British air conditioning specialist Airedale has upgraded its Ultima Compact chillers and condenser units with new refrigerant and compressor technology.

The R-410A refrigerant promises to increase heat transfer capabilities and lower cost of cooling systems over older equipment that relies on R-407C.

“With the next generation Ultima ranges, we have examined every single component to find ways of increasing performance, reliability and overall system efficiency. The new products bring all of this advanced technology and know-how together in a compact, versatile platform,” said Callum Teahan, lead mechanical engineer for product development at Airedale.

Airedale chiller at a factory
Airedale chiller at a factory – Aierdale

Cool chemicals

The new lineup of Ultima Compact includes chillers and condensers in power capacities between 30 and 150kW, available in single or dual circuit variants.

The units are air cooled, and feature a new DSH scroll compressor which offers low vibration levels and high energy efficiency under partial load. All Ultima Compact chillers also feature electronic expansion valves as standard.

The new range has been optimized to be used with R-410A, which Airedale says is less susceptible to efficiency losses due to pressure drop when compared with R-407C.

The new refrigerant can lower system and maintenance costs and does not contribute to ozone depletion - however due to higher discharge temperature it requires parts designed specifically for R-410A.

Thanks to a number of improvements, the updated Ultima Compact units can achieve Energy Efficiency Ratio of up to 3.6 and the chiller range can achieve European Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio of up to 4.7.

Older chillers and condenser units from Airedale built around R-407C will remain on sale.