Introduction to water-cooled chillers

Water cooled chillers, also known as low-temperature chillers, are essential for application, operation, and protection in the refrigeration industry. If you want to use, operate, or work in the refrigeration industry, you must first have a general understanding of water-cooled chillers. To inquire about a water-cooled chiller, the first step is to start with the approximate workflow and important components. Below is a detailed explanation. The general workflow of water-cooled chillers is to first break down from water-cooled chillers and air-cooled chillers, which are only classified based on the heat dissipation and cooling methods of the condenser. The workflow of water-cooled chillers discussed here is the same regardless of whether it is air-cooled or water-cooled.

1. As mentioned in the start-up of water-cooled chillers, the compression timing starts from sucking in refrigerant, sucking in low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant gas from the suction pipe, and then compressing it. If compressed, the refrigerant will become hot and the pressure will also increase. Depending on the compression ratio and the different types of compressors, the compression consequences also vary.

2. After compression, the compressed refrigerant gas that has caused high temperature and pressure is expelled from the exhaust pipe during compression. After the refrigerant enters the condenser, the condenser begins to function. The condenser does not actively work, but only works passively because the compressor squeezes out the gas. It is a mechanical part rather than a component. The function of the condenser is to condense, that is, to cool the refrigerant. The condenser cools the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant into liquid by dissipating heat. And its working technique is to dissipate heat through the copper tubes of the condenser itself, spreading the heat of the copper tubes (actually the heat brought by the compressor to the refrigerant, the heat of the refrigerant itself) through water cooling or air cooling. According to the difference between air-cooled and water-cooled chillers, the cooling medium for the condenser can be water or air (air-cooled). 3. The refrigerant that was once cooled will pass through one of the important components of the water-cooled chiller, the throttle valve, and in the future, the refrigerant will be throttled into low-pressure and low-temperature refrigerant liquid.

4. The refrigerant liquid enters the evaporator to absorb heat from the target equipment. Upon absorption of heat, it vaporizes, causing the refrigerant to transform into gas from the liquid. This gas is then collected by the system and re enters the compressor for cyclic application. The important components of the refrigeration process are basically the evaporator, compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and throttle valve. The function of a compressor is to compress refrigerant gas, while a condenser cools the compressed high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant into a medium temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant. At this time, the refrigerant temperature is moderate but the pressure is relatively high. By using an expansion valve (throttle valve), a low-pressure and temperature responsive refrigerant liquid can be produced, which then enters the water-cooled chiller evaporator to cool the target equipment or object.