Legacy currently holds a patent on a new economizer technology used in integrated solutions for MRIs.

“If that particular clinic or hospital is in a colder region of the U.S., we use the outdoor air to cool the MRI rather than running the compressors in the chiller,” King says. “We are seeing that across the market, it’s a huge area for us.”


Later this fall, Legacy is launching a new retrofit solution is designed to reduce kwh in chillers that are used in mission clinical applications.

“What this will do is allow the company or end user to purchase this retrofit package and take their existing chiller and retrofit it with economizer technology,” King says. “You buy this equipment and it has all the software and hardware on it, you hook up the piping and electrical and it’s off to the races. If the climate is right—say, the northern U.S. where it is colder—you could be looking at reductions in kwh by as much as 50 percent.”

Dimplex has worked with one of its major OEM partners to design some pre-cooling economizers of their own. Called ECO20 and ECO30, the chillers can be used in colder months to help save energy.

“These operate in a similar way as a car’s radiator, bringing the fluid through air-cooled coils to pre-cool it prior to entering the chiller,” Dimplex’s Bernard says. "Any time your outdoor temperature reaches or is below the fluid set point, the economizer can provide partial to full cooling.”

For example, if a chiller needs to supply water at 55 degrees and it’s 45 degrees outside, the chiller’s compressors never have to turn on at all, so it saves money on operation and energy.

Energy conservation
Legacy offers on-line chiller audit tools where customers can take their existing chillers and input data to get an idea of how much they are currently spending. It then projects how much they would save if they made the investment on retrofit economizer technology.

Another big change in the chiller world is that R-22 a gas used in refrigerants was discovered to be a greenhouse gas and was subsequently phased-out through EPA regulations in January.

“We converted long before the deadline and have opted to use r407c refrigerant in our standard temp range systems, due to the efficiency, operating pressures and the low global warming potential,” Bernard says. “This goes along with the ecologically responsible movement that has been coming to the forefront with the green initiative.”

Yet another benefit of adopting equipment that employs green technology can be found in the tax-break incentives many states offer for increasing energy efficiency. These tax breaks can help offset the price of a chiller purchase.

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