New centrifugal chillers an instant hit at Sony CD facility
Sony Disc Manufacturing operates a 365,000-sq-ft compact-disc manufacturing facility in Springfield, OR. The six-year-old plant employs approximately 400 employees and has the capacity to produce as many as 12 million discs/month in a process that requires nonstop, 24-hr cooling. The year-round demand for chilled water is created by the need for humidity control, an extensive exhaust system, and production equipment which requires cooling.
When the facility was built, Sony installed two constant-speed centrifugal chillers, one a York (York, PA) 400-TR unit and the other a 700-TR unit. During winter months, the average load was 300 to 350 tons and was carried by the smaller unit.