divided into single cooling type and heat pump type. The heat pump type chiller integrates the functions of refrigeration, heating and heat recovery. It can realize cooling in summer, heating in winter and making domestic hot water. One machine can be used for multiple purposes. The products are widely used in East China, South China, southwest, Northwest China and some areas where water sources are scarce. At the same time, it is especially suitable for areas with relatively low temperature in winter and no boiler or other heating conditions.

The main industrial applications of air cooled chiller are as follows: textile, bleaching and dyeing, clothing making, plastic, laser technology, welding, thermal molding, mechanical cutting processing, non cutting processing, casting, surface treatment, electroplating, electrophoresis, medical equipment, electronic industry, circuit board production, electronic chip manufacturing, chemical industry, papermaking, pharmaceutical industry, food processing industry, aluminum profile, aluminum alloy, tempered glass, coated glass production, ultrasonic cleaning Jewelry processing, leather, fur processing, ink production, aquaculture, spraying, toys, footwear and other high-temperature factory workshops are suitable for open and semi open environments. Large and medium-sized shopping malls, supermarkets, vegetable markets, waiting rooms and large indoor entertainment places. Places with polluting gas or gas odor and large dust. Places where traditional air conditioners have been installed but the fresh air volume (or oxygen content) is insufficient.

The series of SolarShine air cooled chillers use high-efficiency and energy-saving compressor, matched with high-quality condenser and evaporator, with high efficiency, stable performance, low noise and long service life. The industrial unit is centrally controlled and equipped with the energy ratio of compressor, which can timely and accurately control the matching of refrigeration capacity and cooling load of the unit, ensure the operation of the unit with the best efficiency and reduce the operation cost.
compressor of air cooled chiller


Post time: Jul-11-2022