Water-Cooled Configuration
The Water-Cooled Configuration provides an alternative to conventional air-cooled heat rejection for compatible ATC chillers.
Rather than rejecting process heat into the surrounding air through an air-cooled condenser, the Water-Cooled configuration transfers heat to a suitable facility chilled water supply.
This can provide a practical solution where reducing heat rejection into the surrounding environment is desirable or where the installation is better suited to integration with an existing facility chilled water system.
A Water-Cooled Configuration may be suitable where:
- A suitable facility chilled water system is available
- Reducing heat rejection into the surrounding environment is desirable
- Lower operating noise is beneficial
- The installation is subject to high ambient temperatures
- A water-cooled solution is preferable for integration into the wider facility
Because heat is transferred to the facility water supply rather than directly into the surrounding air, this configuration can be particularly useful in enclosed or temperature-controlled environments where additional heat from an air-cooled chiller would be undesirable.
Water-cooled configurations may also provide an alternative approach for installations subject to elevated ambient temperatures.
Air-cooled chillers rely on the surrounding air to reject heat, meaning that their performance can be affected as ambient temperature increases. A Water-Cooled Configuration instead uses the facility chilled water supply for heat rejection, reducing the chiller’s dependence on ambient air conditions.
Whether a Water-Cooled or High-Ambient configuration is more appropriate will depend on the installation, available facility services, and required operating conditions.
Installation Considerations
A suitable facility chilled water supply is required for the Water-Cooled Configuration. The available facility water temperature, flow, and pressure should therefore be considered when specifying the system.
The configuration also requires appropriate connections between the chiller and the facility chilled water circuit.
Requirements can vary between installations, so facility water conditions should be confirmed as part of chiller selection.
The Water-Cooled Configuration is available on selected ATC chiller models and forms part of the chiller specification rather than being supplied as a separate accessory.
Water-Cooled and High-Ambient configurations cannot be combined. The appropriate configuration should therefore be selected according to the application’s operating environment and available facility services.
If you are considering a Water-Cooled Configuration, speak to the ATC team about your process cooling requirements and available facility chilled water supply so that we can help to identify an appropriate configuration.
