Question : How do you size a water chiller/recirulator?
The inlet temp is 40C, outlet temp is 10C. Flowrate is 3.5 LPM. The coolant is water. Do I use Q=mcpdT to calculate the BTU/hr require? And that translates what cooling capacity the chiller to have?
water chiller

Best answer:

Answer by John
Since this looks like a homework problem, I won’t answer it just give you some guidance- you’ll have to go through with a caluclator.

delta T is 30 degrees C
flow is 3.5 lpm
specific heat of water is 1 cal/gram
density of water is 1 g/cc or 1kg/liter
3.5lpm = 3500 cc/min or 3500 cal/degree/min
with a 30 degree drop- 30×3500= 100500 cal/min
convert calorie to BTU (approx 250 cal/btu)
BTU/min= 400 BTU/min
x60= 24000 BTU/Hr
rule of thumb- 12000 BTU/Hr is a 1 ton Unit
so 2 tons