What is an Explosion-Proof Chiller?
As the name implies, an explosion-proof chiller provides process or space cooling in harsh or explosive industrial applications. Chillers utilized within hazardous environments must have adequate physical protection and special safety features built-in to prevent damage to sensitive components.
Additionally, some chillers comprise flame-retardant components to minimize the risk of combustion. Unfortunately, not all chiller manufacturers possess the expertise to produce this kind of chiller.
How Do Explosion-Proof Chillers Work?
Many designs have all the chiller parts and electronics housed in a continuous explosion-proof housing made of durable materials such as stainless steel. This enclosure protects the device from excessive mechanical shock during operation. These considerations are essential, as an explosion-proof chiller can be a substantial investment. Regular chillers can be customized into explosion-resistant devices through this design.
Klosco Solutions explosion-proof chillers are built with rugged materials, ensuring dependable operation in electrically-classified environments that are exposed to combustible vapors, gases, and clouds of dust. They are water-cooled chillers capable of high-efficiency cooling with close temperature tolerance for thermally sensitive processes. Our explosion-proof water chillers are compliant with various international electrical standards such as the National Electric Code (North American), UL Standard (United States) and the EC 60079 series (Europe).
Process Cooling in Hazardous Environments
Daily operations in industries that utilize volatile or flammable substances, electrically-classified equipment, and heavy-duty machinery can create working conditions that are hazardous to both employees and assets. Nonetheless, many processes in these industries require temperature control to proceed safely and productively.
Some machines utilized at these facilities required rapid cooling during operation, as overheating may cause several issues including explosions and equipment failure. In these situations, ambient cooling from an HVAC system might be inadequate to regulate the temperature.
Air-cooled or water-cooled chillers have greater cooling efficiencies than HVAC systems. Custom explosion-proof chillers from Klosco Solutions® can maintain stable process temperatures in electrically-classified locations. Any chiller we manufacture can be modified to become explosion-proof and comply with the relevant safety specifications.
Industrial Applications of Explosion-Proof Chillers
Explosion-proof unit coolers are utilized in a wide range of hazardous environments including chemical processing plants, oil and gas refineries, coal plants, and many other applications that utilize flammable gases and vapors. These chillers are suited to any type of hazardous area classification such as Zone 1/Division One and Zone 2/Division Two which covers most hazardous temperatures, gas groups, and dust groups.