Sapphire Technologies has launched its compressor business line and has begun accepting orders for its oil-free centrifugal compressors.
Designed and manufactured at Sapphire’s facility in California, the High Lift Oil-Free Compressor platform meets the demanding performance requirements of the air-cooled chillers specified by AI data centres.
The product launch gives chiller manufacturers new, US-built compressor supply as many face availability constraints driven by data centre growth.
The AI buildout has pushed demand for air-cooled chillers past what traditional HVAC manufacturers can build.
One of the major supply chain constraints is compressors: the most technically complex subsystem, and the one which powers a chiller’s refrigeration loop.
Importantly, air-cooled chillers, as compared to legacy water-cooled chillers, eliminate the evaporative cooling towers that consume millions of gallons of water a year, but they must reject heat into air that experiences localised heating up to temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
That high pressure ratio operating regime, called “high lift,” causes conventional compressors to lose capacity and efficiency.
Sapphire and its parent company Calnetix have a long history of compressor design and manufacture and have active contracts to supply chiller compressors into industrial and defense applications, including mission critical use cases for the US Navy.
The new High Lift Compressor line builds on these products, enabling operation up to 140 degrees and in the most demanding high lift environments.
The platform’s two-stage centrifugal design is driven by a high-speed permanent-magnet motor riding on active magnetic bearings that Sapphire designs and builds in-house.
With build capabilities up to 8,000 tonnes of refrigeration per unit, it is a modular compressor block which chiller manufacturers can seamlessly integrate into their existing product offerings.
The compressor’s proprietary power electronics can be configured for AC or DC supply, and include an 800 VDC model for seamless integration with the high-voltage power distribution infrastructure that data centres are adopting.
Sapphire Technologies CEO, Freddie Sarhan, said chiller manufacturers are responding to hyperscaler demand by launching new air-cooled chiller models.
“But the compressors the industry relies on were built for a different era and a different duty,” he said.
“We built ours specifically for high lift applications and with our proprietary oil-free platform that has been in production for over 25 years. We are launching our new compressor now to alleviate the chiller supply chain.”
The compressor launch expands Sapphire’s product offerings to provide more power and cooling solutions to the energy sector.
The company’s FreeSpin In-line Turboexpanders recover energy from waste pressure in natural gas pipelines and convert it into electricity and cooling for data centres.
During its project development work in the industry, Sapphire recognised the supply chain challenge for data centre cooling.
Sapphire began design of its High Lift Compressor line earlier this year, and built the first compressor in months by using the same field-tested magnetic bearing and permanent magnet rotor components in its turboexpander and other mission critical compressor products.
The company is fulfilling orders now and will deliver its first commercial compressors to customers by February 2027. Sapphire also provides magnetic bearings, controls, and power electronics offerings to chiller manufacturers, and has in-house engineering capability to develop custom cooling solutions and subsystems.
Sapphire Technologies develops and manufactures oil-free turbomachinery for power and cooling: modular power generation and cooling solutions for data centres, gas infrastructure and utilities, and high-lift, oil-free compressors for chiller manufacturers.