High Condenser Approach in Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller
High Condenser Approach in Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller
(OP)
Hi to all
I am aware of the fact that high condenser approach is caused due to fouled condenser tubes and/or low water flow in a shell and tube condenser of a water cooled centrifugal chiller. Are there, any other reasons for the high condenser approach?. Would like to get the experts view on this subject.
Thanks in advance.
I am aware of the fact that high condenser approach is caused due to fouled condenser tubes and/or low water flow in a shell and tube condenser of a water cooled centrifugal chiller. Are there, any other reasons for the high condenser approach?. Would like to get the experts view on this subject.
Thanks in advance.





RE: High Condenser Approach in Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller
RE: High Condenser Approach in Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller
If this is a high pressure machine I would look at the condenser tube fouling first, but remember that sloppy maintainance can result in air getting into a high pressure machine too.
Another way to verify air in a machine requires you to shut down the machine as well as the chilled and condenser water pumps for several hours and let the temperatures in the machine to equalize to ambient. The saturation temperatures of the refrigerant should match the internal water temperatures. This is hard to do if you only have one ciller in the system.
I'm not a real engineer, but I play one on T.V.
A.J. Gest, York Int./JCI
RE: High Condenser Approach in Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller
Although they will be phased out by 2020, low-pressure chillers are still commonly used. Their evaporators operate in a vacuum and use either CFC-11 (now phased out) or the alternative, HCFC-123. It is difficult to create a perfectly sealed unit, so non-condensables (air and moisture) leak into the chiller. Non-condensables create two problems
1. In that they offer no refrigeration effect, even though the compressor uses energy to move them. At the same time, they can blanket tubes with air, preventing them from doing any heat exchange work.
2. Non-condensables also contain moisture, which causes acids to form within the chiller. These acids can damage motor windings and bearings. In addition, non-condensables lower the real efficiency of the chiller from the rated performance by as much as 8% at 60% load and 14% at 100% load.