Manufacturers Stress High Efficiency
Super Radiator Coils (Chaska, Minn.) announced its new high-efficiency fin surface, called the X-Fin. Ken Kaye, sales and engineering manager, noted, “This innovative enhanced fin increases the heat transfer efficiency to 70 percent better than our company’s current, most aggressive fin design.” This results in cost-effective coils that are lighter and use less space, he said. The X-Fin is available now for 3/8-inch OD tubes, and will be available soon for 1/2-inch OD tubes. They are available in copper and aluminum fin material with specialized coatings on various tube materials.
Super Radiator Coils also introduced its “Caltrel” heat exchangers, which are fabricated out of very small OD nylon tubes that are manufactured by DuPont. “The tubes are welded into a box-type header, which is also plastic and is extruded. The main areas where this type of heat exchanger will be considered include applications where weight restrictions are critical, such as the military and aerospace industries,” said Kaye.
Heatcraft, North America Heat Transfer (Grenada, Miss.) highlighted its new Micro-Channel Coils, which feature reduced size and weight.
The company said the micro-channel condensers offer customers opportunities to reduce size and weight over current copper tube-in-fin-style exchanger coils, thus saving them money in installation and component sizing costs. These exchangers are constructed completely from aluminum alloys and use high-efficiency fin designs to increase air-side heat transfer while still maintaining acceptable air pressure drops, said the company.
Tubes are extruded, providing micro-channels for refrigerant flow and increasing tube side heat transfer. Coils are brazed in a controlled atmosphere furnace using state-of-the-art brazing technology “to provide superior quality in construction and corrosion resistance.” Current capabilities include 25.4-mm and 18-mm tube widths in a wide range of coil heights and lengths.
Precision Coils, a division of PEF Industries (Somerville, Tenn.) announced the expansion of their product offering to include 1-inch steam distributing coils. In addition, the company introduced its complete line of insulated coil sections, ranging from 900 to 18,000 cfm, with optional UV lighting.
These coil sections are custom made to accommodate cooling coils that create moisture or condensation. They have drain pans and are insulated to keep the outside from sweating. They can be painted and caulked for outdoor use and have UV lights mounted in them to eliminate bacteria, the company said.
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The UV light assembly was developed by nesbittaire inc., another division of PEF Industries, and can be supplied within the company’s custom coil cabinets or as a ship-loose item to be installed in existing ductwork.
Colmac Coil Manufacturing (Colville, Wash.) introduced its stainless tube/aluminum fin construction for evaporators in ammonia refrigeration systems.
The company said that analysis has shown stainless tube/aluminum fin construction to be superior to traditional galvanized steel on the basis of cost, weight, performance, ability to defrost, corrosion resistance, cleanability, and reliability.
The company also introduced its low-noise, air-cooled fluid cooler “Model AFVQ,” which is ideal for any application requiring ultra-low noise operation. Environments such as off-grid power generation, hospitals, universities, libraries, and other noise-sensitive environments would benefit from this quiet unit, stated the company.
Colmac also announced that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has issued certificates of authorization accrediting Colmac Coil Manufacturing to use official code symbol stamps U, UM, and R, indicating coils have been constructed in accordance with all applicable ASME code rules.
Cancoil USA (Danville, Ill.) displayed its new Model SSC air-cooled condenser. Dave Kienast, sales manager, Cancoil, noted that it is very efficient and extremely quiet. “Stand right next to it, and you can barely hear it,” he said.
And he was right. If it weren’t for the streamers blowing up from the condenser, you never would have known it was operating.
Kienast stated the new condenser is perfectly suited for applications that require very low noise, such as in schools and hospitals. The condensers, which are available in sizes ranging from 5 to 70 tons, also work on multilevel buildings in urban areas.
Publication date: 02/17/2003
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