What do I gain with a low-charge chiller?

Name: Low-charge chillers · Dry chillers
Brand: FRIMONT

Less refrigerant in the installation: lower risk in a leak, lower charge and top-up cost, and a plant with no refrigerant in work areas. In exchange there is one more heat-transfer stage, offset by careful temperature and pumping design.

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Chillers and liquid chillers

Low-charge chillers · Dry chillers

Chillers with the smallest possible refrigerant charge: cooling reaches the plant through water, glycol, aqueous solutions or pumped CO₂, from +20 °C down to −50 °C.

See cold rooms with secondary fluid

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Technical documentation

Ammonia chiller with control panel — Compact chiller in a machine room.

Applications

What it solves.

Beyond choosing refrigerants in line with the recommendations of international organizations, we design systems with the smallest possible charge. The refrigerant stays in a compact dry-expansion chiller and the cooling is distributed by a secondary fluid: water, glycol or aqueous solutions for low and very low temperature, or pumped CO₂. This lets us work from about 20 °C down to −50 °C, depending on what each system needs.

Processes and cold rooms that need cooling far from the machine room, without taking refrigerant into production areas.
Ammonia installations looking to reduce charge and simplify safety.
Freezing and storage at very low temperature with pumped CO₂.

Meat processing plants Food and beverage Cold logistics centers

Configurations

A configuration tailored to your application.

Technical selection defines the equipment and its integration with the process.

Dry expansion, minimum charge

The refrigerant works in a compact plate or shell-and-plate heat exchanger with dry expansion. The charge is a fraction of that of a flooded system and stays inside the chiller, with ammonia, CO₂ or another low-GWP refrigerant.

Secondary fluid to the plant

Cooling reaches the consumers through water, glycol or an aqueous solution. Neither the refrigerant nor its piping enters production areas or places where people work.

Pumped CO₂ for very low temperature

In very low temperature systems, liquid CO₂ can replace aqueous solutions: it is pumped to the evaporators, partly evaporates and returns to the chiller, which condenses it. Because it uses latent heat, it moves less flow, with smaller pipes and less pumping energy.

Technical data

Reference values.

Secondary fluids

Indicative fluid temperature ranges; the actual limit depends on concentration and design.

Fluid	Temperature (approx.)	Advantage	Main precaution
Water	+20 to +4 °C	Simple, inexpensive and very good heat transfer	Not usable below 0 °C
Water with glycol (propylene or ethylene glycol)	+5 to −25 °C	Easy to operate; propylene glycol is food-safe	Viscosity rises as it gets colder
Salt solutions (potassium formate, calcium chloride)	−20 to −40 °C	Lower viscosity than glycol at low temperature	Corrosion: materials and solution control
Pumped CO₂ (R-744)	−30 to −50 °C	Changes phase: less flow and smaller pipes	High pressure, also at standstill

The fluid is chosen together with the temperature at each consumer, the distances and the pumping energy.

Selection

How we define the solution for your process.

We start from what you need to achieve and your facility conditions. We guide you through defining requirements and selecting an appropriate configuration. You do not need to have all this data to start the conversation.

What we evaluate during technical definition

Temperature and heat load: Temperature required at each consumer, capacity and demand variations.
Distribution: Distances, number of consumers and pumping energy of the secondary fluid.
Safety: Refrigerant charge, chiller location and separation between the machine room and occupied areas.

Documentation

Technical documentation.

Request technical documentation for the configuration required by your process. Tell us about your application and operating conditions to guide the inquiry.

Request technical documentation

Engineering and integration

Scope is defined with you.

From equipment selection to integration, installation, and commissioning, we agree on what the project needs and how it connects to your facility. Control systems and after-sales service are integral parts of that conversation.

What we can undertake