A chiller is one of the most
important electrical appliances, which can easily be spotted in any building or
an industrial setup. There are three basic types of chillers, namely air-cooled
chillers, water-cooled chillers, and evaporated condensed chillers. However, no
one spares a minute to talk about the key components that combine to form a
chiller.
Let’s take a look at the main
components of a chiller and what they do.
Compressor
The compressor is the most
important component of a chiller. Its job is to ensure the movement of the
refrigerant throughout the system. A compressor is placed between the
evaporator and the condenser. It has an electric motor as the driving force,
which is either mounted outside or placed internally.
Condenser
A condenser is located close to
the expansion valve and compressor. The
job of the condenser is to remove the heat from the refrigerant that is picked
up in the evaporator. Condensers
normally come in two types, i.e. air-cooled condensers and water-cooled
condensers.
Expansion Valve
The expansion valve expands the
refrigerant and increases its volume, which allows the refrigerant to pick up
heat in the evaporator. There are different types of expansion valves, but the
most common type is the thermal expansion valve which is pilot operated.
Evaporator
An evaporator is used to pick up
heat from the building and send it to the refrigerant so that it can be sent to
the cooling tower. An evaporator is located between the compressor and the
expansion valve. The water is cooled
when the heat is extracted. This chilled water is sent throughout the building
for the provision of air conditioning. Then, the chilled water returns to the
evaporator with heat from the building.
Power Unit
The power unit is another crucial
component of the chiller that controls the supply of electricity to the
chiller. It can either be mounted to the chiller or to the plant room wall
along with the power cables. A power unit comprises of a circuit breaker,
starter, speed controller, and power monitoring equipment.
Water Boxes
Water boxes are mounted to the
evaporators and condensers in a water-cooled chiller. A water box directs the
flow and separates the entrance from the exit. A water box has around 1 or 2
entrance and exit holes, depending upon the number of passes in the evaporator
and condenser.
Control Unit
A control unit is mounted to the
chiller. It monitors the efficiency of the chiller and makes certain
adjustments if things are not going the way they should. Control units have
alarms for the safety teams, and instant system shutting options in the case of
an emergency.
The overall performance of a
chiller depends heavily upon sooth functioning of each of the above mentioned
components. Without any one of them, the chiller will seize to perform the way
it should. For help and information
regarding chillers, feel free to visit our website.