Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)
87

Energy-efficient Centrifugal Chillers ofMHI Bingshan Refrigeration (Dalian) Co., Ltd.

S a l e s D e pa r t m e n t , Ai r - C o n d i t i o n i n g &Refrigeration Division
M a c h i n e r y, E q u i p m e n t & I n f r a s t r u c t u r e

In November 2013, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) established a joint company
with Dalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd. (DRC) of China. The joint company, MHI Bingshan
Refrigeration (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (MBRD), manufactures centrifugal chillers. MHI is responsible forprovision of highly efficient compressors and centrifugal chiller design technology, which is thefoundation of the high efficiency and solid reliability of our products. DRC, on the other hand,
supplies high-quality heat exchangers at low cost. Through MBRD, MHI and DRC started sales ofcentrifugal chillers specifically designed for the Chinese market in December 2014. While using
MBRD’s production of centrifugal chillers as the base for sales expansion in China, MHI will also
contribute to energy conservation in various countries by further releasing highly efficient
centrifugal chillers to global markets.

|1. Overview of the newly established joint company
MHI has the highest market share of manufacturers of centrifugal chillers in Japan.
Accentuated by their high efficiency and fine functionality, our products have been widely used forheat source systems of plant/factory air conditioning or manufacturing processes, district
heating/cooling heat supply, office air conditioning, etc. Thus, MHI has significantly contributed tothe improvement of heat source systems in terms of energy conservation and cost reduction.
Having initiated the introduction of variable speed control and magnetic bearings to compressors
ahead of its competitors, MHI promotes waste-heat utilization through the application ofturbocompressor heat pump systems and is also engaged in further improving the overall heatsource system efficiency by means of optimized management of the number of operating chillers orauxiliary equipment control.
DRC is the core company of Dalian Bingshan Group Co., Ltd., which specializes in
air-conditioning/cooling/refrigerating systems and petrochemical facilities, and is the largest
manufacturer of screw compressor chillers in China. DRC especially excels at low-temperaturechillers and its product portfolio is centered on the Bingshan (“iceberg”) brand of industrial
refrigeration systems. The Dalian Bingshan Group has invested in a total of 35 enterprises,
including foreign-capital firms as well as joint ventures with companies from Japan, the U.S.,
Germany and the U.K., and is China’s largest group of companies dealing in cooling products andfacilities such as food freezing, air conditioning and cooling for both industrial and household use.
As a joint venture between these two companies, MBRD was founded in Dalian City,Liaoning Province in November 2013 to manufacture centrifugal chillers (Figure 1). Its factory
was constructed on DRC’s plant site in Dalian City and has a floor area of approximately 12,000
square meters (Figure 2). It is equipped with separate specialized assembly lines for compressors
and chillers, as well as commissioning equipment for centrifugal chiller. With these manufacturing
facilities, the factory will serve as a large production base with an annual production capacity of500 units. MBRD has been licensed to manufacture MHI’s medium- and large-size centrifugal
chillers and is also provided with MHI’s highly efficient compressors. DRC, on the other hand,Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)88

supplies MBRD with high-quality heat exchangers at low cost and offers the expertise to realize
conformity with Chinese standards.

Figure 1

MHI’s manufacturing and sales bases for centrifugal chillers

Figure 2Exterior view of the new factory|2. Features of products for the Chinese marketChina is the world’s largest market for centrifugal chillers and in addition to U.S.-basedmakers, which undertake business activities globally, Japanese manufacturers and Chinese local
companies also compete in the Chinese market. As the market is still growing, sales competition isextremely high. Based on our state-of-the-art centrifugal chillers, MBRD can offer products withdual advantages: the world’s highest efficiency and functionality, and being designed especially tocomply with Chinese market demand. There are two series of product lineups available: the High
Efficiency Series, placing importance on performance, and the Standard Series, focusing on thebalance between performance and initial costs, thus enabling us to deal with diverse market needsfor chillers.
The following are the features of products for the Chinese market and their specifications are
given in Table 1.
(1) High efficiency
MBRD’s High Efficiency Series retain the high efficiency of our centrifugal chillers.
While securing better performance than the products of rival companies in the Chinese market,
the High Efficiency Series can be labeled as Grade 1 under the Chinese energy efficiency
standards (equivalent to a COP of 6.1 or higher according to GB standards) throughout theMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 52 No. 1 (March 2015)89

cataloged range (i.e., 600 to 1800 USRt). On the other hand, MBRD’s Standard Series attain
Grade 2 under the Chinese energy efficiency standards (equivalent to a COP of 5.6 or higher
according to GB standards), securing generally required performance levels.
(2) High-level functionality
Equipped with the same large liquid-crystal control panels as in the Japanese
specifications, MBRD’s products retain good usability for operational control and highvisibility of operation status. The board design has been simplified by rationalizing theprocessing of special data output/communications, while maintaining extended start-up
functions such as re-starting after instantaneous power failure, adoption of variable speed
control and high-precision controllability owing to use of high-efficiency CPU boards.
(3) Installability and transportability
To reduce the required space for installation, MBRD’s products retain the equipment
arrangement structure of MHI’s latest models in the GART Series, for which a nearly 20%
reduction in installation area has been achieved compared with conventional models. Even thelargest-capacity units can be transported under the Chinese transportation size limitations
without disassembling the main component, thus making it easy to be transported.
Table 1 Specifications of products for the Chinese market*1
Item
Chiller model type
Cooling capacity
Temperature
condition
Main power supply
voltage
COP*2

Unit
GART
USRt

High Efficiency Series
80P
100P
150P
800
1,000
1,500

70R
700

Standard Series
100R
150R
1,000
1,500°C

Chilled water: 12.0 / 7.0°C, cooling water: 30.0 / 34.7°C

V

380V/10kV―

6.42

6.62

10kV
6.48

380V/10kV
5.96

6.1

10kV
6.02

*1: The conditions other than chilled water and cooling water temperatures are in accordance with
GB/T18430.1-2007.
*2: COP stands for coefficient of performance and is an indicator of performance. Higher COPs suggest better
energy conservation. In refrigeration systems, COP shows cooling capacity (kW) per 1 kW of power
consumption.

|3. Future plans
By securing a manufacturing base in China, which is the world’s largest market for
centrifugal chillers, we will enhance our cost competitiveness and further expand our sales inChina, together with a view to further advancing and actively participating in global markets.