DUBAI, UAE, 12 December 2019: Johnson Control Middle East & Africa on December 10 formally introduced its York YZ magnetic-bearing centrifugal chiller and its Amichi series of air-cooled DC inverter scroll chillers and heat pumps at a product seminar, titled ‘The Future… Today’ in Dubai. In attendance were distributors and consultants, among other building industry disciplines.

Speaking on the YZ, which comes in the 530-4,747 kW range, Christine Detz, Director – Product Management, Centrifugal Chillers at Johnson Controls, said it is the answer to “what comes after the next generation”. She went on to say that the YZ was developed by a team of engineers with substantial experience in centrifugal technology. She characterised the YZ as optimised for ultimate performance and as facilitating a dramatically low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Revealing that over 100,000 tonnes of YZ have been installed worldwide, including in North America, Latin America, China and the Middle East, she said the system has up to five per cent better performance in full-load condition and up to seven per cent better NPLV. “It is designed to maximise the performance of a low-GWP (global warming potential) refrigerant,” she said.

Describing its other features, Detz said the YZ has capacity control logic; a variable-speed drive (VSD); and an OptiView Control Panel, which allows data to be connected to an analytics platform for remote monitoring.

Speaking specifically on the VSD, she said that for four decades, JCI has had more VSD chillers installed than all manufacturers combined. “VSD is standard in YZ,” she said. “It allows us amazing part-load efficiencies.”

Further describing the YZ, Detz said it has an optimised compressor; a high-speed hermetic induction motor; and a falling film evaporator, which reduces refrigerant charge by up to 60% and also reduces the evaporator shell size by up to 20%.

The YZ, she said, has an entering condenser water temperature as low as 40F/4.5C, and a full condenser flow at all load points. Further, she said, the YZ is efficient at temperatures and load values well below the design point, and not only at its design point.

All these features, she said, ensure that the YZ exceeds industry standards. “It has 12% and 54% better full-load and part-load performance, respectively,” she said, pointing out that the numbers exceed the requirements of Dubai’s Al Sa’fat Green Building regulations.

She said the YZ offers up to 21% annual energy savings versus traditional, fixed-speed, oil-bearing chillers. It also offers up to 12% savings versus variable-speed, oil-bearing chillers, she said. “The YZ gives real-world efficiency, considering chillers operate in off-design conditions up to 99% of the time,” she said.

Speaking on the TCO, Detz said the YZ boasts a single moving assembly suspended in a magnetic field with no lubrication system. It has 80% fewer moving parts, which she added, make it easier to maintain. “All centrifugal systems require some form of scheduling, and the need for checking the refrigerant levels and for cleaning the tubes,” she said. “The YZ offers lifetime savings on driveline maintenance. You have no motor-bearing teardowns, no filter changes, no lubrication system maintenance.”

The YZ, she further said, has a smart connected feature, which means operating and trend data are accessible anywhere, anytime. “So, the YZ offers a 65% improvement in Mean Time to repair,” she said.

Saying that TEWI (total environmental warming impact), which takes into account the measurement of the chiller’s direct and indirect emissions, is the most comprehensive benchmark for measuring the environmental impact of a chiller, Detz added that the operation of the YZ results in direct emissions that are less than five per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Likewise, it results in indirect emissions that are less than 95% of the total greenhouse gas emissions, she further added.

After Detz, Brian Smith, Global Marketing Director, JCI, gave a presentation on refrigerant selection. Saying that energy efficiency is the dominant environmental impact over the life of equipment, he added that refrigerant choice cannot be at the cost of efficiency. “We have a much greater opportunity to address the CO2 (84%) emissions than HFCs, which account for two per cent,” he said. “CO₂ is the dominant greenhouse gas from HVAC&R. If we switch the refrigerant, and that is going to take us in the wrong direction of efficiency, we (JCI) are not going down that road. One per cent improvement in chiller efficiency offsets 60% of the potential lifetime emissions.”

Smith said three factors reduce the total carbon footprint of an HVAC equipment design. The first is to specify or buy high-efficiency chiller equipment and systems. The second factor, he said, is to maintain equipment for ultimate performance and leak prevention. And the third factor, he said, is to use sustainable product options to minimise net CO₂ emissions.

Smith, then, spoke on the Amichi Series, which he said is the result of over 250,000 years of cumulative York water-cooled screw chiller field experience. The Amichi, he said, has U-shaped RTPF condenser coils – patented JCI design with smaller surface area. The Amichi series, he said, features brazed plate heat exchangers and inverter drive compressors. The Amichi, he added, is Optiview LT- and Verasys-compatible.

The Amichi, he highlighted, also features Victualic groove, couplings and wye-strainer. “Also, water connections are easily accessible with extensions to the edge of the unit, he said. The Amichi, he said, constitutes an innovative technology and comes with a best-in-class performance of 6.68 at full-load conditions and an IPLV of 11.83 IPLV.