Vol. 51 No. 1 (2014)   New Products & Technologies
Technical Papers

First Domestic High-Efficiency Centrifugal Chiller with Magnetic Bearings: The ETI-MB Series

KENJI UEDA
YASUSHI HASEGAWA
NAOKI YAWATA
AKIMASA YOKOYAMA
YOSUKE MUKAI

The efficiency and functionality of centrifugal chillers has improved, and they have reached maturity as commercial products. Therefore it is necessary to employ new technologies and develop new products even more superior to existing ones. So far Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has worked on the enhancement of the rated performance and year-round efficiency by integrating an inverter as standard equipment, as well as the improvement of functionality with technologies for determining operational conditions and the support of highly-efficient operation. This paper describes the application technology of magnetic bearings to centrifugal chillers targeting a reduction of maintenance burden by customers. MHI has attained the further improvement of efficiency and maintainability in comparison to that of existing machines as a result of the proper handling of problems through the application of magnetic bearings to centrifugal chillers, commercializing a centrifugal chiller with magnetic bearings for the first time in Japan.