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This is an excerpt from an article featured in ATMOsphere’s “Clean Cooling for Data Centers 2025” report, which can be downloaded here. ATMOsphere is the publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
Zudek is an Italian manufacturer of ammonia (R717) air- and water-cooled chillers, ammonia heat pumps and water–ammonia absorption chillers. The company is based in Trieste and has been working with ammonia since it was founded in 1990. Zudek also manufactures safety systems for ammonia chillers along with CO2 purification and liquefaction systems.
While Zudek has traditionally worked in the industrial refrigeration sector, the company said in 2024 that it sees “tons of potential” for ammonia in commercial HVAC and has more recently identified data centers as an area for growth.
A new chiller for data centers
Zudek offers both air- and water-cooled chillers for data centers, with the type of chiller depending on the capacity and the data center’s efficiency goals. Fabrizio Amati, Sales and Marketing Director at Zudek, explained that water-cooled chillers are often preferred in higher-capacity data centers, with space being a major factor.
“The capacity of an air-cooled chiller is limited due to the condensing area and the transportation trucks as the units cannot be longer than 13.5m [44.3ft],” Amati said. “A high-efficiency ammonia system can reach a cooling capacity of around 1MW [284TR]. If you have space, you can place a series of air-cooled chillers or one or two water-cooled chillers with evaporative condensers or cooling towers.”
Zudek’s move into commercial HVAC is being spearheaded by Windmatik, a new air-cooled ammonia chiller that is also being targeted at data centers. Windmatik was launched in 2025 and is designed with V-shaped condenser coils to provide a large heat dissipation area while still maintaining a compact footprint with its modular design.
It offers between 300kW and 1.16MW (85TR to 330TR) of cooling capacity and can chill fluids to between −8°C and 15°C (17.6°F to 59°F) in ambient temperatures up to 45°C (113°F). The V-shaped coil design increases the condensing surface by 20% compared with a traditional vertical condensing coil, according to Amati. It is equipped with EC fans. A unit can feature up to three semi-hermetic screw compressors with 25kg of ammonia refrigerant per circuit for configurations up to 1.16MW.
Ammonia is well known to those in industrial refrigeration, but for Zudek’s entry into the commercial HVAC and data center sectors the company wanted a chiller that would be more familiar.
“Windmatik is easier to use for people who aren’t used to working with ammonia,” said Amati. “With the semi-hermetic compressor, it looks like a hydrocarbon or synthetic refrigerant unit. If I didn’t say there was ammonia inside, you wouldn’t know.”
“Windmatik is easier to use for people who aren’t used to working with ammonia.”
Fabrizio Amati
Sales and Marketing Director at Zudek
