Frigel North America Inc. (Booths W193 and S14085) now features digital controls on its Microgel chiller/temperature control units.
The controls allow a user to capture energy consumption data. The ability to display and record historical process cooling energy data is an industry first, according to Frigel.
Also, Frigel has added a CT option enabling its Microgel chiller/TCUs to work seamlessly with open cooling towers.
The configurable option allows plastics processors to filter out potential contaminants before the open-cooling tower water reaches a Microgel unit. Viewable at Booth W193, the CT option is available on the Microgel RCM, RCD and RCX models.
The advancements for the Microgel line of chiller/TCUs are designed to give plastics processors an advantage in today's increasingly competitive industry, said Al Fosco, marketing manager for Frigel North America in East Dundee, Ill.
Other chiller/TCU advances include external temperature sensors complementing internal sensors; variable frequency drives on the unit's pumps to maximize efficiency and minimize energy consumption; and digital flow meters for optimal performance based on the characteristics of each mold.
Initially, Frigel introduced its Microgel chiller/TCU line in the late 1990s in what it describes as a first-of-its-kind machine with a chiller and one or two TCUs in a compact unit. Frigel began development of the CT option in mid-2017.
Previously, Frigel recommended the use of Microgel units only with an Ecodry central cooling system, which has a closed-loop, clean-water arrangement.
In addition to the Microgel innovations, at Booth W193 Frigel will display its Ecodry BWR water recovery system now available on the Ecodry closed-loop adiabatic cooler, its Turbogel TCUs with enhancements and its high-water temperature HB-Therm TCUs. The company's Diamond Service Learning Center will show how Frigel's technologies and scientific approach to process cooling can optimize a processor's productivity.
Frigel's Bottle Zone exhibit (Booth S14085) will display the Microgel RCP chiller to meet the demands of high-speed, high-volume bottling and blow molding requirements and, separately, a high-speed cap cooler unit.
Parent firm Frigel Firenze SpA is based near Florence, Italy.