WHAT IS CHILLER?

Products and equipment used in factory manufacturing processes are diverse. Examples include welding machines, electromagnetic induction heaters, laser processing machines, injection molding machines, parts washers, water-jet cutters, extrusion processes, and coolants used in cutting operations. For all of these, controlling the heat generated is critical to stable equipment operation. In general, cooling towers and chillers are used for heat-source management.

A chiller is a device that produces chilled water at approximately 5–30°C (below 0°C when using antifreeze) and circulates it to the target equipment—the source of heat—to remove that heat. To suppress temperature rise in the equipment, it is essential to supply chilled water continuously at a constant temperature and flow rate. If this cannot be maintained, temperatures will keep rising, potentially causing equipment failures, defective products, line stoppages, and increased takt time. Therefore, a chiller must provide sufficient cooling capacity to cover the heat load and stably supply chilled water with consistent temperature, flow rate, and water quality.

The basic principle—though using water rather than air—is the same as a household air conditioner: a refrigeration cycle (refrigerant-based heat-exchange system) cools the water, which is then circulated by a pump.

• Main applications:
  Industrial process chillers used for manufacturing and testing processes in factories (typical cooling capacity: approx. 0.5–250 kW)

• Large screw chillers used as chilled-water sources for building/plant HVAC or whole-plant cooling (typical cooling capacity: approx. 100–2,000 kW)

(Reference page: Applications of chillers)  

Industrial chillers may be used in a one-to-one configuration with the target equipment (or one-to-two, one-to-three, etc.), or a larger-capacity chiller may cover multiple devices. (Modular chillers, in particular, offer a highly efficient system that centralizes chilled water sources while allowing for future scalability. (Reference page:  As a central chiller for factory cooling water supply (centralization of cooling water sources))

In the past, chillers typically required external water tanks, water pumps, and control panels separate from the main chiller unit (which included the refrigeration system and control components). Modern industrial chillers, however, predominantly use "package-type" designs that integrate all necessary components within a single housing.

The package-type chiller can also be divided into the following two types:

⇒NEXT PAGE(APPLICATIONS OF CHILLER)