Johnson Controls introduces Absorption Chiller Reference Design Guide

Johnson Controls has launched its Absorption Chiller Reference Design Guide to convert waste heat from on-site power generation into productive data center cooling. The architecture reduces cooling-related electrical demand, enabling operators to allocate available power capacity to artificial intelligence compute workloads.

Waste Heat Recovery and Power Reallocation
The blueprint provides a design framework to convert the 57% of energy lost as waste heat from on-site power generation into cooling output. In a 1 GW-scale AI Factory model, these efficiency gains support up to 97 MW of additional AI computing capacity without requiring increased on-site power generation.

Over the operational lifespan of a facility, shifting this power allocation offers the potential for up to $18 billion in additional revenue based on a typical U.S. AI Factory baseline.

Performance Metrics and Modular Architecture
The reference design achieves a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) as low as 1.23 with zero on-site water consumption. Additionally, the system lowers cooling system carbon dioxide emissions by up to 43%.

The modular architecture scales from 100 MW campuses to gigawatt-scale facilities without requiring structural redesigns, assisting operators in bringing new computing capacity online faster.

Technology Heritage and System Portfolio
The reference design is based on over 65 years of YORK absorption technology development and an installed base across industrial applications, including naval vessels and advanced manufacturing facilities.

Johnson Controls' thermal management portfolio includes air-cooled and water-cooled chillers, liquid cooling equipment, digital controls, and lifecycle service programs.

Additional Context
This section details technical specifications not included in the original news release.

Absorption chillers generate chilled water by substituting the mechanical compressor of a vapor-compression cycle with a thermally driven absorption loop. The thermodynamic cycle employs a binary working fluid pair, commonly water as the refrigerant and lithium bromide as the absorbent. High-temperature waste heat recovered from on-site gas turbines or reciprocating engines—typically between 350°C and 500°C—is routed to the chiller's generator vessel to boil off water vapor from the diluted lithium bromide solution. The evaporated refrigerant condenses, expands through an evaporator under a deep vacuum to cool the data center's chilled water loop, and is reabsorbed by the concentrated lithium bromide solution. Circulating the liquid solution requires minimal electrical pumping power compared to motor-driven mechanical compressors, significantly reducing parasitic electrical demand and lowering facility Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).

Edited by Romila DSilva, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.