Engineering Bulletin

Close-Spacing and Restricted Air-

flow Situations
Ascend™ Chiller Models ACR and ACS
Sintesis™ Chiller Model RTAF

SAFETY WARNING
Only qualified personnel should install and service the equipment. The installation, starting up, and servicing of
heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment can be hazardous and requires specific knowledge and training.
Improperly installed, adjusted or altered equipment by an unqualified person could result in death or serious injury.
When working on the equipment, observe all precautions in the literature and on the tags, stickers, and labels that are
attached to the equipment.

May 2020 AC-PRB001B-EN

Introduction
Read this manual thoroughly before operating or servicing
this unit.
Warnings, Cautions, and Notices
Safety advisories appear throughout this manual as
required. Your personal safety and the proper operation of
this machine depend upon the strict observance of these
precautions.
The three types of advisories are defined as follows:
WARNING
Proper Field Wiring and Grounding
Required!
Failure to follow code could result in death or serious
injury. All field wiring MUST be performed by qualified
personnel. Improperly installed and grounded field
wiring poses FIRE and ELECTROCUTION hazards. To
avoid these hazards, you MUST follow requirements for
field wiring installation and grounding as described in
NEC and your local/state electrical codes.

Indicates a potentially hazardous

WARNING situation which, if not avoided, could
result in death or serious injury.
Indicates a potentially hazardous
CAUTIONs situation which, if not avoided, could
result in minor or moderate injury. It
could also be used to alert against
unsafe practices.
NOTICE Indicates a situation that could result in
equipment or property-damage only
accidents.
WARNING
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Required!
Failure to wear proper PPE for the job being undertaken
could result in death or serious injury. Technicians, in
order to protect themselves from potential electrical,
mechanical, and chemical hazards, MUST follow
precautions in this manual and on the tags, stickers,
and labels, as well as the instructions below:

Important Environmental Concerns • Before installing/servicing this unit, technicians

MUST put on all PPE required for the work being
Scientific research has shown that certain man-made undertaken (Examples; cut resistant gloves/sleeves,
chemicals can affect the earth’s naturally occurring butyl gloves, safety glasses, hard hat/bump cap, fall
stratospheric ozone layer when released to the protection, electrical PPE and arc flash clothing).
atmosphere. In particular, several of the identified ALWAYS refer to appropriate Safety Data Sheets
chemicals that may affect the ozone layer are refrigerants (SDS) and OSHA guidelines for proper PPE.
that contain Chlorine, Fluorine and Carbon (CFCs) and
• When working with or around hazardous chemicals,
those containing Hydrogen, Chlorine, Fluorine and
ALWAYS refer to the appropriate SDS and OSHA/GHS
Carbon (HCFCs). Not all refrigerants containing these
(Global Harmonized System of Classification and
compounds have the same potential impact to the
Labeling of Chemicals) guidelines for information on
environment. Trane advocates the responsible handling of
allowable personal exposure levels, proper
all refrigerants-including industry replacements for CFCs
respiratory protection and handling instructions.
and HCFCs such as saturated or unsaturated HFCs and
HCFCs. • If there is a risk of energized electrical contact, arc, or
flash, technicians MUST put on all PPE in accordance
Important Responsible Refrigerant with OSHA, NFPA 70E, or other country-specific
Practices requirements for arc flash protection, PRIOR to
servicing the unit. NEVER PERFORM ANY
Trane believes that responsible refrigerant practices are
SWITCHING, DISCONNECTING, OR VOLTAGE
important to the environment, our customers, and the air
TESTING WITHOUT PROPER ELECTRICAL PPE AND
conditioning industry. All technicians who handle
ARC FLASH CLOTHING. ENSURE ELECTRICAL
refrigerants must be certified according to local rules. For
METERS AND EQUIPMENT ARE PROPERLY RATED
the USA, the Federal Clean Air Act (Section 608) sets forth
FOR INTENDED VOLTAGE.
the requirements for handling, reclaiming, recovering and
recycling of certain refrigerants and the equipment that is
used in these service procedures. In addition, some states
or municipalities may have additional requirements that
must also be adhered to for responsible management of
refrigerants. Know the applicable laws and follow them.

© 2020 Trane AC-PRB001B-EN

 Introduction

WARNING
Follow EHS Policies!
Failure to follow instructions below could result in
death or serious injury.
• All Trane personnel must follow the company’s
Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) policies
when performing work such as hot work, electrical,
fall protection, lockout/tagout, refrigerant handling,
etc. Where local regulations are more stringent than
these policies, those regulations supersede these
policies.
• Non-Trane personnel should always follow local
regulations.

Copyright
This document and the information in it are the property of
Trane, and may not be used or reproduced in whole or in
part without written permission. Trane reserves the right
to revise this publication at any time, and to make changes
to its content without obligation to notify any person of
such revision or change.

Trademarks
All trademarks referenced in this document are the
trademarks of their respective owners.

AC-PRB001B-EN 3
Table of Contents
Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Case 1
Two Chillers Side by Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Case 2
Two Chillers End to End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Case 3
Three or More Chillers Side by Side . . . . . . 6
Recommended Installation
of Multiple Chillers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Special Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Case 4
Restricted Airflow on One Side . . . . . . . . . . 7
Case 5
Decorative Walls on All Sides . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Case 6
Pits or Solid Walls Surrounding Unit . . . . 10
Recommended Installation
Walls/Obstructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Performance Decrease From External Static
Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 AC-PRB001B-EN
Scope
This engineering bulletin covers application of the air-
cooled Ascend™ ACR and Sintesis™ chillers in close
spacing and restricted airflow situations.
General Information
Air-cooled chillers are frequently applied in situations
where close spacing of multiple chillers is required. They
are also applied in situations that result in restricted
airflow due to walls and other obstructions. The air-cooled
Ascend™ or Sintesis™ chiller offers an advantage over
competitive equipment in many of these situations.
Performance is minimally affected in many restricted
airflow situations due to its unique condensing coil
geometry. Also, through its advanced Adaptive Control™
microprocessor logic, the chiller will attempt to stay on-
line whereas competitors’ chillers may shut down.
Adaptive Control microprocessor logic describes the
ability of the control system to understand the operating
environment of the chiller and adapt to it by first
optimizing its performance and second, attempting to stay
on-line through abnormal conditions. For example, high
ambient temperatures combined with a restricted airflow
situation will generally not cause unit shutdown.
Competitor’s chillers would typically shut down on high
pressure cutout in these conditions.
The chiller has 3 coil configurations that minimize
performance effects in close spacing and restricted airflow
situations.
Figure 1. Air flow
Airflow
Airflow
An example of condenser air redistribution when the
airflow is restricted is shown in Figure 2. A wall or other
obstruction has been placed close to one side of the chiller
and airflow is restricted. The side of the unit near the wall
experiences restricted air flow but the opposite side of the
unit can supply enough air to result in minimal
AC-PRB001B-EN
performance degradation if minimum service clearance is
provided.
Figure 2. Air redistribution with a wall restricting the
air flow
Airflow
Open
Area
Airflow
Wall or Air freely enters and
distributes to inner coils
Other
Obstruction
The remainder of this engineering bulletin describes
various commonly encountered close spacing and
restricted airflow installations. The performance changes
are in terms of % Capacity (Tons) reduction and %
Compressor Power (kW) increase at full load. Adjust the
performance given in the catalog or selection program
using performance adjustment factors taken from the
graphs. For example, assume that a chiller selection is
made that gives a catalog capacity of 180 tons at 195 kW
(compressor power). Because of the actual installed
conditions, one of the cases given in this engineering
bulletin applies. A 1% capacity reduction and a 2% power
increase is taken from the graphs for that case. The
adjusted performance would be:
Adjusted Capacity= (1 - .01) x 180 tons= 178.2 tons
Adjusted Compressor Power = (1 + .02) x 195 kW = 198.9
kW
Increases in power required may limit the maximum
ambient the unit is capable of.
In complicated installations, some uncertainty may exist
relative to performance and control. Remember, Trane’s
unique Adaptive Control™ microprocessor logic will make
as much chilled water as possible, given the actual
installation, and avoid nuisance high pressure cutouts.
Consult with Product Support for any unusual applications
not covered by this bulletin.
5
Scope

Case 1 Case 3
Two Chillers Side by Side Three or More Chillers Side by
The most common case is that of two chillers located side Side
by side as shown in Figure 3. Minimum recommended
service clearance between units (D) is 7’. Note: For optimum performance, this configuration is not
recommended. See following section.
Figure 3. Two chiller side by side See Figure 5. Minimum recommended service clearance
between units (D) is 7’. The performance effect of Chillers
A and C (outside units) is given in Case 1. When distance
D is 7’, the performance effect on Chiller B (center unit) due
to close spacing is 3% capacity reduction and 5% power
D
increase.The performance degradation of the center unit
is due to recirculated air, which is unavoidable. Unlike the
outside units, both sides of the center unit will see
recirculated air.
.

The performance effect of chillers placed side by side is

Figure 5. Three or more chillers installed side by side
small (1.3% capacity reduction, and 2.6% power increase).
As previously discussed, only one side of the unit is Chiller A Chiller B Chiller C
affected by the air recirculation caused by close spacing.
There is sufficient open area on the opposite side to
minimize performance degradation in the situation.
D D
Spacing of chillers less than 7 ft is not recommended due
to service considerations and air recirculation.

Case 2
Two Chillers End to End Recommended Installation
Two chillers may be installed end to end in various ways as
of Multiple Chillers
shown in Figure 4. Consideration of the performance effects shown in Cases
1 through 3 lead to the conclusion that locating multiple
Figure 4. Two chillers installed end to end
chillers side by side does not yield optimum performance.
Rather, the installation shown in Figure 6 produces
optimum performance of closely-spaced multiple chillers.
Control
Control

Panel
Panel

In this installation, the performance effects are given in

Case 1 for all chillers.

2ft minimum recommended Figure 6. Recommended installation for multiple

service clearance chillers
Control
Control

Panel

8’
Panel

min

4ft minimum recommended working

clearance for control panel is governed by NEC 8’ min
There is no performance effect for any spacing of chillers
end to end. However, minimum spacing is governed by 1)
service clearances, and 2) the working clearance required
by the National Electric Code (NEC) near control panels. A
2-foot clearance is recommended on the end opposite the
control panel.
Article 110-16 of the NEC requires 3 to 4 feet of working
Special Installations
clearance, on the control panel end depending on the For complex installations, such as data centers or
actual installed conditions. Refer to the NEC for a detailed installations near generators or high walls, contact Trane
discussion of requirements. Product Support or Applications for design guidance.

6 AC-PRB001B-EN
 Scope

Case 4 Figure 7. Restricted airflow on one side of chiller

Restricted Airflow on One Side
Air-cooled chillers are commonly placed near building
walls, decorative walls, sound barrier walls or other D
outdoor equipment that can restrict the airflow on one side H 8’
of the chiller only. The effect of an obstruction or wall is
dependent on both its height and the distance to the
chiller. See Figure 7 , Figure 8 and Figure 9, p. 8. Note that
walls placed only at the end of the chiller have NO effect on *If unit is elevated, adjust H accordingly
performance. Also note that the performance effect for when using capacity reduction and power increase charts.
installations where the chiller is completely surrounded by
solid walls is given in Case 6.

Wall or D
Building
Structure

Figure 8. Capacity reduction at full load

0.9

0.8

0.7
d=6 ft
% Capacity Reduction

0.6 d=4 ft
d=2 ft

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

H - Wall or Building Height - feet

AC-PRB001B-EN 7
Scope

Figure 9. Power increase at full load

2.5

d=6 ft
d=4 ft
1.5
% Power Increase

d=2 ft

0.5

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

H - Wall or Building Height - feet

8 AC-PRB001B-EN
 Scope

Case 5 Figure 10. Decorative all or fence on all sides

Decorative Walls on All Sides
A special case is that of a decorative wall or fence, the D
same height as the unit, on all four sides. Figure 10 shows
a unit surrounded by a decorative wall or fence. The wall
can be constructed with a specific amount of open area
such that a prescribed amount of air would pass through.
Figure 11 gives the amount of open area such that there is D D
a negligible performance effect.

Decorative wall of fence

same height as insatalled
chiller with % free area.

Figure 11. % Free area required for decorative wall or fence

6
d - Distance from Wall to Unit - feet

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

% Open area of Decorative Wall or Fence

AC-PRB001B-EN 9
Scope

Case 6 a pit installation is the same as that of a solid wall

completely surrounding the unit, of varying height and
Pits or Solid Walls Surrounding distance to the unit. These are potentially very severe
installations due to the possibility of large amounts of
Unit recirculated air. Maximum pit width and minimum pit
depth are always recommended. See Figure 12, Figure 13
The last case is that of a chiller installed in a pit of varying
and Figure 14.
height and distance to the unit. The performance effect for
Figure 12. Pit installation/sound wall

D D

D
H

*If unit is elevated, adjust H accordingly Solid wall surrounding unit -

when using capacity reduction and power increase charts. wall height H.

Figure 13. Capacity reduction at full load

14

12
Distance to Pit Walls
% Capacity Reduction

4 feet
10
6 feet
8 feet
8

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Depth of Pit/Wall (feet)

10 AC-PRB001B-EN
 Scope

Figure 14. Power increase at full load

14
Distance to Pit Walls
4 feet
12 6 feet
8 feet
10
% Power Increase

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Depth of Pit/Wall (feet)

Recommended Installation minimal. It is recommended that installations, whenever

possible, take advantage of this fact. Figure 15 depict a
Walls/Obstructions hypothetical installation. The second installation is
preferred because it gives the best unit performance.
From Case 4, it can be seen that as long as one side of the
chiller has free access to air, the performance effects are
Figure 15. Hypothetical installations

Allow max space to avoid

Other air recirculation
Other
ons
Obstructions Obstructions

8’ min

This arrangement is NOT

recommended
Building Building
Structure Structure

Recommended installation

AC-PRB001B-EN 11
Scope

Performance Decrease From External Static Pressure

Walls, obstructions, pit installations, fan stacks, etc. can
cause static pressure burdens on the chiller’s condenser
fans. This additional external static pressure can cause
chiller performance degradation. This degradation
concerns an increase in the kW draw and a decrease in the
tonnage achieved. The Trane Ascend™ and Sintesis™
Figure 16. Affect of external static pressure on capacity
2
chillers have excellent close-spacing capabilities, but it is
still considered good practice to avoid installations that
add excessive external static pressure. Contact your Trane
office to run TOPSS™ selection to determine the effect of
external static pressure calculations.

1.8

1.6

300 Ton
1.4
% Capacity Reduction

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
-H2
External static pressure, in-H2O

12 AC-PRB001B-EN
 Scope

Figure 17. Affect of external static pressure on power draw

300 Ton

4
% Power Increase

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

External static pressure, in-H2O

Figure 18. Affect of external static pressure on efficiency

300 Ton
5
% EER Decrease

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

External static pressure, in-H2O

AC-PRB001B-EN 13
Trane - by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator - creates comfortable, energy
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please visit trane.com or tranetechnologies.com.
Trane has a policy of continuous product and product data improvement and reserves the right to change design and specifications without
notice. We are committed to using environmentally conscious print practices.

AC-PRB001B-EN 07 May 2020

Supersedes AC-PRB001A-EN (Apr 2019) ©2020 Trane