This air cooled chiller and duplex pumping station were tailored to meet the cooling demands of a customer who manufactures thick and thin film resistive components for the biomedical, communications, aerospace and defense industries.
Heat removal is a critical part of film resistive component manufacturing process and given the small size of their products coupled with the demand for precision inherent in the industries they serve there is no room for error.
When our customer saw that their existing cooling solution was beginning to show its age they contacted the engineering team at General Air Products. After reviewing their process and cooling needs in detail we determined that we could improve on their existing process cooling equipment while saving them money over the life of the units – this is a great example of what we call a tailored solution.
The 19 ton air cooled chiller with 20 HP semi hermetic compressors would offer the cooling capacity required for their manufacturing process in one unit what they were currently doing with two air cooled chillers. At first the customer was concerned that one large air cooled chiller would consume more energy than the two existing, smaller air cooled chillers – in most instances that would be a concern. However the addition of a hot gas bypass (a standard option from General Air) to our 18 ton air cooled chiller allows the unit to very closely match the process cooling load. This not only saves on energy consumption but allows to process cooling operation to more closely match the specified requirements allowing our customer to deliver a more consistent product!
The customer also required a recirculating pump system which we were able to manufacture to the exact specifications of the customer. The pump and tank station has two 5 HP system process pumps and a 3 HP recirculating pump for the chiller all of which include auto switchover (in the event of a failure in the process). There is an insulated 250 gallon polyethylene tank, phase monitors and all non-ferrous piping on the recirculating pump and tank station as well.
The final criteria our customer presented to us was regarding the floor space for the chiller. The availability of floor space in most manufacturing facilities is of great importance, fortunately we were able to accommodate this constraint with the construction of the 19 ton air cooled chiller as a “split unit”. What we mean by “split” unit chillers is that the chiller comes in two modules 1.) the evaporator and 2.) the condenser. By splitting the unit in two the condenser module can be installed outside and piped to the evaporator unit on the inside of the building. This cut the floor space required by a 19 ton air cooled chiller down significantly.
If you have any questions about a tailored process cooling solution for your manufacturing process please don’t hesitate to contact us – with one call or email you could learn how to save on energy costs and make improvements to your cooling equipment that can directly improve the quality of your product and efficiency of your process. Contact the process cooling experts at General Air Products today!