Applications
Applications
The Big Picture
From air-conditioned buildings and cold chains to superconducting magnets and medical cryotherapy, the demand for efficient, reliable cooling continues to grow — and so does the need for better technology to deliver it.
of global electricity consumption is used for cooling and refrigeration
Source: IEA / UNEPexpected increase in global cooling demand by 2050
Source: IEA Future of Coolingand below — achievable with reversed Brayton cycle turbomachinery
Turbochill cryocooler platformThe Turbochill Approach
Turbochill's oil-free, high-speed centrifugal compressors serve as the core of modern refrigeration and cryogenic systems — from conventional chillers operating near ambient temperatures to cryocoolers reaching well below −100 °C.
Our rotating machinery is built on gas and active magnetic bearings, eliminating oil from the refrigerant circuit entirely. This means zero contamination, longer component life, and dramatically simplified system design — advantages that matter whether you're building a commercial chiller or a scientific cryostat.
We work across three distinct application areas — each leveraging the same fundamental technology platform, scaled and configured to meet very different cooling demands.
Centrifugal Chillers
High-speed centrifugal compressors are the natural successor to reciprocating and scroll machines — delivering higher capacity, lower vibration, and oil-free operation in a fraction of the footprint.
High-speed impellers driven by permanent magnet motors compress refrigerants without any lubricant in the circuit — eliminating oil management hardware and heat exchanger fouling.
Variable-speed drive enables the compressor to match the cooling load precisely — maintaining high COP across the full operating range, not just at nominal conditions.
From small commercial installations to large industrial cooling plants — the same technology scales cleanly, offering system integrators a single platform for a wide product range.
Reversed Brayton Cycle Cryocoolers
When standard refrigeration isn't cold enough, Turbochill develops customized cryocoolers based on the reversed Brayton cycle — capable of reaching temperatures that vapour compression systems simply cannot achieve.
The reversed Brayton cycle uses a gas (typically helium, neon, or nitrogen) as the working fluid, expanded through a high-speed turboexpander to reach cryogenic temperatures. Paired with a turbine-driven compressor on a common shaft, the result is a compact, oil-free cryocooler with no reciprocating parts and exceptional reliability.
The system is designed around your process requirements. Whether you need −100 °C for industrial freeze-drying or −200 °C for cryogenic research, the cycle parameters and working gas are tailored to deliver exactly the temperature you need.
Cryogenic cooling for superconductor systems, gas liquefaction, pharmaceutical cold chains, cryotherapy and cryosurgery, space simulation chambers, and advanced materials research — all from a single scalable platform.
No reciprocating pistons, no oil, no contact wear. High-speed rotating design means smooth, continuous operation — tens of thousands of hours between service intervals, with vibration levels low enough for sensitive scientific instruments.
Custom Engineering
There is no one-size-fits-all in cryogenics. Turbochill works with each client — from initial thermodynamic analysis through detailed mechanical design to prototype testing — to develop a cryocooler matched precisely to the target temperature, cooling capacity, and operating environment.
Heat-to-Chill Conversion
What if surplus heat could drive a cooling system directly — with almost no electricity? High-speed turbomachinery makes this possible.
In many industrial processes, waste heat is abundant but cooling is what's actually needed. Conventional approaches either waste the heat entirely or require large amounts of electrical energy to produce cold separately.
A new generation of ORC-VCC systems (Organic Rankine Cycle coupled with a Vapour Compression Cycle) changes this equation. The waste heat drives a small organic Rankine turbine, which in turn powers a centrifugal compressor in a vapour compression chiller — all on a single high-speed shaft. The result is chilled water or process cooling produced almost entirely from thermal energy, with minimal electrical input.
Turbochill's oil-free rotating machinery is ideally suited for this architecture: the same bearing technology, the same compact form factor, and the same reliability that define our compressor and expander platforms.
This approach is being actively developed by our colleagues in the CoolerHeat research project, demonstrating that compact, efficient, heat-driven cooling is not a distant concept — it is being built and tested today.
Why It Matters
For facilities with excess thermal energy — data centres, industrial plants, district heating networks — ORC-VCC technology offers a path to cooling that is largely independent of the electrical grid, with significantly lower operating costs and a dramatically reduced carbon footprint.
Key Advantages
From conventional chillers to deep cryogenics, our technology gives system builders a foundation that conventional compressors cannot match.
Gas and magnetic bearings eliminate lubricant contamination from the refrigerant loop — improving heat transfer, extending component life, and simplifying system design.
The same core technology covers conventional chilling, deep-freeze, and cryogenic temperatures — one engineering partner for your entire cooling portfolio.
Contact-free bearings and no reciprocating parts mean exceptional service life. Systems are designed for continuous, unattended operation in demanding environments.
Pure rotary motion produces negligible vibration — essential for laboratory instruments, medical equipment, and precision manufacturing environments.
Ready to Cool?
Whether you need a high-efficiency chiller compressor, a custom cryocooler for ultra-low temperatures, or a heat-driven cooling system — our engineering team is ready to work with you from concept through prototype.
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