Refrigeration Compressors

High-performance Process Cooling for Heavy Industry

By Rob Tanner, Director of Marketing, Applied Equipment, Johnson Controls

Heavy industrial processes demand robust cooling systems capable of handling extreme temperatures and continuous loads. This article explores how modern centrifugal chillers, variable speed drives (VSDs), heat pumps and smart controls are transforming process cooling performance. By moving beyond traditional oversized designs and focusing on real-world operating conditions, facilities can improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and enhance reliability. The integration of waste heat recovery and digital monitoring further enables plants to optimize energy use, extend equipment life and achieve measurable gains in operational performance.

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Refrigerant Regulations Reshape Chiller Thermal Performance Engineering

By Paul Johnson, Director of Technology and R&D, G&D Chillers

The transition to low-GWP refrigerants is changing glycol chiller design, safety and compliance requirements. This article examines how A2L and R-290 refrigerants affect refrigerant charge, system architecture, leak detection, ventilation and performance validation, while highlighting key considerations under EPA, ASHRAE and ICC requirements.
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High-performance Process Cooling for Heavy Industry

By Rob Tanner, Director of Marketing, Applied Equipment, Johnson Controls

Heavy industrial processes demand robust cooling systems capable of handling extreme temperatures and continuous loads. This article explores how modern centrifugal chillers, variable speed drives (VSDs), heat pumps and smart controls are transforming process cooling performance. By moving beyond traditional oversized designs and focusing on real-world operating conditions, facilities can improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and enhance reliability. The integration of waste heat recovery and digital monitoring further enables plants to optimize energy use, extend equipment life and achieve measurable gains in operational performance.
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Understanding 2026 Low-GWP Refrigerant Requirements

By Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air & Cooling Best Practices Magazine

Industrial manufacturers are preparing for the EPA’s 2026 mandate requiring all process cooling systems above –22°F to use refrigerants with a GWP of 700 or lower—a shift echoed by more than a dozen states and driven by global HFC phase-down commitments. This article examines the technical, regulatory and operational challenges of adopting low-GWP refrigerants, including flammability classifications, system redesign requirements, efficiency tradeoffs and the long-term implications for chiller manufacturers and end users.
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Navigating the Refrigerant Transition: Toward a Sustainable Future

By Nick Mislak, Regional Segment Marketing Director – HVAC, Danfoss

The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, empowers the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase down HFCs through quotas on production and consumption, with the goal of a 40% reduction by 2024 and an 85% reduction by 2036. Individual states, as well as those in the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Alliance, have also proposed or enacted their own GWP restrictions and timing, which vary by application and equipment type. 
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Evaluating Single-Stage and Two-Stage Centrifugal Chillers

By Ryan Huthmacher, Senior Aerodynamics Engineer; Jeff Morgan, Mechanical Engineer and Art Rizoli, Senior Director of Global Product Strategy for Chillers, Daikin Applied

Developing centrifugal refrigeration compressors, whether they have one stage or two, involves considering several factors. From a cost perspective, a single-stage refrigeration compressor is an ideal option. It’s simpler to design and has fewer parts, which generally makes it cheaper. However, single-stage refrigeration compressors have their limitations.
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Industrial Chiller and Heat Rejection Innovation at the 2025 AHR Expo

By Brooke Jones, Digital Content Editor, Chiller & Cooling Best Practices Magazine

More than 1,800 exhibitors and 350 speakers drew in over 50,000 attendees. HVACR professionals from across the globe gathered to discuss the latest regulation updates and explore innovations. This article focuses on chiller, heat rejection and related cooling technologies for industrial use.
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Danfoss Turbocor Celebrates New Factory Opening

By Bill Smith, Chiller & Cooling Best Practices Magazine

Danfoss Turbocor held a grand opening of its new 145,000-square-foot production facility in Tallahassee, Florida, on May 29, 2024. The $62 million investment will double the manufacturing capacity for Turbocor oil-free centrifugal, magnetic-bearing, variable-speed compressors, with the ability to expand capacity even further. This report will recap the celebration and plant tour while sharing perspective from the attendees and host.
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The AIM Act’s Impact on HFC Gases

By Taylor Ferranti, Commercial Vice-President of Refrigerant Management, A-Gas

The AIM (American Innovation and Manufacturing) Act was finalized by the US government at the end of 2021. This legislation introduced a phase-down plan for virgin HFC gases. From now through 2036, the US will reduce the production and importation of virgin HFCs by granting relevant businesses a set number of HFC allowances (or quota), which will decrease over time. 
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Heat Recovery in Chillers and Their Link to Decarbonization Goals

By Danfoss Turbocor Compressors

The electrification of heating presents a significant opportunity to achieve decarbonization goals by reducing or eliminating the use of fossil fuels in traditional building systems such as boilers. The current geopolitical scenario has caused commodity prices to quickly rise and forced businesses, cities and countries to rethink their future dependance on fossil fuels and accelerate the conversion to sustainable alternatives.
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Chiller & Cooling Tower Technology Win Big at 2022 AHR Expo

By Bill Smith, Chiller & Cooling Best Practices Magazine

The 2022 AHR Expo co-sponsored by ASHRAE and AHRI was held Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. A total of 1,573 exhibitors (281 international) spread out over 440,000 square-feet, and 80 free sessions in the Education Program drew more than 30,000 attendees to the event. Common trends discussed amongst exhibitors focused on energy efficiency, operational reliability, connectivity and new chiller refrigerant transitions spurred by approaching regulatory transition dates in the AIM Act enacted by US Congress in late 2020. 
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Vapor Compression Technology Applied in Heat Pumps to Reduce CO2 Emissions

By Drew Turner, Global Head of Sector Integration, Danfoss

The inefficiency of fossil fuels, along with the negative environmental impact coming from their burning and resulting emissions, is driving companies to find alternative heating and cooling solutions. While renewable sources – such as wind and solar power – are decreasing this impact, other fossil fuel-burning sources need to be replaced with electric-driven alternatives to fully realize their emissions reduction potential. New vapor compression technology can help reduce heating and cooling operations while providing these additional CO2 emissions reductions.
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A Closer Look at the State of Refrigerants

By Chris M Forth, Johnson Controls

Recent legislation is impacting the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, both globally and nationally. On the heels of these changes is confusion about legislation and the availability of certain types of refrigerants. On a global scale, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol provides a global phase-down schedule for the use of HFC refrigerants in multiple sectors - including R-134a and R-410A - for the HVAC/R industry. While ratified across the globe by approximately 100 countries to date, the amendment has yet to be ratified in the United States. 
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Five Maintenance Tasks Eliminated When Using Oil-free Chillers

By Eddie Rodriguez, Danfoss Turbocor® Compressors

Oil-free refrigeration compressor technology offers significant benefits in terms of efficiency and performance. Eliminating oil from the system can yield up to 40% improvement in part-load efficiency compared to fixed speed screw compressors. And, this performance improvement can be sustained over the life of the compressor since oil-free compressors incur no mechanical wear during operation.
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Advancing Standards and Compressor Technologies Can Capture More Part-load Energy Savings

By Ben Majerus, Danfoss

In recent years, the HVAC industry has enlarged its vision from focusing on equipment efficiency measured in terms of ratings points at specific conditions to include a whole building perspective that uses models of year-long, real-world conditions. Accordingly, energy standards have adopted new rating methods to evaluate equipment efficiency during part-load operation. In Part 1 of this two-part article series we examined how these standards are evolving.
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Advancing Standards and Equipment Improves Building Energy Performance

By Ben Majerus, Danfoss

This first article will examine the evolution of equipment-efficiency standards from full to part load and their relationship to whole-building efficiency. The second article will look at how HVAC technologies are advancing to modulate capacity to match variations in building loads, a major factor in improving whole-building energy performance.
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Continuous Refrigerant Monitoring System at Xcel Energy in Denver Delivers

By Shelli Cosmides, Bacharach, Inc.

Xcel Energy is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the largest electrical energy provider in Colorado. The company recently upgraded its refrigerant monitoring systems at its Chilled Water building in downtown Denver, creating an efficient and reliable method for continuous monitoring of refrigerant used in 16 chillers in different locations – while supporting the need for safety, system performance, and reductions in energy and refrigerant costs.
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The State of Refrigerants in Commercial Chillers

By Kacie Goff

Snail mail. Rolodexes. Boomboxes. We’ve given up the familiarity of the past for the promise of the future. But is the same happening in the chiller industry? Is the push for lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants changing the industry as we know it? In some ways, yes. But, in the United States in particular, the change may be more gradual than it appears at first glance.
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