CHICAGO (Aug. 7, 4:40 p.m. EDT) — Thermal Care Inc. of Niles, Ill., rolled out an air-cooled version of its energy-saving TC Series central chiller line with an oil-free compressor. A water-cooled version was commercialized in 2004.
“When you have a refrigeration circuit without oil, you can run the condenser temperature very low in winter when it gets cold,” Tom Benson, vice president of sales and marketing, said at NPE in Chicago.
“By having no oil, maintenance is dramatically reduced,” he said. “Someone running 4,000 pounds an hour in the Chicagoland area could be saving about $50,000 [per year] in energy costs vs. other kinds of chillers. Energy savings of up to 70 percent are not unrealistic, depending on the existing chilling system being used.”