Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Two longtime colleagues have launched their latest venture that they say will revolutionize the chiller industry.

Two years ago, Josh Roby and Jacob Swain founded Knoxville-based EVRCool which has several Gen 1 models in the field being tested and plans in the works for a Gen 2 version. They describe their chiller as an efficient, ECO friendly, low GWP refrigerant chiller that packs more cooling capacity into a smaller footprint than any other process chiller on the market.

Roby, who serves as Chief Executive Officer, divides his time between Knoxville and Kalamazoo, MI, where R&D is undertaken, while Swain, the start-up’s Chief Operating Officer, is located fulltime in Knoxville where manufacturing occurs.

In a recent interview at the company’s West Knoxville location off Lovell Road, Roby helped us better understand the chiller market. It is about $13 billion with North America accounting for approximately $3.2 billion. Within the overall chiller market, EVRCool specifically focuses on the highly fragmented subset known as process chillers.

One of the factors that contributes to the fragmentation is scalability, meaning there are so many different types of chillers with thousands of stock-keeping units (SKUs). One of the goals of EVRCool’s Gen 1 model is simplicity. There will be only four capacity options, resulting in less than 40 SKUs.

So, you might be asking, “What are process chillers used for?”

The answer is cooling any equipment that generates significant heat during operation. That covers what might be described as the waterfront – everything from MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners to laser cutting systems, machine tools, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and even food processing equipment.

Noting that chillers support other products, Roby said, “We looked for pain points and identified several.” In addition to the fragmented market, they include:

1. Reliability – from fluid leaks to electrical connections and mechanical strength.
2. Serviceability – how quickly can you diagnose the problem and get the parts needed to fix the chiller.
3. Regulatory – new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency that take effect and the State of California that could eventually sweep across the U.S. They require GWP < 700 for industrial process chillers with exit fluid temperatures above -30°C (-22°F).

The Gen 1 product comes in four versions – 10 kW (3.5-ton cooling capacity in five different versions), 25 kW (7.0-ton cooling capacity in four versions), 50 kW (14-ton cooling capacity in four versions), and 100 kW (28-ton cooling capacity, also in four versions).

EVRCool unveiled its patent-pending Gen 1 product at FABTECH 2024 on October 15, 2024, in Orlando. Its GEN 2 product has five Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications that are pending.

The company launched the 50kW chiller in its Gen 1 product line in March and plans to release the 25kW model in June with the 100kW and 10kW models following in the late summer and fall.

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