Chilled Water Coils vs DX Coils: Which Is Best for Commercial HVAC?
The choice of the cooling technology is one of the most important issues in the HVAC design of commercial buildings. The most prevalent ones are chilled water coils and direct expansion (DX) coils. Both the systems are highly applicable in offices, malls, hospitals and even in industrial construction, but the performance, installation needs as well as operation cost of the two vary substantially. An appropriate comparison between HVAC coils assists facility managers and engineers to identify the solution that best fits their cooling requirements of their building. What Are Chilled Water Coils? Centralized cooling systems are those systems that incorporate chilled water coils, in which chilled water, usually fed by a chiller plant, is pumped through the coil. With the passage of warm air over the coil surface, the heat that is in the air is passed on to the chilled water and thus the temperature of the air decreases and is then circulated in the building. The use of chilled wate...