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Types of chillers – Chiller is a heat transfer equipment or may be called a heat exchanger which is used to chille the water. There are different types of chiller plants available in the market. We need to select them as per our requirement.
Hi engineers, today we will discuss about chiller plants used in the chemical industry or pharmaceutical industry or oil and gas industry. In today’s article we cover the working principle of chiller, types of chiller or classification of chiller depends on several parameters or factors, with advantages and disadvantages, aslo cover some difference between chilling and cooling.
Chiller
A Chiller is an equipment or machine which chills the water or solution of water as per our required temperature.In chemical industry or any kind of industry we need chiller water or chill brine for process for different purposes like in pharmaceutical industry chilling or brine is required for different types of crystallisation, in chemical industry chilling water required for vent condenser. Types of chillers plant used in chemical industry are water cooled chiller.
A chilling brine or chill water can be used for,
- Crystallisation by chilling
- In condenser for condensation
- In AC kind of use
- To store some chemical which is stable at low temperatures only
We can use water to get a temperature of
chilling up to 10 degree Celsius. If we need to go below 10 degree Celsius we need to add some antifreeze solvent like methanol, MEG etc.There are classification of chiller is air cooled chiller and water cooled chiller.
Chiller manufacturers
There are a lot of chiller manufacturers available in the market. Some of them are,
Thermax and Kirlosker chiller.
Kirloskar chillers
Kirlosker is brand in manufacturing of all types of chillers.
I used both of the above manufactured chillers in my career, both of them are well branded.
Types of chillers plant use in the industry
We can classify the chiller or chilling system on the basis of different parameters or factors. We study the chiller classification by each factor.
Classification of chiller based on chilling temperature
There are two types of chiller based on chilling temperature,
- Brine chiller
- Water chiller
Brine chiller
As per her name brine chiller we use brine in it to reduce the freezing point of water and get -ve temperature. Mostly methanol or MEG is used to reduce the freezing point of water and get required temperature.
Advantages and disadvantages of brine chiller
It can be use for chilling requirement below zero degrees Celsius.
It’s operations or maintenance cost is high as compared to the water chiller.
Water chiller
As per her name as water chiller it chill the water only. We can use this chiller if our temperature requirement is not below 10 degree Celsius.
Advantages and disadvantages of water chiller.
- It chill the water up to 10 or max 8 degree Celsius only.
- It’s operation cost is very low as compared to brine chiller because.
- it does not required methanol or MEG.
Note – we can use one single chiller as water chiller or as brine chiller, we need to Cheng the chilling setting only.
classification of chiller
Classification of chiller base on cooling mediums required in cooler of chiller system
There are two types of chiller based on cooling mediums,
Water cool chiller
Air cooled chiller
Water cooled chiller
This type of chiller very common used in all kinds of industry. In this type of chiller cooling towers cool water use in the condenser to condense the refrigenet in chilling system. So to cool the water we need a additional cooling equipment like cooling tower. In most of industry cooling tower is use to cool the warm water.
Advantages of water cooled chiller
It available from small to big size
It is efficient tha air cooled types of chiller
Dis-Advantages of water cooled chiller
Need water which may not available easily at all places
Maintaining cost is high that air cooled chiller
Air cooled chiller
Air cooled chiller use air to condense the refrigenet which is used in the chiller.
Working principle of chiller
A chilling is worked on Carnot cycle. A chiller use absorption principle as we as compression principle to chill the water solution.
There are four operations used in the refrigeration cycle.
Condensation
Compression
Expansion
Evaporation
From evaporator we get our chilled water.
In condenser we use cooling water or air to condense the refrigenet.
Expansion valve reduces the pressure.
Evaporator chill the water using refrigenet.
We study the details about refrigeration cycle of chiller in another article.
Conclusion
Chiller is used to chill the water or water solution. We need chilling water for operation like condensation and crystallisation which is largely used in chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry or oil and gas industry. There are different types of chiller plant available in the market like air cooled chiller, water cooled chiller, brine chiller,water chiller. Chiller chill the water temperature base on refrigeration cycle principle.
Question and answers
On what principle chiller work ?
Chiller work on refrigeration cycle which involves the condensation, expansion, evaporation and compression stages.
Which gas is used as refrigerant in chiller ?
Depending upon the our required temperature we there are different refrigerant gases available.
What are the type of chiller based on the cooling medium used in the condenser ?
Water cooled and air cooled chiller.
What is chiller ?
Chiller is a equipment which used to chill the water.
Definition of chiller ?
Chiller is a mechanical equipment which chill the water using refrigeration cycle and refrigerant.
Which type of chiller is good for temperature below zero degrees Celsius ?
We can use water cooled chiller with wate and brine solution to get chilling temperature below zero degrees Celsius.
Which type chiller is suitable for HVAC systems ?
Air cooled type of chiller is best for HVAC system.
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