Making Below-Ambient Cooling Easier with Heat Exchangers

Heat exchangers became popular as a more affordable and eco-friendly solution than air conditioners for electrical thermal management. They achieve these benefits by eliminating the need to chill air with complex air-conditioning equipment, using simpler methods to transfer heat and prevent electrical overheating. However, there are many applications where chilled air is necessary to properly keep an electrical enclosure cooled. Whether that’s due to higher-than-usual energy output, particularly hot climates, or more, such applications have to be cooled to temperatures below the ambient temperature outside of the enclosures. Fortunately, high-performance, below-ambient heat exchangers can often provide the alternative, more cost-efficient solution they need.

When Below-Ambient Cooling Is Necessary

Many companies still rely on more complicated and expensive thermal management systems because they believe it’s the only way to achieve the low temperatures necessary for their systems to operate. For example, in food and beverage manufacturing, many applications require consistently low temperatures to keep products safe and consumable. In systems that operate in extremely hot climates, the temperature may be too high for conventional ambient heat exchangers to work. Even common applications, such as high-performance electronics, may be powerful enough to require below-ambient cooling to effectively control the waste heat it produces.

How Heat Exchangers Make It Easier

Heat exchangers use cooling fluid to transfer waste heat generated within an electrical enclosure, which keeps the air within the enclosure at just above the ambient temperature outside of it. In common applications, the maximum operating temperature is lower than the ambient temperature. However, below-ambient heat exchangers utilize cooling fluid that is chilled to a lower temperature, keeping the air within the enclosure below the ambient temperature. This helps companies achieve the same high-performance chilling necessary for some applications without having to rely on costly air conditioners.

For more information about how heat exchangers make below-ambient cooling easier, call Noren Thermal Solutions in Taylor, TX, at 866-936-6736.