150HP Air-Cooled Screw Chiller Case Study: Reliable Cooling for Plastic Extrusion Line in Mexico

Project Background: A Plastic Extrusion Plant Under Cooling Pressure

Our customer, a family-owned plastic extrusion manufacturer based in Monterrey, Mexico, runs three HDPE and PP pipe extrusion lines serving the agricultural irrigation and municipal water markets across northern Mexico and the southern United States. In 2024 the plant added a 110 mm high-output line to meet growing demand, but the existing cooling tower loop could not hold melt temperature during the long, hot Mexican summer.

Ambient temperatures in the plant regularly reach 38–41°C from May through September. The customer needed a cooling solution that worked without a water tower, installed quickly in an existing floor space, and delivered steady chilled water to the vacuum calibration tanks and screw cooling jackets.

Challenges Identified During the Site Survey

• Melt temperature drift: fluctuations of ±4°C caused wall-thickness variation and dimensional rejects on large-diameter pipe.
• Water scarcity: the plant’s water allocation is capped, making an evaporative tower loop expensive and increasingly restricted.
• Downtime cost: each unplanned cooling stop cost roughly USD 1,900 in lost output and restart scrap.
• Limited floor space: a compact, outdoor-ready package was required — no chiller plant room was available.

Solution: AGS-150ADH 150HP Air-Cooled Screw Chiller

After reviewing the extrusion line’s barrel heating load, calibration tank duty and required chilled water flow, our engineers specified the AGS-150ADH 150HP air-cooled screw type chiller, a single packaged unit with two semi-hermetic screw compressors, shell-and-tube evaporator and micro-channel condenser with low-noise outer rotor fans. Because it is fully air-cooled, the unit eliminated the water tower entirely and was commissioned on the rooftop slab in three days.

Installation and Commissioning

1. Week 1: technical data sheets and P&ID drawings approved remotely; unit built and pressure-tested in our factory.
2. Week 4: shipped in a standard export wooden box, delivered to Monterrey 28 days after deposit.
3. Week 5: our engineer supported start-up online, completing refrigerant charge verification, flow switch calibration and PID tuning in two days.

Results After 12 Months of Operation

The chiller has run continuously through one full Mexican summer with no cooling-related stoppage. Measured performance compared with the previous tower loop:

• Melt temperature variation reduced from ±4°C to ±0.8°C, holding the PID ±1°C setpoint.
• Scrap rate on large-diameter pipe dropped from 6.2% to 1.8%.
• Line output increased by 18% because operators no longer slowed the line during afternoon heat peaks.
• Cooling energy per ton of pipe fell by 22% thanks to stepwise capacity control.
• Water consumption for cooling: zero — about 9,000 m³ per year saved against the old tower.
• Zero unplanned cooling downtime across 12 months of two-shift operation.

“We used to lose the afternoon shift to heat every July. With the AGS-150ADH the line holds temperature from 6 a.m. to midnight, and we stopped buying tower water altogether.” — Plant Maintenance Manager, Monterrey, Mexico

Why This Configuration Suits North and Latin American Extruders

Plants across the Americas often combine high ambient temperatures with tight water budgets and limited floor space. A packaged air-cooled screw chiller answers all three constraints at once: it is water-free, needs only a level slab and a power supply, and its multi-step capacity control matches the pulsing load of extrusion, film blowing and injection equipment. Units are available in 3PH 380V 50Hz or 60Hz configurations, CE and ISO 9001 certified, with a 12-month warranty and engineer-led remote commissioning.

If you are sizing cooling for a new extrusion line, share your required cooling capacity, ambient temperature, voltage and pump requirements with our engineering team — we will recommend the right model from 30HP to 300HP.