UNCOVERING THE LAYERS
production of Turbocor compressors and
further refining the technology.
With take-up growing across the world,
manufacturers of traditional cooling
compressors are now looking to develop
their own magnetic levitation-based
compact centrifugal systems. However,
as often with disruptive technology, it is
a steep research and development curve
and requires very substantial investment.
Tim Mitchell, Sales Director, Klima-Therm
service visits to maintain. The fact that
it is compatible with efficient and stable
low Global Warming Potential (GWP) HFO
refrigerants is a further major plus for data
centre operators looking to future-proof
themselves against legislative changes.
It is a classic example of a disruptive
technology rewriting the rules. The early
sceptics have been proved decisively
wrong. With the technology well-proven,
multi-million-pound investments are
constantly being made in expanding
Early adopters are already working on the
next generation of systems, which take
the gains delivered by Turbocor-based
systems to the next level. A stand-alone
compact centrifugal compressor is already
highly efficient and the opportunities
for wringing further efficiency gains are
inherently limited. However, there are
significant opportunities for improving
efficiency in terms of the overall chiller
design and the performance of other key
system components.
outstanding efficiency of Turbocor-based
chillers, it can be selected to deliver
the multiple benefits of energy saving,
lower noise, or smaller footprint in the
proportions dictated by the project
specific requirements. If the system is
fully optimised for energy efficiency, it can
create the most efficient dry air-cooled
chiller in the world.
This has been made possible by replacing
the traditional flat coils with cylindrical
condensers. By packing more active heat
exchange surface into a given space, the
Heat exchangers are a key area of interest.
For example, the recently introduced,
multiple award-winning Althermo CMR
is a new design of condenser heat
exchangers. Coupled with the already
heat exchange capacity of the Althermo
CMR cylindrical microchannel condensers
is increased by 45% compared with
traditional condensers. Combine this with
the use of flooded, falling-film or spray
type evaporators in a cascade system and
there is currently no more efficient way to
mechanically cool while using a low-risk,
high-resilience dry system.
Importantly, this improvement in
performance is achieved without increasing
the chiller footprint, enabling more
cooling capacity in a given space, while
significantly reducing energy consumption.
With rooftop and plant room space often
at a premium in new and refurbishment
projects, this offers a major advantage
over both conventional chillers and
standard Turbocor-based machines.
The use of a cascade system with flooded,
falling-film or spray type evaporators
helps reduce the temperature difference
between evaporation temperature and
outlet temperature of the chilled water.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
Issue 06
63