Free Cooling
Of all of the energy saving methods, Free Cooling is probably the easiest to comprehend. Traditionally, heat is extracted from a fluid by running refrigeration compressors. By their very nature, refrigeration compressor are power consuming and expensive to run. Installing a free cooler removes heat from the fluid before it reaches the chiller and reduces the amount of heat to be extracted by the compressors.
Before
The diagram above shows the warm water returning from process and then entering the water chiller. The refrigeration compressors are used to extract all of the heat from the water before it is returned to process. Typically, 10kW of power input is required to achieve 30kW of cooling.
After
The above diagram now shows that by using a free cooler, some or all of the heat can be extracted from the water before it enters the chiller. Efficiencies will obviously vary with the ambient air temperature, however, energy savings can be achieved even if the ambient temperature is a few degrees less than the temperature of the water returning to the chiller. Typically, in low ambient conditions, when the free cooler is fully utillized, less than 1kW of power input can achieve 30kW of cooling.
Please contact us if you would like more information on our range of free coolers.
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