The demand for chiller/heater combination units has been existent for many years.  However, the applications which use such equipment are rarely the same.  With years of experience designing chiller/heater units for client-specified process applications, Whaley decided it was time to produce standard chiller/heater combination units for clients to use as a base design for their chiller/heater applications.  The configurations will be designed to allow for elaborate customizations to allow fulfilment of any and all project requirements.

Whaley is in the process of designing standard chiller/heater combination unit product lines which will serve the following applications. 

Chiller + Heater Configuration (2 Loops – 1 Heat/1 Cool – Separate Loops)

o   Applications which require a chiller/heater unit that can serve chilled water to a first application loop while simultaneously and independently serving heat to a second application loop.  These applications will use a traditional chiller unit with secondary internal heating loop all on one frame, but with completely independent controls.

Heat Pump Configuration (1 Loop – Heating or Cooling Depending on Current Need)

o   Applications which require a chiller/heater unit that is capable of either cooling or heating an application loop, but not simultaneously.  These applications will be served with a heat pump product line which incorporates a refrigerant reversing valve which allows the unit to reverse which of the coils are used as condenser and evaporator.

Temperature Control Unit Configuration (1 Loop – Heat or Cool to Maintain Range)

o   The third and final configuration will be the temperature control unit design.  This product line will be designed to maintain one single process application loop between X temperature and Y temperature, no matter if the application requires heating or cooling.  The customer will have the ability to set a desired temperature range for maintaining the temperature, and the Whaley TCU unit will do the rest.  The Whaley TCU unit will automatically cool the loop when it needs to cool, and heat the loop when it needs to heat.

HCFCs and the Ozone Layer

The stratospheric ozone layer shields the Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.  Emissions of certain synthetic chemicals – including CFCs, halons, and HCFCs (R-22) – destroy the ozone layer, and have created an “ozone hole” over the South Pole.

Through the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the United States committed to a collaborative, international effort to regulate and phase out ozone-depleting substances. While the US phased out of CFCs and halons in the mid 90’s, we now must first limit HCFC consumption to a specific level and then reduce it in a step-wise fashion.

Phaseout of R-22 and R142b

• HCFC-22 (also called R-22) and HCFC-142b are the next two HCFCs that the United States will phase out.  The schedule to phase out HCFCs is:

January 1, 2010 (WPI CONVERTS TO ALL R-410A OZONE-FRIENDLY refrigerant systems

• Ban on production and import of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b except for continuing servicing needs of existing equipment
• Unlike alkyl halide refrigerants that contain bromine or chlorine, R-410A (which contains only fluorine) does not contribute to ozone depletion, and is therefore becoming more widely used, as ozone-depleting refrigerants like R-22 are phased out. However, it has a high global warming potential (2088 times the effect of carbon dioxide), similar to that of R-22.  Since R-410A allows for higher system efficiencies than an R-22 system, by reducing power consumption, the overall impact on global warming of R-410A systems will be substantially lower than that of R-22 systems due to reduced greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

January 1, 2015

• Ban on sale and use of all HCFCs except for certain uses, including continuing servicing needs of refrigeration equipment

January 1, 2020

• Ban on remaining production and import of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b.  After 2020, the servicing of systems with R-22 will rely on recycled or stockpiled quantities.

An air-cooled chiller has a condenser that is cooled by the environment air. The air-cooled chillers are preferred for small or medium installations but lately the quality improvement in their structure, allows the usage, in modular type, for large installations also. An air-cooled chiller is preferred especially in cases that there is not enough water or the water is very expensive. The water-cooled chillers have water cooled condenser connected with cooling tower and are usually preferred for medium and large installations where there is sufficiency of water. In addition, they are also preferred in cases that is demanded constant performance of the system, independently of the ambient temperature (industrial air conditioning, air conditioning of digital systems etc), because the capacity of the water-cooled chillers are not affected by the ambient temperature fluctuations.

A commonly asked question is what chiller is the best, air cooled or water cooled. The answer to that question is that there is no one perfect chiller for all applications. There are many aspects that come into effect when choosing what chiller would be best for a building and its cooling system.

Space is one of these issues. Air cooled chillers can utilize open space, such as a parking lot, roof or ground level area. Water cooled chillers are smaller in size, but require a mechanical room and cooling towers. On the flip side, air cooled chillers can have serious issues with recirculation if there are walls higher than the unit or too many units to close together. If there is a situation where outside walls are required for building code and the unit will not be receiving enough fresh air, then a water cooled application may be the best option.

Sound is another issue than may come into the equation. With any chiller sound is inevitable, air cooled chillers generally have a different decibel because of their fans. There are things that can be done to reduce the sound on chillers, but the best way to negate the sound is to purchase a quieter unit upon decision.

When it comes time to install a new chiller, these points should help in that field. There are many advantages and disadvantages to both kinds of chillers and some of those are listed below:

Air Cooled Advantages                                 

• Install cost is generally lower
• Less Maintenance depending on application
• No need for a mechanical room
• Cooling Tower not needed
• Condenser pumps not required

 

Water Cooled Advantages

• Usually have a longer life
• Higher efficiency
• Indoor placement
• Larger tonnage capabilities
• Refrigeration containment

 

Air Cooled Disadvantages

• Generally less efficient
• Life span is not as long
• Usually have more operating noise

 

Water Cooled Disadvantages

• Additional maintenance costs
• Water treatment costs
• Mechanical room needed

After many months of planning, March 2015 marked a monumental moment in the history of Whaley Products, Inc.  A new era of Whaley equipment quality and consistency emerges as WHALE-SOFT™ Testing Software was launched and became a standard manufacturing procedure.

Whaley describes its new testing system to include the following procedures:

• Each chiller system receives the following tests to ensure quality & consistency:

o   Test #1:  The chiller system’s refrigerant circuit is vacuum tested for 4 hours to negative PSIG pressure.

o   Test #2:  The chiller system’s refrigerant circuit is nitrogen tested to a minimum of 40psi for at least 30 minutes to confirm it is leak-free.

• If a leak is found, the leak is repaired, and a new 30 minute nitrogen leak test is completed until a successful 30 minute nitrogen leak test is achieved.

o   Test #3:  The chiller system’s hydronic circuit is ran through a simulated WATER ONLY circulation loop at its rated flow rate for 5 minutes.

• If a leak is found, the leak is repaired, and a new 5 minute leak test is completed until a successful 5 minute leak test is achieved.

o   Test #4:  The complete chiller system is ran through a simulated heat load circulation loop for 10 minutes to confirm the chiller system cools the loop sufficiently.  If the chiller system is a dual circuit system (20ton chiller with 2each 10ton refrigerant circuits), then each refrigerant circuit is tested for 10 minutes independently to confirm that each of the refrigerant circuits are functioning properly.

• There are two separate heat load run testing stations.  The difference in the two is the type of heat transfer fluid the client’s chiller system will utilize.  The first is for straight-water applications only, and the second is for glycol applications.  A food-grade propylene glycol is utilized in the glycol testing station, and is maintained at 45% to 50% at all times.  If a client desires for their unit to be tested down to a specific fluid temperature, Whaley runs the chiller system or longer than 10minutes (if necessary), to achieve the lower fluid temperature.  The minimum for water is 40 degF, and the minimum for glycol is 10 degF, for standard R-410A refrigeration systems.  Whaley also offers alternative refrigerant systems for lower than 5F leaving glycol temperature.

A microprocessor interface is utilized in order to receive test data from a variety of sensor input from the simulation circulation test loops.  The test data streams live in the WHALE-SOFT™ Testing Software environment, and testing certificates in addition to start/end image screen shots of the software showing time stamps are provided to the customer for proof that their equipment was fully tested, demonstrating its full functional operation.

Below you will see an example of the WHALE-SOFT™ Testing Software interface.

For years Whaley has manufactured water cooled chiller equipment on primarily a design and build-to-order basis.  January 2015 Whaley launched its new SW and SWE Series packaged and modular water cooled chiller product lines.  After years of designing and engineering to meet a myriad of custom client needs, Whaley developed its SW and SWE product lines with flexibility in mind.

These systems utilize high efficient Copeland Scroll compressors and stainless steel brazed plate evaporators and condensers.  Upgraded evaporator and condensers are available as an option.

Both standard lines range from 1 Ton to 80 Ton, however higher capacity systems can be designed.

For the SWE Series line, multiple chiller modules can be plumbed in parallel for as much capacity and redundancy is needed.  Additionally, the SWE Series Modular Chillers are the smallest footprint in the industry in all size ranges.

Other options include material upgrades, control and monitoring upgrades, partial-loading/staging redundancy upgrades, custom mounting, or custom layout of components to meet space restrictions, etc.