Refrigeration – Chiller Theory

Centrifugal chillers are used in medium- and large-sized buildings to provide comfort cooling. Many of them use the vapor compression refrigeration cycle to produce chilled water that is pumped to AHUs and FCUs located in various spaces around the building. Afterwards, the chilled water returns to the chiller unit, where it is re-cooled, and the process is repeated. Chiller systems are sized to handle the amount of heat that is generated inside a facility. However, cooling loads vary during the day as well as seasonally, and they can change over time as facility uses change. This can make chiller sizing challenging. An undersized system will not be able to be keep up and water temperatures will fluctuate, while an oversized system will cost more initially and not run efficiently. This course defines several chiller performance parameters, including capacity, delta T, and several efficiency factors, and it explains why they are important. It also lists items that should be checked during startups and capacity modulation techniques used during normal operations to ensure the safe efficient operation of chiller systems.

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Course Details

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Define performance parameters for chiller systems, including capacity, delta T, kW/ton, EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio), and COP (Coefficient of Performance)
  • Describe techniques that can be used to adjust chiller capacity to meet varying cooling loads
  • List freeze protection and de-icing methods for cooling towers
  • Identify items that should be checked on chiller systems before startups

Specs

Course Level Advanced
Languages English
Compatibility Audio, Video, MobileReady, Responsive

Joelle Scheldorf

Author

Joelle is a Chemical Engineer with a BS from the University of Washington and an MS from the University of Idaho. She worked as a Process Engineer at an integrated pulp and paper mill, an Instructor at the University of Washington, and a WinGEMS Simulation Software Engineer and Trainer before joining Convergence Training in 2006.

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