• Air-cooled chillers typically feature a rectangular shape with electrical control panels located either at one end or in the middle of the unit, often with separate high-voltage and low-voltage compartments.
• Condenser coils are positioned in the upper section of the chiller with fans mounted above them, drawing air through the coils and rejecting heat upward into the atmosphere.
• Condenser coil configurations vary widely across manufacturers, including vertical V-shapes, side slabs, bottom row arrangements, or multiple V-banks arranged across the chiller's length.
• Compressors may be mounted directly to the frame (most common), positioned on top of the evaporator, or installed on elevated platforms depending on the manufacturer and specific model design.
• The evaporator is almost always mounted at the frame level in the bottom section of the unit, providing the foundation for the refrigerant circuit design.
• Many air-cooled chillers incorporate economizer circuits to enhance efficiency, with components typically mounted at the frame level alongside oil separators and other auxiliary equipment.
• Some air-cooled chillers include integrated pump packages (single or dual configuration) within the frame, serving as dedicated primary pumps that interface with secondary building loops.
• Remote condenser configurations allow the main chiller components to be installed indoors while the condensers are mounted externally, similar to supermarket refrigeration systems.
• Remote evaporator designs position the shell-and-tube heat exchanger closer to the load source while maintaining the condensing section in its original location, though with some efficiency losses.
• Process chillers represent a specialized subset of air-cooled chillers, typically smaller in capacity (5-20 tons) and designed for specific industrial applications like CNC machines, CT scanners, or manufacturing equipment.
• Process chillers often incorporate insulated fluid tanks with immersed evaporator tube bundles and integrated circulation pumps to maintain precise temperature control for specialized applications.
• Microchannels have increasingly replaced traditional tube-and-fin condenser coils in modern designs, though early implementations with R-134a refrigerant experienced significant leak issues with certain manufacturers.

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