Swiss OEM Biaggini Frigoriferi had a good year in 2021, assembling and commissioning 10 transcritical CO2 (R744) refrigeration racks, including four integrated TotalGreEnergy CO2 booster systems and its first two reversible CO2 chillers for air conditioning and heating.
The company expects 2022 to be an even better year, with six new CO2 systems already underway, according to Biaggini Project Manager Luca Rossi on LinkedIn.
Biaggini has just completed an installation for a new transcritical CO2 booster system for a 4,000m2 (43,056ft2) supermarket, which includes parallel compressors, double heat recovery, multi-ejectors and air conditioning. In December, the company also completed a 200kW (56.9TR) water-cooled CO2 system with an intermediary hydraulic circuit, and heat recovery. The system is flexible and can be split into three sections for transport.
Fully reversible CO2 chillers
One of Biaggini’s big achievements last year was the installation of its first two reversible transcritical CO2 chillers in a shopping mall in Switzerland in June. The two ReversinGreEnergy chiller units can supply both AC and heating, and the system is one of the first of its kind, Biaggini said at the time.
The units have been running well since installation. “We are very satisfied with them,” Rossi noted in January 2022.
A unique feature of the new chillers is the double coils, where the gas cooler and evaporator coils are separated, ensuring the “best performances in both heating and cooling mode,” while at the same time optimizing the defrost cycle, said Rossi.
Another benefit to the new system is that it can easily be stopped and restarted to suit the heating/cooling needs of the mall, providing both energy and cost savings. “They can stay stopped for several weeks without the problem of pressure increasing, and the units are switched on only when an external digital signal tells them that the building needs heating or cooling capacity,” Rossi explained.
