The impact of systems for heating or air conditioning large spaces is one of the items on the agenda of many companies. Here is a winning proposal for your customers.


Whether it is a high-rise building housing a number of offices, a shopping centre or a manufacturing plant, every large building  that generates a significant amount of heat needs a system that ensures extremely efficient air conditioning. 

The current situation, where energy costs for businesses continue to rise, requires us to be even more careful and avoid any possible waste or miscalculation. This is why the use of one or more Chillers combined with a range of fan coils can really make the difference, providing the option of cooling very large spaces with substantial cost savings.

Schema circuito frigorifero

How do Chillers work?

Just like traditional domestic air conditioners, Chillers use a refrigerant liquid that can perform the so-called refrigerating cycle. In this particular process, the liquid lowers the temperature of the water circulating round a specific circuit (hydronic system), removing the excess heat produced in the building and supplying the necessary cooling energy to the various users.

There are 4 main components in a Chiller: the Compressor, the Condenser, the Expansion valve and the Evaporator.

This is  a kind of heat exchanger that “uses” the temperature difference between the refrigerant liquid and the water circulating round the hydronic system to absorb the excess thermal energy. As the water cools, helping to improve air conditioning in the building, the refrigerant liquid changes from a liquid state to a gaseous state while maintaining a relatively low pressure.

In order to change back to the liquid state through the condensation process, the gas must increase its temperature and pressure. An operation that is carried out by the Compressor which, as its name indicates, compresses the refrigerant gas.

This  can be considered as a coil that can dissipate the heat of the gas in the surrounding environment, using air or water, allowing it to change back to a liquid state.

This device generates major physical changes to the liquid, which sees its pressure decrease and can consequently evaporate at a lower temperature. Once the refrigerant comes out of the expansion valve, it goes back into the evaporator to begin the cycle again.

Chiller with water or air condenser?

There are two main types of chiller, which differ according to the agent used to cool the condenser. 

  1. Air-cooled devices are the most popular on the market (almost 80%) and are the ideal solution for buildings with infrastructural or environmental restrictions. The condenser in air-cooled chillers has cooling fins and fans that force air through, and it must be installed outdoors to expel the heat into the atmosphere. 
  2. Water-cooled chillers, on the other hand, have a water circuit that can remove heat from the refrigerant liquid. They are also larger than the air-cooled ones as they require cooling towers, dry coolers or other components that cool the water in the circuit.
Chillers and Fan Coils in hydronic systems

Chillers and Fan Coils are two of the main devices in the hydronic system, and are among the best known air conditioning solutions for large buildings. 

As the word itself says, in this system, thermal energy for heating or cooling energy for cooling is distributed through water pipes in which hot or cold water produced by an external unit circulates. 

The chiller is the device behind the system which, thanks to the liquid running through the refrigerating cycle between the evaporator and the condenser, ensures that the water is cooled (or heated if the device also operates in heat pump mode). The cold water is then supplied to the indoor units, i.e. the Fan Coils, thereby allowing them to deliver hot or cold air to the various rooms, before going back to the chiller.

3 good reasons to choose a system with Chillers and Fan Coils

A hydronic system made up of Chillers and Fan Coils provides significant benefits, especially in terms of savings. 

  • The use of Fan Coils enables the system to work at a lower temperature than Chillers combined with traditional radiators, resulting in lower energy consumption and a visible benefit in terms of reduced energy bills. 
  • The system also provides the utmost versatility. Chillers can in fact also work in heat pump mode and be used not only for cooling but also for heating the building. 
  • Last but not least, the hydronic system is environmentally friendly because it uses water (whereas in chillers, refrigerant liquid with a low environmental impact flows instead). The result is that there is no environmental pollution if there are any leaks. 

Clivet’s solutions

To offer the best energy efficiency throughout the year and in every commercial and industrial application, Clivet offers a wide range of Chillers with inverter scroll compressor (up to 100 kW), multiscroll compressor (up to 675 kW), inverter screw compressor (up to 1520 kW) and inverter centrifugal compressor (up to 1600 kW). Clivet is also at the forefront when it comes to using R32 refrigerant with a low environmental impact (for inverter scroll and multiscroll Chillers) and R1234ze refrigerant with practically no environmental impact (for Chillers with inverter screw compressors).


Clivet’s latest innovations launched on the market include:

  • ELFOEnergy Sheen EVO (from 43 to 98 kW) and ELFOEnergy Storm EVO (from 53 to 85 kW), air-cooled Chillers with R32 refrigerant, inverter technology and high seasonal efficiency (SEER up to 5.37 for the first, SEER up to 4.89 for the second);
  • SPINChiller4 (da 220 a 675 kW), the air-cooled Chiller with R32 refrigerant, multiscroll technology and high seasonal efficiency (SEER up to 5.00); 
  • Two ranges of air-cooled Chillers with inverter screw compressors and high seasonal efficiency (SEER up to 5.4):  Screwline4-i WDAT-iZ4 (from 200 to 1050 kW) with R1234 refrigerant  and Screwline4-i WDAT-iK4 (da 280 a 1420 kW) with R513A refrigerant with low environmental impact;
  • Screwline4-i WDH-iK4 (da 340 a 1520 kW), a new range of water-cooled Chillers with high seasonal efficiency inverter screw compressors (SEER up to 8.6) that use R513A refrigerant with low environmental impact;  
  • WCH-iZ (from 810 to 1600 kW), the centrifugal chiller with R1234ze refrigerant and high seasonal efficiency (SEER up to 9.64).
chillers e fancoils di clivet