The full spectrum of LAUDA product lines in one brochure

The new complete LAUDA brochure for thermostats, circulation chillers and water baths for 2016/2017 is now available. Its 120 pages provide readers with information and technical data on all LAUDA temperature control devices. The full spectrum of LAUDA product lines is illustrated and described in detail with informative images, graphics and diagrams. The compact layout of the brochure makes it easy to find the information you need. The clearly structured page layout makes it even easier to choose the right device. The technical descriptions are rounded off with an overview of the main temperature control-related terms and their definitions. The brochure is available in German, English, French and Spanish. Additional language versions in Russian and Chinese are available in a digital format. To complement this brochure, there is also a new LAUDA brochure for heat transfer liquids for thermostats, circulation chillers and water baths. Users can choose the right heat transfer liquid from a range of 16 products. The new brochures are free and can be requested directly from LAUDA at sales-cte@lauda.de.

LAUDA Heating and cooling systems designs heat transfer systems for temperature control of liquid water up to 230 °C

LAUDA Heating and Cooling Systems has received a special type of order from Max-Planck-Institute of Plasma Physics. The Institute of Garching, which is engaged in the basic research for fusion power plants, plans for a future power plant to allow hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium - a similar process as produces solar energy. For the temperature control of tungsten bricks, which are needed as an energy absorber in diverters of fusion reactors, the temperature specialist LAUDA was commissioned to develop a heat transfer system for use at the ASDEX Upgrade [Axially Symmetric Diverter Experiment] experiment in Garching. The unusual thing about this system: The heat carrier used is fully de-ionized (DI) water, and the temperature range of the system is between 20 and 230 °C - which requires a resistance to high pressures. This requirement had to be carefully considered in the planning of all components in regard to materials and properties.

A significant advantage of LAUDA heat transfer units of the ITH series lies in their modularity. The system consists of replaceable individual components such as radiators, circulation pumps, expansion tanks, and additional heat exchanger modules. For system, as an example, a tubular heat exchanger was used. The air flowing through the cylinder medium is at 20 °C here; the hot water flowing through the pipes is up to 230 °C. A further technical challenge was the need for the components to resist the high nominal pressure of PN 63. For example, the pump has to compensate for high pressure drops in the system at a lifting height of 175 meters at 20 °C. There are three different operating modes: The high pressure region works with 32 bar in the temperature range of 20 to 230 °C. Low pressure of 10 bar is possible in the range of 20 to 150 °C. Each circuit is monitored with various safety components. A third possibility is a cold-drive without pressure in the temperature range of 20 to 70 °C. This mode is necessary for filling of the system and for complete water deionization as well.

The open communication between the Max-Planck-Institute and LAUDA was of particular importance, due to the specific technical requirements. An illustration of the complex system in 3D simplified communication enormously in terms of plant layout and future maintenance. Before delivery, the system was tested in the LAUDA test area in the presence of the customer. Included in the scope is the functional testing of all components and settings, heat carrier pressure and leakage tests, cabinet tests, and control accuracy. During the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test), a first test was carried out successfully, directly according to customer parameters.

Karlheinz Wobser, who is well known throughout the region as the long-serving former President & CEO of LAUDA and for his service to the community, celebrates his 80th birthday this Tuesday.

Karlheinz Wobser was born in Dresden on 28 June 1936 as the first child of Dr. Rudolf Wobser and Dorothea Wobser, née Nitzki. In 1942, the 4th year of the war, he started school in Medingen around 20 kilometers away, where his father had been given the task of setting up an apparatus engineering department in the Medingen testing instrument factory. Wobser frequently had to throw himself into the roadside ditch to evade attacks from low-flying aircraft on his way to school, a distance of approximately 1.5 kilometers. The night of 13 February 1945, when Dresden was reduced to ash and rubble, was a traumatic experience. The communist-dominated school system in the Soviet-occupied zone after the end of the war in 1945 also made its mark on the education of the young Karlheinz, who stayed at Medingen elementary school until 1950, learned Russian and was a "Young Pioneer". He passed the Abitur (high-school diploma) at Dresden-Süd high school in 1954. Like most others, Wobser was also a member of the so-called "Free German Youth (FDJ)" and the "Sport and Technology Association (GST)". He studied mechanical engineering at Dresden Technical University from the fall of 1954, specializing in precision mechanics. During an internship semester, Wobser learnt practical skills at the Medingen testing instrument factory, amongst other places.

In May 1955, his parents took the decision to leave the GDR, since the political pressure on his father had been steadily increasing. During an internship in Berlin-Teltow organized especially for this reason, he managed to take a total of 13 suitcases to relatives in the west of Berlin, which had not yet been divided by a wall. The Wobser family escaped to West Berlin in August 1955 and took a flight to Frankfurt-on-Main one month later. The family found accommodation in Schwenningen on the Neckar for a while. Karlheinz Wobser worked as a mechanic in the Wigo factory in Schwenningen until March 1956, whereas the rest of family had moved to Burlafingen near Neu-Ulm in the meantime. During this time, his father was on a nationwide search for investors and had found a site and potential customers for his own company and met with interest from the city government of Lauda as well as the factory owners Erich Widmann and his friend Paul Hagspiel. The measuring instrument factory of LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER KG, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, was founded on 1 March 1956.

In the meantime, Karlheinz Wobser was threatened with deportation back to the GDR after the failure of his admission proceedings for the Federal Republic of Germany. However, he obtained an identity card, and therefore Federal German citizenship, more or less by chance several years later. The foregoing uncertainties were a major reason why Wobser did not resume his studies. Nevertheless, he played a key role in the development of the new LAUDA measuring instrument factory of his father. As one of the first employees, he learned the theoretical and technical basis of refrigeration engineering, amongst other things. The fact that low-temperature thermostats from LAUDA gained an excellent reputation throughout the world in the years that followed is mainly down to Karlheinz Wobser.

Karlheinz Wobser met his future wife, Gudrun Schüssler from Tauberbischofsheim, in January 1957. The wedding took place four years later in October 1961. They had three children, Andrea (1962), Gabriele (1963) and Ulrike (1964). All three daughters have their own families and children in the meantime. In addition to this, two of his daughters work at the company. A continuous upward trend now began for the young company with a newly developed and revolutionary program, more and more employees were taken on and new construction was followed by new construction. Wobser was the technical director of the company from 1957 to 1977. When the company founder, Dr. Rudolf Wobser, died on 17 June 1977 at the age of only 66 after a short serious illness, his two sons, Karlheinz Wobser and Dr. Gerhard Wobser, became managing directors of the LAUDA company. Karlheinz Wobser retired at the end of 2002. His nephew, Dr. Gunther Wobser, who currently runs the family-owned company in the third generation, was appointed as the new President & CEO. He ran the company together with his father, Dr. Gerhard Wobser, until 2010, when the latter also retired after 39 years.

Apart from his work and family, numerous honorary activities have shaped the life of Karlheinz Wobser. He was member of the executive committee of the Sparkasse Tauberfranken bank from 1985 to 2008, a lay commercial judge of the Chamber for Commercial Affairs at Mosbach Regional Court from 1996 to 2004 and a member of the Representatives' Assembly of the AOK health insurance provider for many years. He is also a member of several clubs in Lauda and has done a great deal for the Lauda tennis club and the Bauland aviation sports club as a long-standing committee member. He has been a member of the Glashofen-Neusaß golf club near Walldürn for several years. Apart from playing golf, other hobbies of the birthday boy include traveling, e.g. river cruises, playing the accordion and keyboards, the upkeep of his koi fish ponds, sports boating on the lakes of Mecklenburg, especially with his four grandchildren, as well as painting, which he took up recently. He celebrated his golden wedding anniversary with his wife Gudrun five years ago.

Wobser followed the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche in his hometown of Dresden with great interest and made substantial donations to the friends' association, of which he is still a member. As a result, Wobser was also a guest at the dedication ceremony of the Dresden Frauenkirche in October 2005. "Despite all the difficulties, my childhood in Medingen was a happy time, even if it has been romanticized by memory", says Wobser, who continues to maintain contact not only with his old home but also with old school friends after he had great pleasure in attending the first class reunion in the fall of 1985, i.e. still during the time of the GDR. "Live and let live” is a key guiding principle for Wobser, which has him helped in the eight decades of his life and has always been very important to him.