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R718 chiller in data centre debut

GERMANY: Efficient Energy’s eChiller, which uses pure water (R718) as a refrigerant, is to be deployed for the first time for data centre cooling in a hybrid system in Munich. 

The data center at Munich’s University of Applied Sciences will be converted as a test site, with the aim of also using the eChiller in other cooling processes as well. 

The eChiller is developed, manufactured and distributed by Efficient Energy GmbH, based in Feldkirchen, near Munich. Using pure tap water as a refrigerant instead of F-gases, the eChiller is said to be ideal for cooling industrial processes, data centres and server rooms, control cabinets and buildings.

With its GWP of 0, water as a refrigerant does not release gases that are harmful to the climate. In addition, the technology enables free cooling and claims electricity consumption reductions of up to 70%. 

“Technology is particularly important from an environmental point of view. On the one hand, it directly affects energy efficiency and thus climate protection. On the other hand, as part of a modernisation, it enables the replacement of conventional climate-damaging refrigerants with the environmentally friendly alternative water,” said DBU general secretary Alexander Bonde. 

In the university, the eChiller will be used in combination with the existing refrigeration system. In the course of the project, they also want to develop an operating strategy for these hybrid systems that is aimed particularly at small and medium-sized data centres and is transferable.

The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) has already provided €800,000 of funding to the development of the eChiller and has now added €270,000 of technical and financial support.

Related stories:

Chiller using water as refrigerant comes to the UK – 21 July 2019
UK: Blackpool-based Green Thermal Energy has been appointed UK partner for eChiller, the German-designed and manufactured chiller using pure water (R718) as a refrigerant. Read more…

Water-based chiller wins EC award – 20 November 2018
AUSTRIA: A chiller which uses water as a refrigerant has won a major European Commission environmental business award. Read more…

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