Ascend ACR Air-Cooled Screw Chiller
Air-cooled helical-rotary screw chiller with factory-integrated free cooling and Rapid Restart, covering 150–550 tons across comfort and data-centre variants.
The Ascend ACR is Trane's air-cooled screw chiller designed specifically around the integration of a water-side economiser (free cooling) and the Rapid Restart feature. Free cooling is factory-installed — not a field-added option — which means the bypass valve, piping, and controls are fully factory-tested before shipment, reducing commissioning risk. When outdoor air temperature drops sufficiently below the chilled-water set-point, the free-cooling circuit bypasses the refrigeration cycle entirely, cutting compressor energy to near zero. This is economically significant in northern GCC shoulder seasons (October–March) and year-round at airports operating high-altitude facilities.
Rapid Restart enables the chiller to regain full cooling output within seconds of a power interruption, a critical capability for terminal environments where passenger comfort and server rooms cannot tolerate extended cooling loss. The compressor uses maintenance-free variable-speed fan motors on an open-V coil design for accessibility. The adaptive-frequency drive is fluid-cooled, rated to last the chiller lifetime. Long-life aluminium-alloy coils reduce refrigerant charge and resist corrosion.
Two specification lines exist: a comfort-cooling line (150–550 tons, R-513A, ambient to +125 °F) and a data-centre line (550 tons, R-1234ze, ambient to +131 °F) with tighter chilled-water delivery tolerances. The data-centre variant is the relevant specification for airport operations centres, baggage-sorting automation control rooms, and server infrastructure in major hub airports. IEEE 519 harmonic filtration is optional, useful where the airport electrical distribution is shared with sensitive avionics or ATC systems.
Technical specifications.
| Capacity range (comfort) | 150–550 tons |
| Capacity range (data centre) | 550 tons |
| Model | ACR |
| Compressor type | Helical rotary screw |
| Refrigerant (comfort) | R-513A |
| Refrigerant (data centre) | R-1234ze |
| Ambient operating range (comfort) | -20 to +125 °F (-29 to +52 °C) |
| Ambient operating range (data centre) | -20 to +131 °F (-29 to +55 °C) |
| Free cooling | Factory-integrated water-side economiser |
| Equipment controller | Symbio 800 |
| Rapid Restart | Standard feature |
Use cases.
- ›Airport data centres and operations-control-room cooling requiring Rapid Restart on power disruption
- ›Terminal comfort cooling where seasonal free cooling reduces energy cost
- ›MRO hangars with high internal loads and intermittent occupancy patterns
- ›Airside hotel and terminal mixed-use developments
- ›Facilities subject to IEEE 519 power-quality requirements near ATC infrastructure