magnetic bearing chillers

[marcoh]

We are looking at installing some McQuay WMC water cooled frictionless magnetic bearing centrifugal compressor chillers. Main reason for selecting these chillers is their part load energy efficiency and the capacities they come in suits the building well.

I have heard (rumours from competitors)that some installations have had issues regarding reliability of these units so does anyone have any experience with these units?

 

[absrbrtek]

I could sit here and go on about flaws that every manufacturer of chillers has for hours. Like all new version of chillers the WMC has had its failures and successes, McQuay and Turbocore have both stepped up to the plate in honering the warranties and in continuing product improvement. IMO the product has been out long enough to clean up the majority of the problems. If I were buying one I would also purchase a five yr extended compressor warranty. Cheap insurance should you have an out of warranty failure. JMHO

 

[walkes]

Turbocor has been producing the compressors for some time in Australia.

I have one installation that has been through one cooling season now. Other than the normal startup issues there have been no problems with the chillers. With respect to these chillers there were some issues related to inexperience of the designer (me)and the start-up technician as they are new to our market.

The client loves them, when they are running full out you can stand beside them and carry-on a conversation without yelling.

One issue that we had was the installation of harmonic filters, shipped loose with a poor wiring diagram. They are available in 480V so I also needed transformers for 600V power in Canada (adding to the space heat load).

 

[ozmosis]

If I'm not wrong, the McQuay compressor using the magnetic bearings and built in VFD is the Turbocor, now owned by Danfoss.
From what I've seen and feedback from customers I know who've used them (Canada and Australia), they have been very good. Reliability is high but I know someone in Singapore who was interested and their feeling of service/support was rather limited so they decided not to risk it. Having a reliable product does not mean you can limit your service/support so I think Turbocor need to heed this and spread their expertise further than just N.America and Australia if they really wish to capitalise on the technology.

Check the support from your supplier. I have a feeling McQuay would rely heavily on Turbocor if anything was to go wrong.

 

[RossABQ]

I don't think Danfoss owns TurboCor; they simply have a license for selling new complete packaged chiller units, as does McQUay. There seems to be some division between them of the sizes and types of units each supplies. TurboCor on the other hand will retrofit existing chillers. The results for retrofits (provided by TurboCor, but appearing to be legit) are very impressive, especially at part-load (IPLV). IMO it would be foolish to not consider them, provided (as noted) you can get local support or wait for parts.

 

[ozmosis]

It's a 50/50 shared ownership between Danfoss and Turbocor.

http://www.danfoss.com/NewsAndEvent...e/Danfoss_and_Turbocor_Form_Joint_Venture.htm

 

[marcoh]

I am in Australia so service and backup should not be an issue (Both Powerpax and McQuay market the turbocor chillers)

So when will York/Carrier/Trane etc be offering magnetic bearings as the technology does seem to be the next step in providing further gains in efficiencies.