Chiller Capacity Control

Chillers come in a variety of capacities and configurations.  The following is a review of a specific aspect of chiller design known as capacity control.  The type of capacity control used has a direct impact on a chiller’s operation as well as the technology incorporated into its design. This page will discuss the following:

1. The basic concepts and terminology associated with chillers and their capacity ratings.
2. Common scenarios that drive the type of control incorporated into a chiller’s design. 
3. Detail the various control designs available and their effects on operation and efficiency.

The first concept to understand is a chiller’s rated capacity.  Nominal conditions frame the ratings for chillers.  These conditions detail the setpoint and condenser temperatures, and directly impact the chiller’s ability to reject heat from the system.  Typically, for industrial process chillers, a nominal rating uses 50°F setpoint and 95°F ambient air for air-cooled chillers (or 85°F condenser water for water-cooled chillers).   The rating uses “tons” as the unit of measurement.  This is not the same “tons” associated with 2,000 lbs, but there is a connection.  A cooling “ton” is based upon the amount of energy required to melt 2,000 lbs of ice, or 1 ton, in 24 hours.  A cooling ton is equal to 12,000 Btu/hr.  When a chiller is described as a 5 ton unit, it can provide 60,000 Btu/hr of heat rejection when supplying 50°F coolant in 95°F ambient air.

Another concept to understand is load versus capacity.  The load, often referred to as the heat load or cooling load, is the amount of energy the chiller is required to remove from the system.  A chiller is installed to cool a process, such as an injection mold, which generates the heat.  The chiller circulates the coolant to the process, transfers the heat from the process, and then delivers the now warmer coolant back to the chiller.  The chiller removes the energy from the coolant and ultimately rejects it from the system.  The chiller’s capacity must be greater than or equal to the process’s heat generation.  If it is not, the chiller is only able to remove a portion of the energy, and the balance remains in the coolant.  This will eventually lead to increased coolant temperatures because of an accumulation of energy in the system.  Higher temperatures like this can affect how the process operates and also even shut it down completely.  When this happens, the chiller is undersized.  Conversely, there is an oversized chiller.  This occurs when the chiller’s capacity is greater than the load.  A scenario like this leads to the main topic of this article, capacity control. 

If a chiller is oversized, to prevent the system from overcooling, capacity controls need to be included.  Overcooling will drive the coolant temperature below the desired setpoint and will negatively affect a process’s ability to operate.  The process will produce unsatisfactory product or even shutdown. 

For chillers that are limited to one or two compressors, new technologies can actively adjust capacity while also saving energy.  A digital scroll compressor operates in two states – the loaded state and unloaded state.  In the loaded state, the compressor operates like a standard scroll at full capacity.  In the unloaded state, there is no compression or no capacity.  Controlling between these two states, loaded/unloaded, the compressor earns its “digital” name.  By physically separating the scrolls in the compressor, it will move from loaded to unloaded and back.  The amount of time spent in each of these two states modulates the capacity of the chiller.  With no compression, the compressor consumes much less energy while remaining on.  This avoids the cycling issues mentioned earlier.

The leading technology for capacity control is a true variable speed design.  The chiller’s controller constantly monitors the heat load.  Using a variable speed drive, it adjusts the compressor speed for peak efficiency, temperature control, and eliminates the need for hot gas bypass.  By automatically adjusting the speed, the chiller only works as hard as necessary to provide the optimum performance with significantly reduced energy consumption.  Studies have shown that a 20% reduction in compressor speed can lead to a 51% energy savings.  This solution encompasses the best performance and protections for the system available today.