Process Chiller

What is the Process Chiller？

A process chiller is a cooling device commonly used in industrial production. It achieves efficient cooling through heat exchange between circulating cooling water (or a mixture of glycol and water) and a heat source, thereby reducing the temperature of the process. Thanks to the excellent cooling efficiency and precise temperature control of the process chiller, it is possible to maintain temperature stability in your production process, ensuring optimal performance of the equipment and quality of your product.

Function of the Process Chiller

Precise Temperature Control

Processes such as industrial, pharmaceutical and food require tight temperature control to ensure optimum process temperatures to minimise temperature fluctuations and ensure smooth processing. Process chillers provide excellent cooling efficiency and temperature control accuracy to reduce scrap, minimise costly losses, and increase your productivity.

Reducing Equipment Temperatures

Process manufacturing or chemical preparation generates a lot of heat, which not only affects the improvement of product quality but also has an impact on the processing equipment. Equipment that overheats can reduce performance, self-protect, or even shut down or be damaged. You can use process chillers to prevent overheating, maintain optimum performance, and improve the accuracy of your equipment. This improves production quality and extends equipment life.

Accelerated Cooling for Solidification

Surface treatments, plastic thermoforming, and other processes can be quickly cooled after forming using a process chiller, thereby reducing waiting cycles and increasing productivity. Additionally, rapid cooling and solidification can significantly reduce defects, thereby improving production quality.

Reducing Space Temperatures

Process chillers can achieve efficiencies and temperature control that are difficult to achieve with traditional air conditioning systems. Therefore, it is wise to use it for space cooling. It can control optimal product retention temperatures and improve the reliability of your products. Additionally, it provides a comfortable ambient temperature for your employees during the process, which keeps workers safe and increases their productivity.

How Process Chillers Enable Cooling?

Water Circulation

When you run a process chiller in your process, the pump delivers chilled water or a mixture of glycol and water coolant immediately to the heat source. The chilled water exchanges heat with the heat source, absorbing heat to cool the source and carrying it to the evaporator of the chiller. Compared to chilled water, the glycol and water mixture exhibits a higher heat transfer efficiency, preventing icing and resulting in more stable chiller operation.

Evaporation

The refrigerant in the evaporator rapidly absorbs heat from the cooling water, lowering its temperature. The re-cooled chilled water is then returned to the heat source for the next heat exchange, and this cycle achieves stable and continuous cooling for your process. The refrigerant absorbs heat in the evaporator and transforms from liquid to gas to start the refrigeration cycle.

Compression

The compressor of a process chiller provides the power needed to compress the refrigerant through the entire cycle. The refrigerant is converted into a vapour and is at a high temperature and low pressure. The compressor draws in the low-pressure refrigerant and sends it to the condenser after further heating and pressurisation. Here you can choose from process chillers with different compressors such as screw, centrifugal and scroll.

Condensation

The refrigerant vapour entering the condenser is cooled by heat dissipation and recondenses to a liquid after releasing heat. Depending on the type of circulating cooler, the heat is dissipated to different objects.

• Air-cooled circulating coolers: The fan of an air-cooled circulating cooler blows ambient air towards the condenser, where the refrigerant transfers heat to the ambient air for dissipation.
• Water-cooled circulating cooler: The water-cooled circulating cooler is equipped with a cooling tower, where the refrigerant exchanges heat with the water in the cooling tower for cooling purposes.

Expansion

Refrigerant that has been recondensed into a liquid state is in a high-pressure state, making it difficult to absorb heat again. The expansion valve can further transform the refrigerant into a low temperature and low pressure state, so that it can effectively absorb heat again and quickly transform into a gaseous state. The refrigerant enters the evaporator again for heat exchange. In addition, the expansion valve automatically adjusts the refrigerant flow according to the current refrigeration demand to minimise unnecessary losses.

Applications of Process Chillers

Pharmaceutical Industry

Process coolers provide ideal temperature control for pharmaceutical preparation, thus ensuring the stability of the manufacturing process and the conformity of your medicines. They also maintain stable temperature control, allowing you to install them in pharmaceutical storage rooms to ensure freshness and reliability.

Machine Tool Processing

The moving parts of a machine tool, such as cutting tools, generate a lot of heat during machining, which leads to an increase in temperature. Temperature fluctuations not only affect the accuracy of the machine tool, but also lead to defects (e.g. thermal deformation) in the machined parts. With a process cooler, you can provide continuous cooling of the machine tool during the machining process, thereby improving production quality and extending the service life of the machine.

Plastic Moulding

Various plastic moulding processes, such as injection moulding and blow moulding, require heating of the plastic to be processed. The use of process coolers effectively controls the optimum working temperature, thus reducing plastic defects. In addition, recirculation coolers can be used to cool finished products, helping them to solidify and cool quickly, thereby increasing productivity.

Printing

You can also equip your printing equipment with a process cooler. It absorbs heat from the printing rollers and cools the paper at the same time, improving print quality and productivity.

Laser Cutting and Welding

High-power equipment in industrial manufacturing, such as laser cutting and welding equipment, generates a lot of heat during operation. To prevent equipment downtime and damage, process coolers enable continuous and stable cooling to ensure stable equipment operation.

Food Processing

Whether processing or storing food and beverages, low and stable temperatures are required. Process coolers not only provide rapid cooling during processing but also provide a constant and stable low-temperature environment during storage, thus ensuring the quality and safety of food and beverages.