Let’s start a series of videos focused on the characteristics and peculiarities of thermoregulation units. First of all, what is a thermoregulation unit.

These are thermal machines, someone calls them boilers, others call them TCU, thermal control units. In fact these are equipments that include a circulating pump, a heating system and a cooling circuit system and an electrical panel with a PID controller that maintains a fluid at a certain controlled temperature. This fluid is then aimed at regulating the temperature of a downstream industrial process. Overall, TCU are utilities serving industrial production processes.

There are several kinds of thermoregulating units, as seen in other videos: in Tempco we engineer thermoregulating units with electric heating, with steam heating as well as using different kinds of cooling systems.

But here let’s focus more on the topic of the fluids employed as carrier fluids, in other words, on the topic of the monofluid. Based on the project temperature level at which they are design to operate with, these units can employ a wide range of different kind of fluids: water for example at ambient temperature, and therefore with not pressurized circulating systems; pressurized water, when temperatures involved are up to 130-140° C; water with anti freeze additives, such as glycol, mono ethylene or propylene glycol, in case the temperature range starts with temperatures under 0° C; silicone oils or special oils, when the temperature range start under 0° C but we have to reach very high temperatures, and we also have to guarantee and maintain a smooth flow, with a low viscosity; and eventually, when working temperatures rise up, we can switch to diathermic oils.

Using diathermic oil, there are two kind of units: a first one that enables to reach temperatures up to 180° C, typically realized using sophisticated components of a certain kind, such as pumps with mechanical seals; or otherwise diathermic oil for temperatures up to 300-320° C. In this case, components are even more sophisticated, using for example magnetic drive pumps.

What determines the selection of a carrier fluid instead of another? As already said, it depends on the design range of temperature. Which means, with low temperature, glycol and anti freeze, water in case of ambient temperatures, up to 130° C; extreme temperatures, which means from -20 or -30° C up to high temperatures, silicone fluids or special fluids, typically oils; and finally, for very high temperatures, up to 180-300° C, diathermic oils.