Packaged Components Promise Flexibility, Lower Install Costs
“Years ago, everything was basically custom, but today you’re seeing lots of people packaging equipment and some of that has packaged components. Look at a valve. It used to be you had to buy six to eight components for a valve group. The manufacturers have gotten that down to a convenient assembly.”
-Bob Czarnecki, chairman of the IIAR standards committee and a retired refrigeration program manager at Campbell Soup Co.
“Years ago, everything was basically custom, but today you’re seeing lots of people packaging equipment and some of that has packaged components,” said Bob Czarnecki, chairman of the IIAR standards committee and a retired refrigeration program manager at Campbell Soup Co. “Look at a valve. It used to be you had to buy six to eight components for a valve group. The manufacturers have gotten that down to a convenient assembly.”
For example, some coils include valves and controllers. “You’re seeing other people do that as well,” Czarnecki said. “People are doing this P mainly because the customers like it.”
Bruce Nelson, president of Colmac Coil, said Colmac is always looking for ways to add value to the customer. “As a heat-exchanger manufacturer, we are increasingly offering our customers control valves and controls that are incorporated into the heat exchangers themselves,” he said, adding that the company is also looking for ways to make systems more intelligent.
Colmac Coil’s Advanced Direct Expansion evaporator technology now uses more specific control valves that are more sophisticated than the traditional hand expansion valve. “There is a digital controller that monitors the evaporator performance and controls the expansion valve appropriately and reports what it is doing to the facility control system,” Nelson said.
“The end user is looking for something that is more complete that isn’t this custom thing they have to take care of. They’re looking for more flexibility and lower install costs and equipment that takes up less space.
–Bob Czarnecki, chairman of the IIAR standards committee and a retired refrigeration program manager at Campbell Soup Co.
When Emerson Commercial & Residential Solutions, St. Louis, Mo., creates a package with the screw compressor, they also provide the motor to go with it. “We put this together and sell this compression package to a designbuild contractor or an OEM and they would add that to part of their larger architecture,” said Andre Patenaude, director of CO2 business development for Emerson Climate Technologies.
Generally, Emerson will approach an OEM or a design-build contractor and explain that the company has electronic controllers that can be packaged up or married to the electronic expansion valve controls or the CO2 control.
Danish equipment manufacturer Danfoss has taken a modular approach across its entire platform, including its valves, which creates a more compact and effective way of installing the valve station. “It is a natural fit for a package system, which has much more space constraints,” said Terry Chapp, North American business development manager for Danfoss.
SIMPLIFIED MAINTENANCE
Maintenance is part of any refrigeration system. “Any piece of rotating equipment like a compressor or a fan or a pump has a normal maintenance schedule,” Nelson said. “All rotating equipment has a defined lifetime and even parts that don’t move like coils and condensers, have other maintenance issues that have to be addressed.”
However, the modular approach makes repairs easier, Chapp said. “Historically when you had different components, you have to isolate them and pump down the refrigerant,” Chapp said. “With the valve station, there is much smaller internal volume and there is not as much liquid or gas to pump down and it is very easy to isolate which part has to be worked on.”
Once it is pumped down, Chapp said, changing the module is as easy as removing four bolts, pulling out the module and replacing it.
Patenaude said package systems use semi-hermetic compressors. Because they are not fully hermetic, they can be serviced and repaired. “More and more techs today don’t spend as much time repairing. They tend to want to replace a component,” he said.
Being able to easily swap out components could be beneficial given the aging workforce within the industrial refrigeration industry. “The ability to spend the time learning and mentoring in today’s environment is substantially reduced. You have to make it easier on the technician and the modular design makes it easy,” Chapp said. “If a guy can pull four bolts and replace it, it is easier to find someone properly trained to complete the work.”
Depending on the system, the initial cost of packaged components could be higher, but Chapp said insulation costs could decrease because there is no need to create vapor barriers for every little piece. “You’re putting one piece on,” he said.
Pump manufacturer Grundfos of Downers Grove, Ill., uses a variety of package components within its systems, including electrical panels, heat exchangers, control cabinets and variable frequency drives, said Doug Bolinger, national sales manager, industrial refrigeration for Grundfos.
THE FUTURE OF PACKAGE SYSTEMS
Bolinger said package systems have several benefits, including being a onestop shop and coming with a complete package warranty. It also allows one manufacturer to handle order intake and complete an entire system, as well as provide technical support and service support going forward.
Regulations related to the handling of ammonia in a facility are typically triggered by the amount of ammonia in a facility. “Package systems reduce regulatory burdens by reducing the ammonia charge in each of the systems. There is also some interest in package systems as a way to reduce installation time,” Nelson said.
“The end user is looking for something that is more complete that isn’t this custom thing they have to take care of. They’re looking for more flexibility and lower install costs and equipment that takes up less space,” Czarnecki said.
