Italian manufacturer Zudek has said that it sees “tons of potential” for natural refrigerants – particularly ammonia (R717) – in the HVAC sector.
To cater to this market as HFCs are phased out across the EU, the company recently announced it would be adapting its ammonia-based Airmatik chiller for use in commercial air-conditioning applications. The air-cooled monobloc unit was first launched in 2008 for use in industrial refrigeration and process cooling.
“This unit has been around for more than 15 years now, [and] what we are trying to do is to revise this unit in terms of a more HVAC-similar design,” Jakob Terčon, Business Development Manager at Zudek, told NaturalRefrigerants.com in a recent interview. “We would like to make the unit lighter because most of them are going to be [roof mounted].”
The interview took place during a tour of Zudek’s 5,000m2 (53,820ft2) production facility in Trieste, Italy, and featured an Airmatik unit that was being prepared for delivery to a customer in Switzerland. Once commissioned, the 350kW (99TR) chiller will be providing space cooling at the client’s facility, explained Ivan Zudek, Partner at the company.
Ivan also noted that Zudek plans to double its manufacturing footprint to meet growing demand for its custom-made ammonia HVAC&R systems.
Earlier this year, Zudek earned reapproval for the ATMO Approved Label, a global gold standard that highlights best-in-class manufacturers of natural refrigerant systems and components. The label program is managed by ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
“This unit has been around for more than 15 years now, [and] what we are trying to do is to revise this unit in terms of a more HVAC-similar design.”
Jakob Terčon, Business Development Manager at Zudek,
Ultra-low charge
Since Zudek’s founding in 1990, the company has worked exclusively with ammonia, focusing on producing energy-efficient low-charge units, explained Terčon.
“We work with really low charges because in Italy we have a special regulation that doesn’t allow you to use more than 75kg of ammonia,” added Ivan. “If you want to use more than 75kg you need to undertake special regulations paperwork and a lot of bureaucracy. Since the beginning we’ve always been keen to use less and less ammonia.”
For example, the Airmatik unit showcased during the factory tour includes an ammonia charge of just 37kg, which is the equivalent of 10.6g per kW of cooling capacity. According to Ivan, the Airmatik is capable of serving capacities of up to 1.1MW (312TR) with less than 100kg of ammonia – around 9.1g per kW.
“We’re working to reduce the charge even more,” he said.
