Chapter 2

Chiller and Cooling Tower

Often used to cool a building's air and equipment, especially in
situations where many individual rooms must be controlled
separately, such as a hotel.
 Water chillers are used in a variety of air conditioning and
process cooling applications.

They are used to make cold water that can be transported

throughout a facility using pumps and pipes.

This cold water can be passed through the tubes of coils to

cool the air in an air conditioning application, or it can
provide cooling for a manufacturing or industrial process.

Systems that employ water chillers are commonly called

chilled-water systems.
 Chilled water systems are used in many buildings for
cooling because of their flexibility and operating cost
compared with direct expansion (DX) cooling coil
systems.

Typically chilled water is generated at a central location

by one or more chillers and distributed to coils in air
handling system.

The quantity and temperature of the water supplied

must be sufficient to meet the needs of all fan systems.
 A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid via a
vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration cycle.

Chilled water is typically distributed to heat exchangers,

or coils, in air handling units (AHU) or other types of terminal
devices (fan coil unit, FCU) which cool the air in their
respective space(s).

Then the water is re-circulated back to the chiller to be cooled

again.
 The cooling coils transfer heat from the air to the chilled water,
thus cooling and usually dehumidifying the air stream.

A typical chiller for air conditioning applications is rated

between 15 and 1500 tons (180,000 to 18,000,000 BTU/h or
53 to 5,300 kW) in cooling capacity.

Chilled water temperatures can range from 35 to 45 degrees

Fahrenheit (1.5 to 7 degrees Celsius), depending upon
application requirements.
 Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer
process waste heat to the atmosphere.

Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to

remove process heat and cool the working fluid.

The condenser water absorbs heat from the refrigerant in the

condenser barrel of the water chiller, and is then sent via return
lines to a cooling tower (heat exchanger used to transfer waste
heat to the atmosphere).
 Types of Maintenance
Water chemistry - minimize the effects of scale,
corrosion and micro-biological / debris fouling.

Mechanical maintenance - proper lubrication,

adequate liquid refrigerant (freon, ammonia), oil
levels and pump curve tests.

Operational procedures - oil analysis, calibration of

gauges and meters
 Chiller Maintenance
Inspect the chiller as recommended by the chiller manufacturer. Typically,
this should be done at least quarterly.
Routinely check refrigerant and inspect for refrigerant leaks.
Check compressor operating pressures.
Check all oil levels and pressures.
Check motor voltages and amps for balanced loading.
Check all electrical starters, contactors and relays.
Check un-loader operation.
Check water flow rates.
Review water chemistry to ensure proper heat transfer.
Review cooling tower operation.
 Safety Controls
When an unsafe condition exists, the compressor should stop
automatically. Safety cutout controls may have automatic or manual
reset and include the following:

a. High condenser pressure.

b. Low refrigerant pressure or temperature.
c. Back-up for the low chilled water temperature controller (on some
reciprocating chillers).
d. High motor temperature.
e. Motor overload.
f. Low oil pressure.
g. Low oil sump temperature.
h. High oil sump temperature.
i. Chilled water flow interlock.
j. Condenser water flow interlock.