What is a Chiller? – How They Work & Why You Need One

But, what is a chiller? If your building uses a chiller to keep the facility, equipment, or materials at a certain temperature, you should know what a chiller is and how it functions.

This list is everchanging, growing, and adaptable just like our chillers. We pride ourselves on creating custom solutions to your unique problem. If you need a custom industrial chiller, call GCI Refrigeration Technologies at 225-926-6950 and get started with a new custom solution.  

What is a Chiller, and What Does it Do?

The answer to the “what is a chiller” question can be found when looking at the function of one. Process chillers remove heat from one location, which is usually the process equipment or the actual product medium, to another destination. This location is usually outside the facility and away from all processes to maintain efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Chillers commonly use a water/glycol solution to remove heat, transfer the fluid through the industrial process, and recirculate to form a cooling loop explicitly designed for the industrial process. This allows chillers to utilize a reservoir and pump system built into one turnkey solution.

Why Do You Need a Chiller?

In the realm of real-world physics that we are bound by, nothing is 100% efficient. No motor, machine, or process can prevent energy lost to heat or work. If this heat is not removed from the system, the process becomes slow, inefficient, and cost-heavy over time. Nobody wants to shut down their plant for maintenance or equipment failure. Without process cooling, the industry would be plagued with issues.

Our Icewagon Chillers provide constant temperature and pressure control over your industrial process. With our chiller handling this process, you can rest easy knowing that our Icewagon keeps your industry safe and efficient. Simply stated, the answer to “what is a chiller?” and “what does it do?” is to control temperature and pressure for efficiency. Contact GCI Refrigeration today to learn what our chillers can do for your industrial process.

How Does a Chiller Work?

Now that we have established what a chiller is and why you might need one, you might wonder how it all works. A pumping system usually circulates cold water or glycol-water solution out of the chiller into the industrial process. The cooling medium from the chiller then removes heat from the process and the medium. The medium, now heated, returns to the chiller to reenter the cooling loop and back to the industrial process. This cooling is achieved with a chemical compound of HFC (hydrofluorocarbons)refrigerants.

There are many different refrigerants that all serve a purpose towards unique application-based or temperature-based processes. They all boil down to the same principle of compression and phase change of the refrigerant from liquid to gas and gas to liquid. This cycle of heating and cooling is the crux of the refrigeration cycle.

This cycle begins with a low-pressure liquid/gas mixture entering the evaporator. Next, heat from the process solution boils the refrigerant, which changes it from a low-pressure liquid to a low-pressure gas which then enters the compressor to become a high-temperature and high-pressure gas.

Then it enters the condenser where the ambient air or, if this is a water chiller, the condenser water, removes the heat to cool it to a high-pressure liquid which then travels to the expansion valve which regulates the amount of liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator. This cycle loops repeatedly to provide the consistent temperature and pressure required for the industrial process.

What Chiller is Right For You? – Contact GCI Refrigeration Today

Knowing what a chiller is and does, you know what to look for when ordering a custom-built chiller. Contact GCI Refrigeration today, tell us about your requirements, and start working on your custom solution. Call us at 225-926-6950 today for a chiller that meets your facility’s needs.