Air-cooled industrial chillers
The air-cooled chiller is a self-contained package — compressor, evaporator, air-cooled condenser, controls and pipework in one frame. No cooling tower, no condenser water circuit, no water treatment. Power it, connect the chilled water loop, and it is running.
- Capacity — 10 kW to 3,000 kW
- Compressor — screw and scroll options
- Temperature range — +40°C to −40°C
- Heat rejection — air-cooled, no cooling water required
- Construction — heavy-duty industrial
Air-cooled suits sites without cooling water, where the chiller can sit outdoors with clear air around it, and where the capital simplicity of no tower justifies the slightly higher condensing temperature on peak-ambient days.
The temperature range deserves attention. +40°C to −40°C on one platform means the same chiller family covers process cooling at +7°C, cold storage glycol loops at −5°C, and deep-chill duties at −35°C — different compressor staging, same architecture. That range is unusually wide for a packaged chiller and removes the need to change platforms as the duty gets colder.
Water-cooled industrial chillers
Water-cooled chillers pair with shell-and-tube condensers and reject heat to a cooling tower or a process water return. The result is a lower, more stable condensing temperature — quieter operation, a more compact footprint than an equivalent air-cooled unit, and higher efficiency under sustained load.
Choose water-cooled when cooling water already exists on site, when the chiller installs indoors with no outdoor space, when noise is a constraint, or when the load is large enough and continuous enough for the tower to justify its own operating cost.
Screw and scroll compressor options apply here too, selected against the duty profile. Scroll suits smaller duties and applications with frequent start-stop. Screw suits larger continuous loads where part-load efficiency through slide-valve unloading matters.
Heat pumps — industrial
A heat pump moves heat from a low-temperature source to a higher-temperature sink using the same refrigeration cycle a chiller runs, but with both sides doing useful work. The evaporator cools (chilling a process stream, for example) while the condenser heats (producing hot water).
On a dairy that needs chilled water at +4°C and hot water at +60°C simultaneously, a heat pump delivers both from one energy input — saving up to 70% of the energy that separate chilling and boiler heating would consume.
The 70% figure is not marketing. A heat pump with a COP of 3.5 delivers 3.5 kW of heating for every 1 kW of electrical input. An electric boiler delivers 1:1. The gap is the heat the cycle collects from the source side for free.
Heat pumps — domestic 60°C
A compact unit delivering hot water up to 60°C for homes, villas, gyms, hospitals and commercial buildings. Available from 6 to 35 kW on 220V or 400V supply.
The domestic heat pump is a different market from the rest of this page, and we are transparent about that. Industrial refrigeration is our core. We offer the domestic unit because the technology is the same, the manufacturing is in-house, and there is genuine demand from hospitality and healthcare clients who already buy our commercial equipment and ask whether we do water heating too.
If your requirement is purely domestic hot water with no commercial refrigeration context, a dedicated heat pump manufacturer may serve you better on after-sales coverage. If you are already a Prime Coil customer or your building has both a process cooling need and a hot water need, the combination is where the value sits.
Screw or scroll — choosing the compressor
Scroll compressors suit smaller duties — typically below about 100 kW — and applications with frequent cycling. They are simpler, have fewer wearing parts, and tolerate liquid return better than a screw.
Screw compressors suit larger, continuously loaded duties. Their slide-valve unloading gives smooth part-load capacity from 100% down to about 25% without cycling, which matters on process loads that vary through the day. Above about 200 kW, screw is usually the only practical option.
Between 100 kW and 200 kW either works, and the choice follows the load profile more than the capacity. A steady load favours screw; a variable or intermittent load favours scroll or multiple scrolls with staging.
Where chillers sit alongside direct systems
A chiller is not a replacement for direct refrigeration — it is a different architecture. Direct expansion puts the evaporator in the room and the refrigerant reaches the load. A chiller keeps the refrigerant inside the package and sends a secondary fluid to the load.
Choose direct when the load is a cold room or freezer with a small number of large evaporators close to the plant. Choose a chiller when the load is distributed — multiple zones, long pipe runs, process equipment with jacketed vessels — or when safety considerations mean the refrigerant should not enter occupied areas.
Our evaporator and unit cooler range covers the direct side, and our condensing units power them. This chiller range covers the secondary side.
