Process cooling of air-cooled refrigeration systems

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA, Recklinghausen (Germany)

On the roofs of the production halls, a high-pressure nozzle system cools the ambient air of the chillers in a targeted manner, thus ensuring trouble-free operation of the hall cooling system even in summer.

Additional process cooling

For the circulation cooling of the HELLA production halls, air-cooled refrigeration systems are used on the roofs as chillers. The connected water circuit circulates cold water, which absorbs the process heat from the halls and returns it to the chiller's refrigerant at higher temperatures. The heat is released into the air via the compressed refrigerant and the water is cooled again in a closed circuit. "In the past hot summers, there have been more frequent functional failures of the refrigeration systems because the refrigerant could no longer be sufficiently liquefied in the condensers due to the heat on the roofs. On the recommendation of Condair Systems, we have installed an additional air humidification system since 2021 only for the process cooling of the refrigeration systems on the roofs. Since then, the circulation cooling system has also been working smoothly in summer," explains Thomas Hering, Head of Technical Service at HELLA.

Efficient and robust

The installed Condair ML Flex System air humidification system is operated by a high-pressure pump and cools the ambient air of the chiller in a targeted manner via a nozzle string made of stainless steel. 100 litres of water from the robust high-pressure nozzle humidification absorb around 70 kW of heat with only 0.6 kW of energy consumption. The cooling of the production halls is thus ensured because the adiabatic cooling effect prevents the refrigerant from compressing too much, even in summer.

"On the recommendation of Condair Systems, we have installed an additional air humidification system since 2021 only for the process cooling of the refrigeration systems on the roofs. Since then, the circulation cooling system has also been working smoothly in summer."

Condair in Action

Projects and references

Argelith Bodenkeramik H. Bitter GmbH, Bad Essen (Germany)

Argelith Bodenkeramik H. Bitter GmbH (Bad Essen) is one of the world's leading companies as a manufacturer of high-quality industrial tiles. In order to reduce the high heat loads caused by the thermal processes of production, the company uses direct room air humidification.

Argelith Bodenkeramik H. Bitter GmbH, Bad Essen - Germany

Bischof&Klein GmbH&Co. KG, Konzell (Germany)

Less electrostatics, a targeted cooling effect and additional protection against virus transmission are the most important advantages of controlled humidity for Bischof + Klein. Since 2016, the plastics processing company in Konzell, Lower Bavaria, has been using direct room air humidification with high-pressure nozzles.

Bischof + Klein, Konzell - Germany