A dry cooler runs closed loop and rejects heat to air, consuming no circulating water and producing no drift or scale. The trade-off is that outlet temperature is bounded by ambient dry-bulb — the hotter the site, the higher the fluid temperature you can achieve. A cooling tower evaporates, so it can approach wet-bulb and go below dry-bulb, but it needs continuous make-up, blowdown and water treatment. Sites short of water, paying high water prices, dealing with poor water quality, prohibited from drift, or unwilling to maintain a water system generally choose the dry cooler. A tower — or adiabatic pre-cooling on the dry cooler — comes into play when the process demands fluid below dry-bulb, or when summer extremes would otherwise force an oversized machine.
Dry Coolers and Air-Cooled Condensers
Air-side heat rejection for five media — water and glycol, refrigerant, ammonia, CO₂ and thermal oil — selected across flat, V-bank, V-Jumbo and containerised arrangements.
Key Metrics
Product Features
Four arrangements
Flat, V-bank, V-Jumbo and containerised cover everything from a tight plant slot to a large array. At equal duty the V-bank uses the least footprint, the flat unit is the lowest, and the containerised unit ships as a standard box.
Four arrangements
Flat, V-bank, V-Jumbo and containerised cover everything from a tight plant slot to a large array. At equal duty the V-bank uses the least footprint, the flat unit is the lowest, and the containerised unit ships as a standard box.
Four arrangements
Flat, V-bank, V-Jumbo and containerised cover everything from a tight plant slot to a large array. At equal duty the V-bank uses the least footprint, the flat unit is the lowest, and the containerised unit ships as a standard box.
Five media
Water and glycol, R404A-class refrigerant, ammonia, transcritical CO₂ and ISO VG 46 thermal oil each have their own rating basis. Capacity moves with the medium and the duty point, so figures cannot be carried across media.
EC or AC fans
Impeller diameters of 910, 1250, 1600 and 1800 mm. EC fans modulate steplessly, run stable at low load and report their operating state; AC fans cost less and suit steady duty. Selection follows the noise and control requirement.
Adiabatic pre-cooling
Evaporative pad or spray lowers entering-air temperature during high dry-bulb hours, trading a little water in summer for capacity rather than oversizing the unit. Tank, pump and self-drain come with the selected method.
Materials by corrosion class
Tube, fin and frame are specified independently — from bare aluminium fin through stainless, titanium and Blygold coating — against the site corrosion class and media compatibility.
Interfaces fixed first
Flange size, orientation and centre distance, plus the power and control entry points, are settled on drawings before manufacture. Site work is limited to connecting pipe and cable.
Product Details
The flat unit lays the coil horizontally, giving the lowest overall height — the choice where headroom is limited or where service access comes from above; fans sit in a single or double row. The V-bank tilts two coil slabs into a Λ, cutting footprint width noticeably at the same coil area, which is why it dominates on tight sites. V-Jumbo steepens and deepens the coil for a step up in single-unit capacity, at the cost of both width and height. The containerised unit builds the machine onto a standard box frame — 6058 or 12192 mm long, 2438 mm wide, 2896 mm high, or 2758 mm wide with a pad — so sea and road transport stay inside standard limits. Start from the site rather than the duty: intake clearance, service access, lifting conditions and transport envelope usually narrow the choice first.
Each medium carries its own rating basis, and a capacity figure means nothing detached from it. Water and glycol are rated at 25 °C ambient, 40 °C in, 35 °C out. R404A-class refrigerant and ammonia are rated at 35 °C ambient, 50 °C condensing. Transcritical CO₂ is rated at 32 °C ambient, 113 °C in, 94 bar, 34 °C out. ISO VG 46 thermal oil is rated at 35 °C ambient, 85 °C in, 60 °C out. The same machine changes capacity when the medium changes even though the coil area does not, and the same medium changes capacity when the duty point moves. Every capacity range in the specification table carries its basis; ranges taken at different bases must not be compared side by side.
Impeller diameters are 910, 1250, 1600 and 1800 mm, with fans arranged along the unit in one or two rows. EC fans modulate steplessly, holding reduced speed at part load instead of cycling, and report running current, power and temperature. AC fans run on an inverter or in staged groups at lower cost, and multiple fans can be rotated to even out service life. Fan protection is IP55; high-ambient motors and explosion-proof fans are available. On noise-critical sites the answer is usually a combination of lower speed and more coil area rather than a different fan model alone.
Adiabatic pre-cooling puts water into the entering air to bring dry-bulb temperature down toward wet-bulb, recovering capacity during hot hours. The pad method fits corrugated cellulose media across the intake face; water is distributed along the top and what does not evaporate returns, producing no droplets or aerosol. The spray method atomises water directly into the intake or onto the fin face — simpler in construction, stricter on water quality. Both carry a tank, pump and self-drain: the system drains for winter or extended shutdown to avoid freezing and stagnation. Whether pre-cooling earns its place depends on how many hours it actually runs at the site's dry-bulb and wet-bulb distribution.
Materials are specified in three independent layers. Tubes can be copper, CuNi B10 or B30, stainless 304 or 316L, or titanium. Fins can be bare aluminium, hydrophilic aluminium, AlMg, copper, epoxy-coated aluminium, gold phenolic-coated aluminium, Blygold-coated aluminium or copper, stainless 304 or 316, or tinned copper. Frames can be powder-coated aluminium, powder-coated galvanised steel, hot-dip galvanised steel, stainless 304 or 316L, or AlMg. Coastal salt spray, acidic gases on chemical sites and the achievable cleaning interval on dusty sites are what drive the combination. Corrosion class and media compatibility are confirmed during selection, and incompatible combinations are not mixed on one machine.
The hydraulic side terminates in inlet and outlet flanges; size, quantity, orientation and centre distance are confirmed at drawing stage, and vent and drain connections are provided on the unit with high and low point elevations checked against site levels. The electrical side takes a power feed and a control signal group, with supply capacity rated against the final fan and pump configuration; the control signal can be pushed to a third-party monitoring platform. ETENZ takes responsibility for unit selection and supply, enclosure-side penetrations and fixing foundations, interface coordination, and the piping and electrical connection between the unit and the enclosure interface point; process-side piping, circulation pumps and water treatment beyond that point sit with the project or are agreed separately. Thermal performance is governed by the selection calculation.
Delivery Scope Options
Equipment supply
Scope 1Equipment supply
Selected against the project duty and supplied as a unit: assembled and test-run in the works, shipped complete, with the selection calculation, general arrangement drawing, interface drawing and inspection records handed over. On standalone supply the scope ends at the unit and its loose items.
Scope Includes:
Equipment supply
Scope 1Equipment supply
Selected against the project duty and supplied as a unit: assembled and test-run in the works, shipped complete, with the selection calculation, general arrangement drawing, interface drawing and inspection records handed over. On standalone supply the scope ends at the unit and its loose items.
Scope Includes:
Technical Specifications
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Arrangement | Flat / V-bank / V-Jumbo / containerised Per selection |
| Fan rows | Single / double Per selection |
| Containerised length | 6058 (20HQ) / 12192 (40HQ) mm · Standard box |
| Containerised width | 2438; 2758 with pad mm · Standard box |
| Containerised height | 2896 mm · Standard box |
| Fluid cooling (water) | 61-3212 kW · Ta 25 °C / Tin 40 °C / Tout 35 °C |
| Refrigerant condensing (R404A class) | 73-3170 kW · Ta 35 °C / Tk 50 °C |
| Ammonia condensing | 72-3279 kW · Ta 35 °C / Tk 50 °C |
| CO₂ gas cooling | 81-2311 kW · Ta 32 °C / Tin 113 °C / 94 bar / Tout 34 °C |
| Oil cooling (ISO VG 46) | 65-5797 kW · Ta 35 °C / Tin 85 °C / Tout 60 °C |
| Heat exchange surface | 96-14767 m² · Per selected model |
| Impeller diameter | 910 / 1250 / 1600 / 1800 mm · Per selection |
| Fan type | EC stepless / AC fixed speed or inverter Per selection |
| Fan protection | IP55 Fan data sheet |
| Special fans | High-ambient motor / explosion-proof, optional Project confirmation |
| Supply and input power | Rated against final fan and control configuration Project confirmation |
| Tube material | Cu / CuNi B10 / B30 / SUS304 / SUS316L / Ti Per selection |
| Fin material | Bare Al / hydrophilic Al / AlMg / Cu / epoxy Al / gold phenolic Al / Blygold / SUS304 / SUS316 / tinned Cu Per selection |
| Frame material | Powder-coated Al / powder-coated galvanised / hot-dip galvanised / SUS304 / SUS316L / AlMg Per selection |
| Connection type | Flange / threaded / welded / stainless coupler Per selection |
| Adiabatic method | Pad / spray (optional) Per selection |
| Water pressure, flow and quality | Confirmed against project water analysis Project confirmation |
| Structural loads | Snow and wind loads to site values Project confirmation |
| Data push | Interface available to third-party monitoring platform Per control scheme |
Product FAQs
EC fans modulate steplessly and hold reduced speed at part load. Since a unit spends most of the year below design duty, the energy difference usually becomes visible within a few years of operation, and the fans report current, power and temperature for remote monitoring. AC fans cost less to buy, run on an inverter or in staged groups, and can be rotated between units to even out service life. Projects with tight noise limits, wide annual load swings or a monitoring platform lean EC; steady-load, budget-driven projects are well served by AC.
It depends on the site's dry-bulb and wet-bulb distribution. Pre-cooling only acts during high dry-bulb hours, and the hours it runs depend on local climate together with how much margin the selection carries — the same machine selected at a summer extreme rather than a typical condition will call on pre-cooling very differently. The way to answer it is to run the site's hourly weather data against the selection point, not to apply a rule of thumb. Water consumption, water quality requirements and winter drain-down maintenance belong in the same calculation.
Air density falls with altitude, so mass flow at a given speed falls and heat rejection with it. Selection must apply an air density correction for the actual altitude rather than reading a sea-level table. Fan motor cooling and insulation are affected too, so motors are derated or specified for high altitude. High-altitude sites also tend to bring large diurnal swings and strong UV, which feed into coating and seal selection.
Tube, fin and frame are chosen separately. Coastal salt-spray sites generally move the fin to a coated aluminium or Blygold finish and the frame to hot-dip galvanised or stainless. Sites with acidic gases need media compatibility assessed, which may push the tube to stainless or titanium. Cleaning conditions matter as much as the environment — a site that can be washed on a regular interval can relax the specification, while a site that cannot be taken offline needs to be specified fully at the outset.
Yes. The controller offers a data interface that pushes running state, alarms and fan speed to a third-party supervisory platform, and EC fans additionally report current, power and temperature. The protocol, point list scope and wiring arrangement are agreed when the control scheme is confirmed; different fan types and panel configurations expose different point lists.
The selection calculation, general arrangement drawing, interface drawing and works inspection records ship with the unit. Where adiabatic pre-cooling, a control panel or steel support structure is included, the corresponding documentation is handed over with it. Third-party witnessed testing or reports in a specific format are agreed at scheduling stage. Document language follows the target market.
Five items give a preliminary selection: medium and concentration, inlet and outlet temperatures, flow rate or heat load, site ambient design temperature, and site altitude. For a contract-grade quotation add noise limits, corrosion class, supply voltage and frequency, control and communication requirements, available site dimensions and lifting conditions, plus the standards and document list for the target market.
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