Founded in 2002 with the name Xchange, today Refrion is the leader in the production and development of liquid cooler and fan condensers used in the cooling sector of the industrial process, energy installations and data centers. Continually growing and always devoted to policies of environmental sustainability, Refrion has a staff of over one hundred twenty employees, three plants in Italy – in Talmassons (UD) and Villa Santina (UD) – Refrion srl and Refrion Metal Sheet srl and one in Serbia Refrion Refrigeration DOO.
Crown jewel of the Refrion technology is the proprietary climactic chamber (R.C.C.): the largest laboratory in Europe dedicated to tests of cooler liquids where the operating conditions can be reproduced of the biggest appliances that can be created (up to 14m) and where the technical data are certified with the client present.
This is how units are created suitable for any need, with proven performance and favorable from the energy savings perspective. For this reason, the Refrion systems are exported all over Europe and North America; to the extent that, just to give a few examples, they are installed in the European Parliament, in the IBM Canada data centers and also in the Russian World Cup stadiums of Volgograd (Leningrad) and Nižnij Novgorod, in Vienna, in the Hilton Hotel and in the Musikverein, the most elegant concert hall in the world.
Easy Engineering: What are the company’s principal areas of business?
REFRION: Refrion is one of the leading companies in Europe in the sector of fan appliances, designed and created to guarantee the maximum efficiency and quality in the cooling process, in fact, the optimization of the production processes is a top priority for modern industry and the process cooling sector requires extensive experience and an in-depth technical know-how.
Refrion offers a wide range of dry coolers and condensers for Data Centers, Server Rooms, or equipment rooms where the cooling system requires greater power to ensure that the technical equipment performs at an optimal level. The Refrion solutions are also used in wide-ranging applications of industrial air conditioning, in which the company stands out for its in-depth know-how and the careful planning and design activities. Refrion is also considered the technology point of reference for the production of dry coolers and remote air-cooled condensers for the domestic and commercial air conditioning sector, field in which it works with the most prestigious national and international players. In fact, by actively collaborating with designers and contractors, it provides the customer with customized technical solutions that satisfy any requirement.
E.E: What are the innovations in the new products?
REFRION: Refrion is the company leader in the production of ADIABATIC COOLERS. This range is constantly evolving both in terms of versions and sizes and in increasingly requested accessories. Thanks also to the tests that Refrion can run in the Climatic Chamber, a new range of ECOOLERS has been developed in sizes so they can be transported in containers. In addition, the water collection tank of the adiabatic system has been introduced for the V Shape ranges inside the cooler and no longer on the outside reducing the size considerably. A further innovation is that the Ecooler range can be supplied not only with the Pads adiabatic system, but upon request also with the hybrid HSS system.
E.E: What are the product ranges?
REFRION: Refrion offers standard and customized solutions for any system requirement, such as the dry coolers that are suitable for various uses, such as domestic air conditioning, data center cooling, process cooling or industrial refrigeration. They, in fact, serve to cool process liquids in data center cooling, industrial refrigeration and domestic air conditioning applications. These finned-pack heat exchangers can be adapted to adiabatic technology and innovative “free cooling” applications, in order to maximize the energy ratio.
Refrion also offers condensers, external condensing units that are suited to various applications aimed at optimizing process cooling, data center cooling, industrial refrigeration and commercial refrigeration systems. The condensers can be adapted to any system requirement and are available in the High Efficiency Range configuration and with CO2 as a refrigerant.
Refrion, however, is also able to develop tailor-made industrial solutions. This makes the liquid coolers and condenser products for industrial applications suitable for any use and requirement: ranging from suitability for use in aggressive environments to noise and vibration reduction. The large-scale air cooled units are ideal for the most demanding industries, such as the naval, military, oil & gas, offshore, nuclear, energy generation, cogeneration and trigeneration, data centers, power generation and industrial processes in general.
E.E: At what point is the market in which you are currently active?
REFRION: The market is evolving since the adiabatic coolers are increasingly preferred over the traditional Evaporative systems or, for certain applications, the chillers.
E.E: What can you tell us about the market trends?
REFRION: The market will grow further during the next few years thanks to the smart energy production installations with gas generators (biomass with cogeneration, trigeneration and geothermal) in which the Refrion coolers are used as radiators. But the most important increase is being registered in the cooling of data centers where the adiabatic coolers are preferred over all the other types of cooling because of the low energy consumption and in particular for the minimum consumption of water.
E.E: What are the most innovative products being marketed? I am talking here of the eco-cooler, can you confirm that please?
REFRION: Currently Refrion’s top product is the Ecooler range which is supplied with a built-in adiabatic system which makes it possible to cool up to 10 degrees less than the outside temperature without using refrigerant gas and only water as vector fluid.
E.E: What estimates do you have for 2022?
REFRION: 2022 is also looking like a year of further growth in turnover estimated between 10 and 15% more compared to the already significant turnover this year.