Litvinchuk Marketing Co.

central plant air conditioning. russian market 2005

Terminology

Chiller is a water-cooling device. This report covers all the chillers that can be used for comfort conditioning. It is worth noting that some of them have double-purpose. So, some Climaveneta and York chillers may be used for technological purposes, for example, for making artificial ice in sports palaces. Also, a number of chillers can be used as outdoor units for Close Control systems with water-cooled evaporator. Chillers intended only for technological purposes, for example, York ammoniarefrigeratingmachines or low-temperature chillers made by local manufacturers are not covered by the report. This type equipment is mentioned in process chillers section.

Chillers are classified as follows:

a) By design, these are air-cooled, water-cooled and condenserless chillers. Water-cooled and condenserless chillers are often referred to one group due to their similar design (nonexperts do not see any difference in their appearance) and availability of a remote unit. These are a dry cooler of water-cooled chiller and a remote condenser of condenserless chiller. Moreover, dry coolers and remote condensers have same design. An only difference between them is coolant. The first one uses water or ethyleneglycol, the second one – freon.

b) By compressor type, these are scroll, screw, reciprocation, centrifugal and absorption chillers.

c) By coolant, these are R-22, R-407C, R-410A, R-134a and lithium-bromide-operated chillers. Technological chillers sometimes use ammonia or more rare coolants like R-404 or R-12 (used by locally made machines).

d) By heat pump unit, these are «heat pump» and «cool only» chillers.

Compressor-condenser units (CCU) are used as a source of cold for AHUs. Unlike chillers air is cooled here with the use of freon evaporator. CCUs are classified, first of all, by design:

a) Chiller style CCUs are compressor-condenser units made on the basis of chillers without water circle.

b) Split style CCUs are outdoor units of high-capacity Splits used for the same purpose.

Chiller style CCUs are already equipped with automatic equipment needed to provide a constraining linkage to AHU. As for Split style CCUs, a set of automatic equipment for this purpose is not stipulated here. It should be bought in addition and requires professional skills for adjustment.

AHU (Air Handling Units) comprise air intake, exhaust air and extractor units. Those ones with 100% air re-circulation such as gas-fired Wolf units are not covered by the research.

All AHUs can be classified as follows:

a) By size, these are AHUs of full and compact size (streamline AHU). The latter are up to 40-50 cm in height and intended for hidden installation over suspended ceiling or in another secluded place. In most cases such AHU output is up to 5,500 m³/hour, there are some exceptions though. All other AHUs are classified as full-sized.

b) By types, these are AHUs of standard, semi-standard and none-standard types. Standard units have a designed set of sections and elements like Swegon's Gold series or Systemair's Rotovex, Gazel and Topvex. These units can not be improved with an extra sound-suppressing section or a filter of other class. Most part of air intake units are of standard type. Semi-standard units have standard height and width, while a number and the designated purpose of their sections can vary over a wide range. As to none-standard types, these are AHUs made by customers' order, for example, in case they need AHUs of non-standard width. These units output is more than 80,000 m³/hour, as standard size is not critical here.

c) By design, these are “double skin”, “single skin” and “triple skin” AHUs. “Double skin” AHUs with insulating layer between two metal sheets are the most popular ones. “Single skin” models with one outer metal sheet are uncommon. “Triple skin” AHUs with two insulating layers and three metal sheets are more common abroad.

d) By function, these are air intake, exhaust air and extractor units. The latter may be with recuperator or recirculator units.

e) By application, these are AHUs used for air heating, heating/cooling, only cooling and ventilation. The third type is not applied in Russia in view of cold winters.

Fan coils are room facilities equipped with a ventilator intended for cooling (cooling/heating) premises with the use of water cooled by chillers. In Russia they are often called fan convectors. What is called fan convectors in Europe is called VHU (ventilating and heating unit) in Russia. In Europe fan coils with VAV and CAV are called Terminal units. Fan coils can be classified as follows:

By number of pipes, there are two and four way fan coils.

a) By construction, these are cased and uncased fan coils.

b) By design, these are fan coils of traditional concealed and split types. The latter are designed as indoor units of Splits. This group includes Cassette and Wall-mounted fan coils, as well as uncased medium- and high-pressure fan coils. As a rule, concealed type fan coils can be both cased and uncased and installed both vertically and horizontally irrespective to construction type. Cased fan coils are more often placed on the floor.

VAV (Variable Air Volume) terminals are alternative to fan coils. Units like VAV are usually placed at a supply duct outlet. Controlling the opening or closing degree of the damper, they regulate room temperature by supplying cooled air generated by AHU according to the difference between the designed and the real temperature in the room.

CAV (Constant Air Volume) terminals are usually applied in case one needs to have the stable air supply irrespective to the speed of supply ventilator. This is achieved through regulation of the opening or closing degree of the damper. Thus, VAV and CAV are similar by design, but differ by the air damper control mode.

FAN CONVECTORS (ventilating and heating units), known in Europe as «fan convectors», work on the basis of hot water taken from the heating system. Unlike fan coils they can not be used for air cooling.

CU – Condenser Units & DC – Dry Coolers. Using freon as a coolant, condenser units are applied with condenserless chillers for extracting waste heat to the atmosphere. Due to the multi-functional character, they also can be used with Close Control A/Cs. But refrigeration engineering, where they operate in combination with low-temperature condenser units or run as components in manufacture of low-temperature compressor-condenser units, is the key sphere of their application.

Dry coolers are used for cooling the water washing chiller condenser. So, by function and design, they are very similar to condenser units, but use water as a coolant. It is also difficult to distinguish between their appearances. Due to their multi-functional character, they also operate as coolers for liquids used for engine cooling (water, oil) and other technological purposes.

Differing by construction, modular ventilation systems may act as an alternative to low output AHUs. All the elements of a ventilation system (tubeaxialfan, filter, heater, noise damper, and in some cases recuperator unit and mixing chamber) may be separated and connected by means of air pipes. As for AHUs, all these elements are the parts of a single unit. It is worth noting that modular ventilation systems are uncommon for many countries. They are mainly popular in Scandinavia, East Europe, Germany, Italy, Spain and the former Soviet Union. At the same time, they are not practically applied in England, USA, Asian, African and Latin American countries.

Roof and centrifugal ventilators. If tubeaxialfan, which is the basis of modular ventilation systems, may be used for both air intake and extraction, roof and centrifugal ventilators operate exclusively as air extractor units. So, they can operate together with such air intake systems as AHUs and sometimes with modular ventilation systems. In the Soviet times designers used to apply roof and centrifugal ventilators in extractor systems of ventilation, which supply air through window and door leaks. Such systems are mainly used at industrial objects.

Roof tops are roof mono bloc A/Cs with air-cooled condensers. Roof tops cool or heat incoming air and supply it to air-conditioned rooms. Unlike AHU, static pressure head created by roof tops is not great. That is why they are usually used for conditioning large premises located under roofs. These are supermarkets, railway stations, airports, exhibition halls and etc. One of the key roof top consumers is McDonald's restaurant. Roof tops are not good for conditioning many-stored building of untypical architectural planning.

Close Control A/Cs are designed for precise control of air climatic parameters. In Russia they are often called as precision air conditioners. Their key advantage is an ability to maintain precisely the designed temperature (±0,5ºС) round the year irrespective to the atmosphere conditions. For this purpose compressor is placed inside indoor units and heat exchanger areas are significantly extended as compared to that ones of other conditioners with the same cooling capacity. Close Control A/Cs use condenser units as “outdoor units”, which are mostly made by their manufacturers. However, some Close Control A/Cs use water cooled by chillers. Many Close Control systems can maintain not only temperature, but humidity also.

Cabinet-type A/Cs (Indoor Unit class) are similar to Close Control equipment by construction and appearance, but differ by temperature maintenance accuracy equal to ±2 ºС. As a rule compressors are placed inside indoor units and condenser units operate as outdoor units. Some models use water cooled by chiller as a source of cold. Mono bloc Cabinet-type A/Cs is less popular.

Prices

The A/C market turnover is calculated on the basis of dealer prices in view of the following facts. First, there is a great difference in retail prices that largely depend on the size of an object, a customer status and a region where A/Cs are sold. As compared to retail prices, dealer prices are more stable. Moreover, manufacturers' sales offices and most distributors separate retail prices from wholesale ones. Distributors' retail departments work as dealers and calculate their turnover in dealer prices. Second, it is inconvenient to operate with manufacturers' prices as in this case one has to compare FOB Europe prices of foreign manufacturers and DDP Moscow prices of local producers.
All Euro prices were converted to US dollar at average exchange rate of 2005 equal to €0,77 = $1 (€1 = $1,3). All the changes in Euro prices for the period under report are taken into account.
AHU and fan coil prices are given without considering the cost of controls unless the latter are their integral parts like in case of standard compact AHU, for example, Systemair Maxi or Wall-mounted fan coils.
The equipment covered by the report is compared by its objective characteristics. So, the market shares of chillers and CCUs were compared by cool output, while AHUs were compared by air output. The comparison of chillers and AHUs by sale volume is not representative as it is of no use to compare 1 MW chiller even with 20 mini-chillers of 17 kW. If one compares them by sale value, the price difference between brands and equipment of various outputs may distort the whole market pattern. So, it is much more objective to estimate the market by equipment output, as the key issue that initiates any project is what kind of equipment to choose to achieve the required output. Some customers choose a certain number of chillers, others – CCUs or rooftops. The same is true for AHUs.