Free-cooling system suitable for chillers

Abstract

A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration system includes: two or more cooling coils configured to receive a flow of a refrigerant; a mechanical cooling loop in fluid communication with the two or more cooling coils; a free-cooling loop in fluid communication with the cooling coils; a pump in fluid communication with the cooling coils; and a controller. The controller is configured to operate a speed of the pump to apportion the flow of the refrigerant between the two or more cooling coils such that a first portion of the refrigerant flowing through at least one of the two or more cooling coils is flowing along the mechanical cooling loop and a second portion of the refrigerant flowing through at least one of the two or more cooling coils is flowing along the free-cooling loop. The mechanical cooling loop and the free-cooling loop are configured to operate simultaneously.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.