How Refrigerators work then and now

Process Chillers may come as a foreign term to many of you. This is because it is often only used formally. There are different types of chillers out there and the most common of all is one item that is essential to our everyday living: the refrigerator.

The refrigerator is an air cooled chiller that allows us to chill or freeze things to lengthen their shelf life. But refrigerators back then and now did not follow the same process. 

REFRIGERATORS (then):

At the back of a refrigerator, there’s a long thin tube that goes in loop. This tube is connected to the pump powered by an electric motor. Inside this tube is Freon which is a type of gas but is also known chemically as Chloro-Floro-Carbon or better known as CFC. CFC’s start out in liquid form and are pumped through the coils in the freezer area. Here, the liquid turns to gas and when it does, it absorbs some of the heat that’s in the freezer compartment. This is the reason why air cooled chiller’s freezers are super cold and filled with ice all around especially for used chillers that haven’t been cleaned. The pump sucks the CFC gas and passes it through the thinner pipes located outside the refrigerator and compresses it. The process of compression turns the gas back into liquid form and heat is given off. This is the reason why it’s hot when you stand next to your refrigerator. They cycle continues inside this process chiller.

REFRIGERATORS (now):

Because CFC’s were harmful to the atmosphere if they leak out of refrigerators, manufacturers had to find a way to do away with it. Hence, modern day air cooled chillers use HFC chemically known as tetrafluoroethane. This type of gas turns to liquid if it is cooled to -15.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The process all starts with a motor and compressor that squeezes the HFC and gas heats up. As it cools, HFC turns to liquid. The liquid then flows through a tiny hole called the expansion valve. There is a low-pressure are between the valve and the compressor because the compressor is pulling ammonia gas out of that area. When HFC gets to this area, it vaporizes and turns to gas. The coils go through the freezer and the colder liquid in them pulls heat out of the compartments, leaving freezers super cold. The compressor then sucks up the cold gas and the cycle continues.

Refrigerators in the earlier days are different from how refrigerators work nowadays. The difference may be subtle but the overall effect is huge.

How process chillers can save water

How do industrial chillers save water? Well, with global warming becoming more and more apparent, a little effort in saving our environment goes a very long way. One natural resource in particular that we’re nearly running out of is water. If we don’t take care of it, we’ll lose it. Thus, saving water is of primary importance right now.

A large amount of water is used in different industrial purposes all over the world. Because of this and the desperate pleas for our environment’s survival, industries are now looking for ways to cut back the waste.

An example of an industry that uses a lot of water is a hospital. Sterilization is a key aspect in a hospital’s day to day activities. Instruments and equipments must be sterilized to ensure safety and health. However, large amounts of water are needed to cool the sterilizer and these amounts usually end up in waste after used.

Instead of wasting too much water on that, you can use process chillers. These chillers take hot water from the condensers and vacuum pump. They then cool it down and pump it right back to the sterilizer. Process chillers also help keep the cycling time of sterilizers constant regardless of different weather conditions. If your chillers have large buffer tanks, there are no negative effects even if there’s an extreme change in temperature. Switching to industrial chillers prove to save a lot of money and water at the same time. With the right chiller maintenance, your chillers will last longer than you thought.

Chiller Efficiency and Maintenance

If your company owns one of those industrial chillers to help maintain various equipments that may be damaged from too much heat, then you’d probably know that chiller maintenance don’t come easy.

A chiller can only be beneficial if its efficiency is at its maximum or remain to be unaffected despite several factors.

A chiller’ efficiency is measured by the amount of energy it needs or it takes to produce a ton of cooling and is usually expressed as kw/ton. All types of chillers including air cooled chillers and water cooled chillers have certain efficiency established before being released out in the market. However, there are a lot of factors that can affect it which can result to poor efficiency and higher operating costs.

An industrial chiller can have an operator to better keep track of the activities. The operators are known by a few titles: Stationary Engineer, HVAC engineer or service technician. Nevertheless, they perform the same job: they watch over the chillers. Chiller operation includes collecting and logging data from different estimates and controls the meters near or on the chiller. There are also service contractors whose expertise is the equipment repair. They are the ones you must call when you need major repairs.

There are three types of chiller maintenance:

Water chemistry – keeps the proper balance and minimizes the effects of corrosion, and debris fouling.Mechanical Maintenance – includes adequate liquid refrigerant, proper lubrication and a series of oil levels and pump curve tests.Operational Procedures – includes calibration of gauges and meters, oil analysis and other different tests that checks the operation process.

Chillers must be maintained and kept well for a longer lifespan. They don’t come cheap so taking care of them is worth the extra years they give as service before they break down.

Taking Care of You Chiller Unit

If you own a water cooled chiller or any other chiller unit, then for sure you want it to run at its best. In keeping up with your chiller maintenance you will extend the life of your chiller and will also help keep the amount of money to run the unit down. Not having the right maintenance can have its consequences. The machine can start to rust sooner than you expect and you’ll end up spending more money repairing it than having it checked out every few months.

Keeping a daily log on how the recirculating chiller is running is one thing you can do to make sure that the unit is running smoothly. In the long run, doing this can also make you save money because it gives you a basis of how the chiller normally works and this is also good because if something starts to go wrong with the machine, then you would know about it before the chiller breaks down. This is especially important if you purchased a used chiller.

Something else you can do to ensure that your industrial chiller will be running its best is to make sure that all the wiring is efficient and up to date. Old wiring can cause your electricity bill to surge and giving attention to this can also confirm that there are no kinks in the wiring and that the wires are not all tangled up. Purchasing a chiller that’s just the right size can keep your cost down as well. It’s a common thing for people to buy the wrong type of chiller and this can cause the chiller’s life to shorten.

Taking note of simple things like this can help you in maintaining a good chiller. J5NPHMMXKQBD

Chiller Threats

In big industries, chillers use up almost fifty percent of its entire electricity consumption, making them high-maintenance equipment. Because of this, proper maintenance for industrial chillers or any chiller for that matter should be a priority and should be something that is consistently being done.

Poor operating practices cuts down the chiller’s life as well as decreasing its efficiency. These practices include but are not limited to trying to force a chiller to do something that it wasn’t designed to do. You have to understand what your chillers are meant to do. You have to get to know your process chillers or other types of chillers. An important note with these practices is that the consequences are unnoticeable at first. Chillers continue to act normal but time will come when it gives in and breaks down faster than it should.

Chiller maintenance shouldn’t be taken lightly especially for equipment such as this. Good maintenance is essential in keeping chillers in top condition. A brand new air cooled chiller can carry a particular amount of load. Over time, that load decreases gradually. However, if maintenance is ignored then that decrease will happen faster than it should.

Chillers have cooling towers that assist in their efficient operation. They allow chillers to operate efficiently to their maximum potential. It is essential that these cooling towers are kept in top shape because a slight decrease in its performance will have a major impact on the chillers.

A chiller should be properly sized for an efficient operation. For example you have a new air conditioning chiller and the size of the load is sufficient for it to run smoothly. However, changes are made such as new windows or new lighting systems. This decreases the load for chillers and as a result, decreases its efficiency. You have to keep track of this and make sure that the balance is maintained.

Chillers have helped humanity in more ways than one especially in big industries. Therefore keeping them safe and treating them well is just right.

Chiller Maintenance

Chiller maintenance is an essential and critical part of having and owning a chiller. Chillers need special attention and care to fully maximize their performance and efficiency longer. They don’t come cheap thus should be kept in good condition. There are specific handling techniques in taking care of used chillers. Here are some of them:

- Keep a daily log that consists of the different operating characteristics of your chiller. This gives you an overview of its dxlay to day performance.
- Before the cooling season, check the starter and controls of your chiller.
- Make sure the interior of you chiller is clean and in proper condition:
• No litter, dirt or any kind of debris.
• All the wiring connections are tight.
• All linkages move freely.
• Overloads are set correctly and are functional.
- Double check to see if the safeties and controls work. They all should work.
- Do a careful and thorough inspection of the compressors every so often.
• Check the compressor oil level and filter. Change them as often as the manufacturer’s guidelines say so.
• Have the oil sample examined to check for destructive acids and corrosive materials.
- Make sure the crankcase heaters are functioning correctly.
- Check if the water cooled chillers have full refrigerant charge by keeping a close eye on operating pressures and temperatures.
- For air conditioning chillers, clean the condenser coils and make sure that the condenser fans are working.
- For bigger chillers such as industrial or process chillers, performing an eddy current tube helps prevent major chiller breakdowns. This is a process wherein a trained technician runs electricity on each tube and studies the flow of current.

Following the above mentioned chiller maintenance tips help a great deal in preserving and lengthening the lifespan of your chillers.

How Chillers Work

In every water cooled chiller, the liquid is separated from the refrigerant by sealed tubes or coils. Water is then passed through a series of sealed tubes in and around a compressed refrigerant of ammonia or Freon. The heat from the warmer water is passed through the metal sealing tubes and into the gas of the refrigerant which is then sucked off through the vessel by a compressor.

Air cooled chillers range in different sizes from the common cold drinking fountain to large industrial chillers that can accommodate thousands of gallons of liquid. Regardless of the size, water chillers all have the same function, which is to remove unwanted heat and cool down the liquid to a desired temperature. After removing the unwanted heat, the cooled chiller will discharge it elsewhere.

The refrigerant enters the heat exchanger in the form of a liquid and it comes in contact with the sealed tubes that contain the water and while this happens, it flashes into a gas. The flashing of the refrigerant happens when the heat is exchanged from the warmer water through the metal tubes and into the recirculating chiller. The heat, which is now in gas form, gets carried away by the suction of the compressor.

Through the operation of a fan, the machine’s condenser releases heat that was captured by the gas into the air. The gas then turns back into a liquid or condenses as it cools and then exits the condenser. The liquid refrigerant is then forced back into the heat exchanger vessel to perform the same work of removing heat from the warm water. This is the same process that is used on a refrigerator.

Always remember that proper maintenance on the chiller is needed to lengthen the appliance’s lifespan.