Large-area cooling is one of the most challenging and costly problems in facility management. Warehouses, manufacturing plants, sports halls, convention centres, markets, and large commercial buildings all face the same fundamental challenge: maintaining a comfortable and productive temperature across vast open floor areas with minimal barriers to airflow and enormous heat inputs from occupants, machinery, solar gain, and process operations. Traditional air conditioning systems become prohibitively expensive at this scale, both in capital cost and ongoing energy consumption. Centralised cooler systems offer a purpose-engineered alternative that delivers effective large-area cooling at dramatically lower cost.
Understanding what centralised cooler systems are, how they work, and what makes them the preferred solution for large-scale cooling applications will help facility owners and managers make better-informed infrastructure decisions.
What Is a Centralised Cooler System?
A centralised cooler is a high-capacity evaporative cooling system designed to serve large areas from one or more strategically positioned units. Unlike portable coolers that address spot cooling requirements or single-room ducted systems, centralised cooler installations are engineered as facility-wide solutions — delivering cooled, fresh air to the entire building footprint through a combination of direct discharge and duct distribution, creating a controlled thermal environment across the whole space.
Centralised systems can be configured in several ways depending on the building’s geometry and the cooling requirements. In single-unit configurations, one high-capacity cooler handles the entire space. In multi-unit arrangements, several coolers are positioned at calculated intervals to ensure overlapping coverage and eliminate thermal hotspots. Hybrid ducted and free-discharge configurations combine central distribution with direct airflow to create layered cooling patterns that respond to the specific heat load profile of the facility.
The design of a centralised cooling system is not a one-size-fits-all exercise. It requires a site-specific engineering assessment that accounts for the building’s dimensions, construction materials, heat sources, occupancy levels, prevailing wind conditions, existing ventilation infrastructure, and local climate data. A well-designed centralised system will achieve consistent, effective temperature reduction throughout the facility; a poorly designed one will deliver patchy performance and persistent hotspots regardless of the units’ rated capacity.
Why Large Areas Demand Centralised Cooling Solutions
The physics of cooling large open spaces are fundamentally different from those of cooling small, enclosed rooms. In a small room, a single cooling unit can quickly lower the air temperature and maintain it because the volume of air to be cooled is limited and the space boundaries prevent rapid warm air infiltration. In a large open facility — a warehouse with 5,000 square metres of floor area and 10-metre ceiling height, for example — the air volume is enormous, warm air infiltration through doors and openings is constant, and heat inputs from machinery, lighting, and occupants are substantial.
Centralised evaporative cooling addresses this challenge by providing continuous, high-volume airflow of freshly cooled air throughout the space. Rather than trying to lower and maintain a precise temperature — which is impractical in large, non-sealed environments — centralised evaporative cooling aims to reduce the operative temperature experienced by occupants to a comfortable level, typically targeting a 6 to 12 degree Celsius reduction from ambient, while simultaneously ensuring excellent air movement and ventilation.
This approach is fundamentally aligned with the thermal comfort needs of most industrial and commercial occupants. Workers on factory floors, warehouse operatives, and customers in retail environments do not need the precise temperature control of an office — they need air that is cooler than the ambient temperature, well-circulated, fresh, and free from pollutants and odours. Centralised evaporative cooling delivers exactly this.
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Energy and Cost Advantages at Scale
The economic case for centralised evaporative cooling versus conventional air conditioning becomes dramatically stronger as the scale of the cooling requirement increases. At residential scale, the energy saving advantage of evaporative over refrigerant cooling is significant but not transformational. At the scale of a large industrial facility, the difference in running costs is extraordinary.
A centralised evaporative cooling system covering a 5,000 square metre facility might consume 30 to 50 kilowatts of electricity during operation. A conventional air conditioning system providing equivalent coverage would consume 200 to 400 kilowatts or more — a difference of six to ten times in energy demand. At commercial electricity tariffs, this translates into annual savings that can justify the capital investment in a centralised evaporative system within one to three years.
Maintenance costs are also substantially lower. Centralised evaporative systems have fewer moving parts than refrigerant-based alternatives, contain no compressor circuits or refrigerant charges, and require only periodic pad cleaning, water system maintenance, and motor servicing to sustain reliable operation.
Applications for Centralised Cooler Systems
Centralised cooler systems are deployed across a remarkably wide range of large-area applications. Manufacturing and industrial facilities — including automotive plants, textile factories, food and beverage processing operations, pharmaceuticals, and electronics assembly — benefit from both the temperature reduction and the ventilation characteristics of centralised evaporative systems. Logistics and warehousing operations maintain worker safety and comfort in large open buildings. Sports and recreation facilities including gymnasiums, indoor courts, and swimming pool complexes use centralised cooling to manage heat loads generated by occupants and equipment. Commercial settings including large retail outlets, covered markets, banquet halls, and auditoriums achieve comfortable visitor environments at a fraction of the cost of conventional air conditioning.
Design, Installation, and Commissioning
The performance of a centralised cooler system depends critically on the quality of its design and installation. Engaging application engineers with deep experience in large-area evaporative cooling — who understand airflow dynamics, building thermal behaviour, and the relationship between system design and occupant comfort — is essential for achieving the expected results.
Arctic’s engineering team specialises in designing and commissioning centralised evaporative cooling systems across industrial, commercial, and residential applications globally, with installations operating in factories, warehouses, schools, hospitality venues, and sports facilities across India and internationally. Explore solutions at yesarctic.com or contact Arctic’s team directly for a site-specific consultation.
