Ammonia Application, Thermosyphon Cooling And Other

Refrigeration Developments
Peter Harraghy
INTRODUCTION
During these times of ecological awareness, energy efficiency and the unchecked release of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere have become major issues. As a result there has been an increasing
demand for improvements in refrigeration plant efficiency and the use of refrigerants which offer least
threat to the environment. In particular there is now significantly renewed interest in the use of
hydrocarbons and ammonia as refrigerants for a wide range of applications.
This paper briefly explains the current situation regarding refrigerant usage and outlines the properties
and performance characteristics of ammonia as a refrigerant. It also describes some recent applications
of ammonia to refrigeration Systems (in particular Thermosyphon cooling) which until relatively
recently had only used CFC, HCFC or HFC refrigerants.

THE REFRIGERANT ISSUE

After a long period of steady and predictable development, the refrigeration industry was stopped in its
tracks by the advent of the Montreal Protocol and the banning of CFC refrigerants. The manufacture of
CFCs (R11, R12, R502 etc) ceased on 1st January 1995, with phase-out of the transitional, HCFC,
refrigerants, such as R22, being inexorably brought forward.
The whole issue has been further complicated by increased interest in the total environmental impact of
refrigerants, including the new generation HFCs. While HFCs have been developed to give zero ozone
depletion, they are 'greenhouse' gases and, on that basis, damaging to the environment if released into
the atmosphere. Additionally, the use of new refrigerants raises the question of maintaining system
efficiencies, since, as a matter of principle, they should give system efficiencies at least as high as the
refrigerants they replace. This is because the global warming effect of generating electricity to run
systems is in many cases much greater than the global warming effect produced by the loss of the
refrigerant charge to atmosphere.
The resurgence in popularity of ammonia as a refrigerant in the UK has been significant in
manufacturing industries, with a number of major users replacing plant, particularly glycol/brine
chilling plant, operating on R11 and R12, with new plant operating on ammonia. However, there are
wide variations in attitude to the use of ammonia in refrigeration and air conditioning. To understand
these differences it is necessary to consider the various laws and attitudes which affect the use of
halocarbon refrigerants in different countries.
Halocarbon refrigerants can be divided into CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs and FCs. The production of CFC
refrigerants in developed countries was completely phased out in January 1995. Production continues
in Article 4 (Less Developed) Countries and there is still some production of CFCs in developed
countries for export to less developed countries and for medical use. CFCs are still available in the UK
from stock piles and from other sources such as recycling but it is unlikely that any new systems
containing CFCs are being installed. It is still legal to use CFCs in existing systems.
HCFC refrigerants, unlike CFCs, are in a dynamic process of phase-out which varies from place to
place in its severity. The Montreal Protocol envisages a complete phase out of HCFCs for all
installations by the year 2020 with a further ten year period allowing their use for servicing. Some
regions and countries have produced legislation which anticipates the Montreal Protocol requirements.
For example the present EC Regulations placed a cap on the production of HCFCs from 1 January

1995 and envisage a series of supply cuts starting in 2004, leading to a complete phase out by 2015.
An even more significant tightening on the Montreal Protocol requirements is the introduction of end
use controls restricting HCFC usage in certain types of new equipment from specific dates. Perhaps
the most significant end use control is that, after 31 December 1999, the use of HCFCs will be banned
as refrigerants in public and distribution cold stores and warehouses. HCFCs will also be banned as
refrigerants for equipment of 150kW and over shaft input. This will include many air conditioning
systems.
Despite the EC Regulations to anticipate the Montreal Protocol certain countries, including Germany
and Sweden, have gone even further. In Germany there will be a total ban of the use of CFC
refrigerants in commercial and industrial systems from 1 July 1998. As far as I am aware this is the
first instance of a ban on the use of CFCs anywhere in the world. There will also be a ban on the use of
R22 in systems of more than 150kW refrigerating effect from 1 January 1999. In Sweden they go even
further by banning the use of HCFCs in new equipment from 1 January 1998 and there are further
proposed measures to restrict the use of HFCs.
Countries that have proposed, or existing, legislation to ban the use of R22 in the near future have a
very strong motive for developing safe methods of using ammonia for air conditioning.
As far as can be seen the United States of America intends to continue using R22 till the last possible
moment allowed by the Montreal Protocol. The United Kingdom and France appear to intend to
continue to use R22 till the last possible moment allowed by the EC regulations. However there are
proposals to make the EC regulations more stringent. These proposals would almost certainly bring
forward the phase- out date for production of R22 within the European Union. Germany is already in
advance of EC regulations by about fifteen years for R22 phase out and Sweden is at least one year
ahead of the Germans.
Japan has banned the use of R22 in new equipment from the year 2010.
Ammonia is already the preferred refrigerant for large cold stores and refrigerated warehouses in the
United States of America. Ammonia is also the preferred refrigerant for large scale freezing
operations. However there is little sign of any awareness of the need to develop new methods of using
ammonia as a refrigerant with the object of reducing the system charge. The trend in the United States
of America appears to be that ammonia systems are becoming ever larger and thus potentially more
hazardous. The typical ammonia system is a centralised plant with one or more large liquid ammonia
accumulators from which liquid ammonia is pump circulated to various refrigerating loads around the
system. System charges will be measured in tens or hundreds of tonnes. American product liability
legislation makes developing the use of ammonia for air conditioning systems very unattractive. It
seems unlikely therefore that better methods of using ammonia will be developed in the United States.
France has very stringent central and local regulations governing the use of ammonia. These
regulations make it almost impossible to achieve planning permission for the use of ammonia in a builtup region in a reasonable timescale. Anticipating the demise of CFC refrigerants, the French
government has tried to create an interest in the use of ammonia but the lack of trained personnel and
the general fear of ammonia within the local bureaucracy, which has to provide planning permission,
makes the promotion of ammonia in France a difficult task at present.
Much significant work has been done in the United Kingdom to promote the use of low charge
ammonia systems often associated with a secondary refrigerant such as brine or water and by the use of
the low pressure receiver system which minimises the amount of charge necessary. These installations
are setting new standards of refrigerating efficiency and environmental friendliness.
Germany has not so far been in the forefront of the production of low charge ammonia systems but
hermetic compressors for use with ammonia are under development and canned motor compressors are
available at present. Such compressors could reasonably be expected to use soluble PAG lubricants
which might improve the ammonia heat transfer still further. PAG lubricants remain under suspicion
for use in open-type compressors because of their hygroscopic nature.
Denmark has been in the forefront of the production of very low charge water chilling units using plate
heat exchanger evaporators and plate heat exchanger condensers. When used in conjunction with a

centrifugal type droplet separator and an ejector type expansion valve these systems seem to be capable
of running on little more than the smell of ammonia. However at present such systems are very
critically charged and are not very flexible in operation and the low pressure receiver system appears to
be rather more rugged and flexible.
Sweden has also been in the forefront of the development of plate heat exchanger systems. Such
systems have been used as the high pressure stage of cascade installations using carbon dioxide as the
refrigerant in the low temperature stage. About sixteen such installations have been commissioned for
small supermarkets in Sweden. Most of these used R404A as the refrigerant in the high side but
ammonia could equally well have been used. Similar systems have also been installed in Switzerland
though the original proposals were produced in the United Kingdom.

DESIGNING FOR EFFICIENCY

Refrigeration is a fundamental component of many manufacturing processes and a major consumer of
energy. The scope for improving plant efficiency, while using environmentally more acceptable
refrigerants, is good, particularly if the installation of new plant is being considered.
Apart from the choice of refrigerant there are a number of factors that affect plant efficiency. When
considering the design of new plant, these need to be taken into account to ensure optimum
performance. These factors include:

the cooling load characteristics.

compressor efficiency.
evaporating and condensing temperatures.
auxiliary power consumers.

If a refrigeration plant serves a number of loads at differing temperatures, as is often the case in large
glycol/brine chilling plant, there may be scope to split up the load. High temperature or occasional
loads may then be dealt with separately, allowing for a reduction in load on the low temperature plant.
This can lead to savings in capital and operational costs.
The energy efficiency of a particular compressor can vary widely depending on the application to
which it is put. Refrigeration compressors are sensitive to operating conditions and it is important to
consider the efficiency of a particular machine across the range of conditions that may be encountered
in a particular application. A machine that is ideal for one application may be unsuited to another
The biggest factor affecting refrigeration plant efficiency is the temperature lift that is required between
the system evaporating and condensing temperatures. Keeping this to a minimum is a key aim of
energy efficient design and operation. Small increases in evaporating temperature or reductions in
condensing temperature can lead to surprisingly large savings in operating costs.
Auxiliary loads due to fans, pumps, heaters etc can account for a significant part of the system power
consumption, particularly at low load conditions. Designing the system to optimise these loads can
also provide significant savings.

AMMONIA AS A REFRIGERANT
With zero ozone depletion and global warming potential and with good thermodynamic properties,
ammonia is an excellent refrigerant. Additionally, it is not subject to the uncertainty over its long term
future that troubles some of the alternatives.
BS4434:1995 Safety and Environmental Aspects in the Design Construction and Installation of
Refrigerating Appliances and Systems which is the essential reference document for all practising
refrigeration engineers, classifies refrigerants into two levels of toxicity (A = low toxicity & B = high
toxicity) and three levels of flammability (1 = non flammable, 2=LEL>3.5%V/V & 3=LEL<3.5%V/V).

Most of the commonly used refrigerants of the past and present (e.g. R22, R11, R12, R134a, R502,
R404A) fall within group A1 as they are non flammable and of low toxicity.
Ammonia, along with a handful of relatively rare refrigerants, falls within group B2 as, unlike the
hydrocarbons, it is only flammable in high concentrations of 15% to 28% by volume (and even then it
has a relatively high ignition temperature of 6300C) but is highly toxic. It can be readily detected by
smell at concentrations of as low as 0.01% and exposure to concentrations of 0.5% and above will
prove lethal or produce serious injury. Ammonia/air mixtures will cause irritation of the eyes and
mucous membrane. Liquid splashes on the skin can cause both chemical and frost burns and even
small liquid splashes in the eyes can cause permanent injury.
BS4434 also specifies categories of occupancy and types of cooling systems, and gives direction as to
which refrigerant and system combination can be used for different categories of occupancy. In
essence the use of ammonia in public buildings, offices, shops and other places used by people
unacquainted with the hazards and safety precautions, is limited to indirect systems. Direct ammonia
systems can be used in manufacturing or processing facilities, or other places where only authorised
persons, who are acquainted with the general and special safety precautions, have access.
Ammonia refrigeration plant is required to be housed in machinery rooms with special provisions. In
particular the room must be monitored by a refrigerant leak detection system which, in the event of a
leak, must be able to activate emergency mechanical ventilation and cause all the non-flameproof
electrical equipment in the room to be isolated. All electrical equipment which is not to be isolated in
the event of a leak must be outside the room containing the ammonia plant. For this reason
starter/control panels are often positioned in a positively pressurised switch room separate from but
adjacent to the machinery room.
Ammonia has a relatively high latent heat so only small amounts need be circulated to achieve quite
large cooling rates and therefore relatively small liquid piping is required. However, ammonia vapour
has a relatively high specific volume and as a result the swept volume required of the refrigeration
compressor is often not very different from that required for competing refrigerants (e.g. R22).
Nonetheless for most normal refrigeration applications ammonia should prove to be the most efficient
choice of refrigerant.
Until relatively recently ammonia was only used with unmiscible mineral oils which would fall out of
the ammonia particularly on the low temperature side of any system, and it was necessary to drain the
oil - often to waste. Synthetic oils are now available which mix better with ammonia and it is now
possible to easily incorporate oil recovery systems whereby the oil is automatically drained and
returned to the compressor.
Another factor to consider when using ammonia is its incompatibility with copper, zinc, tin, cadmium
and their alloys. In effect this limits the metals used in ammonia systems to low carbon steel, stainless
steel and aluminium. Ammonia will also react with the halogens, hypochlorites and oxides of nitrogen
to produce unstable compounds.

THERMOSYPHON COOLING
Considering that each extra kW of generating capacity required of a fossil fuelled power station can
result in 14.5 tonnes per annum of extra carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere, the aim of all
design engineers should be to maximise use of free ambient cooling. The thermosyphon system is
specifically designed to take advantage of varying ambient conditions to provide free cooling for water
chilling applications and it can now be used with ammonia.
In the thermosyphon system of Fig 6.1, the water is cooled by evaporation of the refrigerant which,
when ambient conditions permit, is passed to a condenser not by a compressor, but by means of the
pressure difference produced by the difference in temperature between the water being cooled and the
ambient. The condensed refrigerant returns to the cooler as liquid by gravity. The compressor is only
used if the system if is incapable of producing enough refrigeration without it.

Thermosyphon cooling systems have several practical advantages over other forms of free cooling:
there is no possibility of contamination of the cooling water circuit
the water in the cooling circuit does not require to be diverted to produce free cooling
the free cooling is produced by evaporation of a relatively small flow of refrigerant. Thus a
thermosyphon system might require 75mm refrigerant piping and valves whereas a free cooling
system, in which the water to be cooled is circulated directly through an ambient cooler, might
require 250mm piping and valves.
Legionella growth is inhibited because there are no stagnant sections in the chilled water circuit and
the circulation of water in the evaporative condensers is continuous throughout the year.
To maximise thermosyphon cooling it is imperative that the system is carefully designed to take full
advantage of the temperature differences between the water being cooled and the ambient. Also, the
refrigerating system should be divided into several independent parts in series on the water side. In this
way, even when some mechanical refrigeration is required, other parts of the system can operate in the
thermosyphon mode.
Optimum benefit from thermosyphon cooling can only be obtained if every component of the system is
chosen for high efficiency. In the mechanical refrigeration mode, the compression ratio is kept to a
minimum by using over sized evaporative condensers. Evaporative condensers also provide greater free
cooling potential through their ability to cool the refrigerant towards the ambient wet bulb temperature
instead of the dry bulb temperature. This allows significantly more a free cooling in the summer time
than would be available from air cooled condensers.
Also, highly efficient, slow speed, reciprocating compressors are used. Larger systems may require the
use of screw compressors but these must be selected to operate at optimum pressure difference and
provide efficient performance at part load.
The most important component of the thermosyphon system is the evaporator which:
must be capable of operating when the refrigerant pressure difference between it and the condenser
is low.
must require as small a temperature difference as possible between the water to be cooled and the
refrigerant, in order to initiate and sustain boiling of the refrigerant. The smaller this temperature
difference, the lower the temperature to which the water can be chilled for a given ambient
condition.
A flooded shell and tube evaporator, with the water flowing through the tubes and the refrigerant
controlled at a fixed level on the shell side, so as to submerge the tubes but leave sufficient
liquid/vapour separation space above the liquid surface is very good at satisfying the first requirement.
The second requirement can be satisfied in part by providing a large heat transfer surface area but the
benefits are limited.
A substantial reduction in the minimum temperature difference required for boiling heat transfer can
only be achieved through the use of special treatment to enhance the tube surface coefficient of boiling
heat transfer. Such enhancement is important in the mechanical refrigerating mode and is crucial in the
thermosyphon mode.
An enhanced or high flux surface as shown in Fig 6.2 can increase a coefficient of boiling heat transfer
by factors ranging from approximately 2 to 12. It works by trapping small seed bubbles at the surface,
thus eliminating the superheat required to grow bubbles from zero diameter.
The success of thermosyphon cooling owes a lot to the performance of the special StarFlux Chiller,
which would be a relatively conventional flooded shell and tube evaporator except that it is designed to
be used with high flux tubing. The water boxes at each end of the chiller can be arranged to allow

chillers to be piped in series and (even for ammonia) they have internal provision for automatic oil
recovery. To enable the change from mechanical refrigeration to thermosyphon mode a Star multi-port
actuated ball valve is used to bypass the compressor quickly and securely, and thereby connect the
evaporator outlet directly to the condenser inlet.
Using meteorological data the performance of a thermosyphon installation can be predicted. Fig 6.3
shows the predicted performance for an installation with three chillers in series in the Manchester area.
From this it is clear that all three chillers make a significant contribution to thermosyphon cooling and
so could a fourth. The performance of the system levels off around 00C wet bulb temperature as a
result of having to automatically control the fans of the evaporative condensers to prevent freezing of
the condenser water. Fig 6.3 can be used to estimate the likely thermosyphon cooling throughout the
year and it can be demonstrated that significant thermosyphon cooling can be achieved even in summer
months. Also note that if the actual cooling requirement is less than originally specified then even
more of the cooling load can be met by thermosyphon.
There are now several full scale thermosyphon systems in operation in the UK ranging in capacity from
0.9MW to 3.6MW. System COPs of between 12 and 15 have been measured as typical average yearly
values for these plants which are used for the cooling of mainframe computers for large institutions. It
should be noted that some of these systems were installed as replacements of existing standard systems
using standard water chillers and it is quite feasible for the cost of refurbishment to be justified even if
the existing plant is relatively new.
A new development is the use of a single thermosyphon chiller in conjunction with a thermal store to
overcome the system inertia which prevents the condenser temperature cooling quickly enough from its
mechanical refrigeration mode condition (i.e. 600C) to the ambient temperature as is necessary for
thermosyphon cooling to be achieved.

LOW CHARGE LIQUID CHILLERS

Typically three types of refrigeration system have been most commonly used i.e.:
Dry expansion in which a thermostatic expansion valve is used to regulate the flow of refrigerant
through the evaporator to ensure the vapour leaving it is superheated. These systems are usually
restricted to commercial applications and rarely use ammonia as serious difficulties are often
encountered with high discharge temperatures (resulting from the combination of ammonia's
properties and the superheat required at the evaporator outlet). Also it is inefficient to use a
substantial portion of expensive heat transfer surface to superheat the refrigerant vapour when it is
only required as a control signal for the expansion valve.
Pumped circulation in which liquid refrigerant is pumped from a storage vessel through
evaporators and back to the storage vessel where the excess liquid is separated from the return flow.
Pumped circulation systems have been very popular and have been used for many years. Part of the
reason for this is the extensive technical guidance that has been published and the much reduced
emphasis on minimising refrigerant charge in the past.
Gravity feed in which liquid refrigerant is fed by gravity to the evaporator from a storage vessel
mounted above it. The evaporated refrigerant is drawn back into the storage vessel where the liquid
component is separated. These systems also tend to require a significant refrigerant charge and
have disadvantages in that the storage vessel needs to be accommodated over the evaporator and the
refrigerant at the heat exchanger inlet is subcooled (as there is always a head of refrigerant) and this
can impede good boiling at entry to the evaporator.
Low pressure receiver/plate heat exchanger systems such as shown in Fig 6.4.

A wide range of relatively advanced liquid chillers utilising low pressure receiver or gravity feed (or
very occasionally dry expansion technology) with plate heat exchanger evaporators and HCFCs, HFCs,
FCs or Ammonia are now available. Typically these units use screw compressors and either
evaporative or plate type condensers to achieve a compact package that is cheaper to install and operate
and (particularly in the case of the low pressure receiver) requires very much less refrigerant than
conventional systems.
With all of these systems, in addition to the normal requirements for high efficiency (e.g. floating head
pressure), it is particularly important to ensure proper distribution of refrigerant flow through the
evaporator. This is because poor distribution will lead to inefficient operation of the plate heat
exchanger and even clogging of its surfaces with oil. In this respect the low pressure receiver system
offers particular advantages. In similar fashion to a dry expansion system the low pressure receiver
feeds the plate heat exchanger with high pressure refrigerant which flashes to low pressure as it flows
through the expansion device. Not only does this help to ensure that the refrigerant boils as soon as it
reaches the plates but the resulting flash vapour also helps to distribute the liquid refrigerant evenly
across the plate inlets. However unlike the dry expansion system (which has to use part of the heat
transfer surface to superheat the refrigerant) the low pressure receiver allows the plate heat exchanger
to be overfed with liquid refrigerant thereby ensuring that the heat transfer surface is fully wetted and
operates at peak efficiency. Also the low pressure receiver is well suited to working with a high
pressure float refrigerant expansion device which allows the condensing pressure to rise and fall with
ambient temperature thereby allowing the compressor to work less hard in winter months. In this way
the low pressure receiver system ensures that;
the compressor operates over the smallest practicable compression ratio.
optimum performance of the plate heat exchanger is achieved.
the compressor is protected from liquid carry over and possible consequential damage.
the plate heat exchanger can be operated efficiently at very low temperature differences
because there is no need to produce a superheat signal in the evaporator - this is
particularly important when the evaporating temperatures are below -100C.
the compressor operates with minimal suction superheat and therefore reduced
temperatures throughout the compression process.
fluctuations in refrigerant level as the load varies are accommodated in the low pressure
receiver.
The refrigerant charge is kept to very low levels - it is possible to achieve a specific charge
of 0.1kg/kW duty.
In addition these systems are designed to minimise loss of refrigerant by using steel piping and welded
fittings instead of flanged connections whenever possible and by using as few valves as possible. The
systems are usually fully automatic - there is no longer any requirement for frequent manual draining of
oil and the removal of air and other non-condensables is often automatic. Also the control systems
often incorporate comprehensive remote monitoring which enables faults, logs etc. to be communicated
to remote engineers. The end result is that the modern systems rarely require daily attendance by
engineering staff.
Applications
Brewers and industrial processors in particular have recently taken advantage of the opportunity to
incorporate energy efficient features into the design of new plant. Several sites faced with the problem
of operating large central, integrated refrigeration plants using centrifugal chillers on R11 and R12
have converted to modular, stand-alone packaged ammonia/low pressure receiver systems. The
installed capacities are typically in the range of 4-5MW.
Also supermarket companies, when building or modifying large distribution centres, have begun to
move away from large central plant systems with refrigerant pumped over long distances to an array of
evaporators and instead have adopted ammonia/glycol systems. These systems have often used
modular ammonia low pressure receiver systems similar to that in Fig 6.4 to cool ethylene/propylene
glycol which is circulated to the coolers in chilled areas. If defrosting or heating is required a warm
glycol circuit is usually included which recovers heat from the compressor oil cooling circuit or
discharge vapour.

In theory, central plant should offer slightly higher efficiencies, as at part-load the excess heat
exchange surface can be utilised to increase evaporating temperatures and reduce condensing
temperatures. However, in practice central plants often suffer from the disadvantage that the
refrigeration circuit is significantly more complex and is more difficult and expensive to maintain at
optimum efficiency, ( e.g. there are often problems with leakage of refrigerant from high pressure to
low pressure at valve stations).
The main energy efficient features in the new plants are:

efficient compressors.
generously sized heat exchangers with effective refrigerant distribution under all loads.
floating condensing temperatures with ambient.
the application of appropriate evaporating and condensing temperature levels.
variable speed glycol/brine pump drives.
effective control systems and comprehensive instrumentation.
automatic oil recovery and air purging.

Note that ammonia is still commonly used directly for low temperature applications (e.g. cold stores,
blast freezers) but with the forthcoming development of improved secondary refrigerants it is quite
likely that ammonia/secondary refrigerant systems will be used more frequently. Such improved
secondary refrigerants might include HYCOOLTM1, carbon dioxide (Fig 6.5) and ice slurries.

ICE SLURRIES
An ice slurry is a suspension of very small ice crystals in an anti-freeze solution. It has the great
advantage that it can be pumped to the point of application at which it can be used in direct contact
with product or in a heat exchanger. It can also be used in thermal storage applications.
Unlike conventional ice storage systems which take time to "burn off" the stored ice, an ice slurry,
because of its very large surface area per unit mass, achieves almost instantaneous melting in the
presence of low temperature heat. As a result heat transfer coefficients in the region of 9000 W/m2K
have been recorded at quite low velocities.
There are a number of possible methods of producing an ice slurry for use in either static or dynamic
thermal storage systems. An early method was to supercool water below its freezing point and then
initiate freezing rapidly in the flow of cold water, producing "pearls" of ice without surface contact in
the evaporator (1). Compared with later developments, the pearls are relatively large and difficult to
pump. Another method achieves the ice slurry effect by cooling an insoluble heat transfer fluid to subzero temperatures and then injecting it into a tank of water through a special nozzle (2).
A third method passes a weak salt or glycol solution through a scraped surface evaporator, producing
microscopic ice crystals (3). As shown in Fig 6.6 there is a relationship between initial brine
concentration, ice temperature and ice concentration. As ice is produced, the brine becomes more
concentrated and the freezing temperature falls. As the temperature at which freezing starts is
determined by the initial concentration of the brine solution, with the right brine, it is possible to
provide a thermal store at temperatures down to -40oC and/or to produce an ice slurry of quite high ice
concentrations (45%+). However, most applications use weak antifreeze/salt solutions, freezing at
about -2oC.
Relatively large quantities of thinner ice can be produced using patented Orbital Rod Evaporators2. For
very large duties, Vacuum Ice technology3 in which a partial vacuum (<0.06 BarA) is produced over a
1

HYCOOLTM is marketed by Hydro Chemicals and is non-toxic, non-flammable and has relatively
low viscosity and high volumetric heat capacity at low temperatures.
2
3

ORE/MAXIMICE are patented devices produced by Muller Inc., USA.

Vacuum Ice is a system patented by Integral Technologie Gmbh.

flow of water in a special "evaporator", where it is a proportion of the water flow that is evaporated
(approximately 15% of the ice production rate). However, due to the very large volume of water
vapour relative to its latent heat, the compressors required are still relatively large/expensive and it may
be some time before this method is appropriate for building services.
A number of systems already installed in the UK and Germany use the scraped surface evaporator
developed by Solmecs Flo-Ice Systems Ltd in partnership with Integral Technologie Gmbh and Star
Refrigeration Ltd. In these systems the ice slurry is known as FLO-ICETM. Two types of evaporator
are available. For smaller duties a double walled cylinder is used. Refrigerant boils in the space
between the inner and outer walls, and the "brine" solution flows through the centre of the cylinder.
Larger capacities may yet be achieved by using a series of flat plates with the refrigerant flowing
through the plates and the brine around them. Double walled tubes give capacities from 2 kW to 50
kW, whereas with flat plates a cooling duty of 500 kW is anticipated from a single unit.
The primary refrigerant used in these evaporators can be R22, R134a, ammonia or propane. In
practice, most installations have used R22 or ammonia. Likewise, a wide range of secondary fluids
including most common brines and glycols can be used, depending on the application.
Storage And Thermal Properties
An ice slurry thermal store for a static storage system can be a simple tank with no internal coils and no
moving parts. Dynamic stores require some kind of agitator and careful design of inlet and outlet
piping. Either way relatively high thermal energy storage densities can be achieved, even when only a
portion of the water is frozen. For example, in a typical store with only half the water frozen, a density
of 44 kWh/m (gross volume) is achieved. If the melt water is also allowed to rise in temperature, this
can rise to more than 50 kWh/m.
Perhaps more surprising is the rapid discharge rate available from the ice. As there is no interposing
heat exchange surface, and the microscopic ice crystals change phase instantaneously when heated, the
cooling rate is only limited by the temperature rise and flow rate of the chilled water. The outlet
temperature from the store will remain virtually constant until the store is fully depleted. This is in
marked contrast to more traditional ice banks, where the discharge rate and hence the peak load are
constrained by the thermal conductivity of the ice in storage and the store geometry. There is a
negligible reduction in cooling rate as the store is depleted, so the system copes equally well with peak
loads at all times of day.
Unlike some ice slurry storage systems, the ice created in a FLO-ICETM evaporator can be pumped
through traditional water pipework and pumps although some special design consideration and
operating practice is required. It is possible to pump the ice slurry around buildings and through
storage tanks thereby reducing pipe sizes and space requirements (4), and improving heat exchanger
performance. In fact, the performance of a typical fan-coil unit is improved by a factor of 2 or 3 when
using FLO-ICETM instead of glycol. The same is true for other types of heat exchangers, such as finned
air coolers and plate heat exchangers. The heat transfer coefficient of melting FLO-ICETM is typically
9000 W/mK, compared with about 6000 W/mK for evaporating refrigerant and about 4000 W/mK
for glycol in turbulent flow. Although FLO-ICETM has not been circulated around buildings for airconditioning (yet) it has been used for static storage but pumped to a break heat exchanger adjacent to
the thermal store.
The range of possible applications for FLO-ICETM is really only limited by the imagination of the user.
Its unique properties can be summarised as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Ability to flow through small pipes and passages.

Use of latent rather than sensible heat, resulting in reduced flow quantities.
Ability to pick up heat at temperatures down to -30C (but not when using sodium chloride
brine!).
Very high coefficients of heat transfer.
Ability to make 100% contact with product being cooled.
Lack of sharp edges which might damage product.
Ability to cool rapidly to temperatures in the region of 0C by virtue of the sub-zero

8.

temperature of FLO-ICETM .
Able to be stored in relatively simple insulated storage tanks and be released almost
instantly.

It is very likely that FLO-ICETM and other ice slurries will become widely used, with or without
thermal storage, for both direct cooling of products in the food and chemical industries and for use in a
wide variety of heat exchangers.

CONCLUSIONS
1 The United Kingdom is in the forefront of developments to use ammonia more safely and more
economically in refrigerating systems. Most of these developments have been in the field of
industrial refrigeration but some very large air conditioning, chill store and process cooling
requirements have been satisfied using ammonia/chilled water/glycol systems. The low pressure
receiver and plate type heat exchanger have much to commend them in that the refrigerant charge is
minimised. In particular the use of ammonia for the production of chilled water is well past the
development stage. It is to be expected that large rooftop installations for the air conditioning of
multi-storey buildings will become increasingly common.
2 Practical experience has confirmed that the thermosyphon system is a very valuable and cost
effective tool in the struggle against global warming. The system can be applied to any cooling
load where heat has to be extracted at temperatures that are above prevailing ambient for part of the
year. It can be used to its best advantage when the load is relatively steady and where standby
capacity is considered important.
3 The use of the ice slurry is well established in the UK and Germany, and is spreading rapidly. The
benefits of dynamic ice slurry over traditional ice storage are ease of control, ease of use, flexibility
in design, high storage densities and very high discharge rates. It is expected that, in the near
future, systems which circulate ice around the building will be used in order to maximise the
benefits of dynamic thermal storage.

REFERENCES
1 Paradis - "Superpac", Unpublished communication, Sorenco, Toronto.
2 Beggs - "Developments in Ice Thermal Storage", RAC Vol 96 No 47, October 1993.
3 Paul - "Binary Ice - Technologies for the Production of Pumpable Ice Slurries", Proc. Inst. R. 199293.5 London, February 1993.
4 Pearson - "High Efficiency Refrigeration for Building Services", CLIMA 2000, London, November
1993.
5 "Die Dritte Mglichkeit - Erste Raumklimatisierung mit Binreis", TGA Magazin, June 1993.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank his co-directors and colleagues at Star Refrigeration for their assistance
in preparing this paper and providing background material.