The CEO and President of LAUDA, Dr. Gunther Wobser (l.), welcomes the Minister of Economic Affairs of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, together with Campus Director Prof. Dr. Kim (2nd from left) and the Chairman of the CDU faction in the State Parliament, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reinhart (r.) (Source: Ludmilla Par-syak Photography / Fraunhofer IAO)
LAUDA sets impulses at the Popup Labors Baden-Württemberg
With a "Everyday view of digitisation at LAUDA", the President and CEO of LAUDA, Dr. Gunther Wobser, opened the series of lectures at the action day "Digitisation and sustainability for BW and worldwide" with a keynote speech on 10 February. The action day is part of the 6th "Po-pup Laboratory BW", a digitisation project of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The aim of the Po-pup Lab BW is to give small and medium-sized companies in the state an understanding of innovative technologies or business models and to provide concrete recommendations for action on the basis of workshops or best practice examples.
Components of the digital strategy of the world market leader
In his presentation to representatives from politics and business, Dr. Wobser pointed out the great importance of digitization in the industry. The exponentially increasing technical development, e.g. Moore's Law of Computer Performance, stands in contrast to the linear human adaptability. As a result, new companies with disruptive forces are increasingly pushing into the market. LAUDA meets this challenge, among other things, through strategic cooperation with start-ups such as ENER-IQ, Coolar and watttron, according to Dr. Wobser. LAUDA's own LAUDA innovation laboratory in Silicon Valley and the Digital Agenda, which is aligned with the corporate strategy, are further components of LAUDA's digital strategy.
Appeal to politicians
At the end of his keynote speech, Dr. Wobser addressed the political community with forceful words: The Main-Tauber-Kreis is in the final group of districts in terms of innovative ability, ranking 39th out of 44, and the trend is downward. Further active support is required, for example in the expansion of the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Mosbach with the Bad Mergentheim campus as "anchor point of digitalisation". Dr. Wobser criticized that too often, medium-sized companies have to carry out complex digitization projects with their own resources without the support of the state and immediately reduce the results as an investment.
At the LAUDA stand, the Minister of Economic Affairs of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, accompanied by Campus Director Prof. Dr. Kim and the Chairman of the CDU faction in the State Parliament, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reinhart, were able to gain an impression of two digital projects of LAUDA. The family business thus demonstrated a practical application of virtual reality with the LAUDA showroom. LAUDA also demonstrated the connection of the industrial recirculating chillers to its own LAUDA Cloud including data visualisation via a tablet. This enables users to check the device status at any time, regardless of location, and also to change parameters directly.
The LAUDA ECO REJ 1225 G calibration thermostat is ideal for the calibration of glass thermometers or electric thermometers. (Source: LAUDA)
New ECO calibration thermostat fulfills the exacting re-quirements of test laboratories
With the LAUDA ECO REJ 1225 G calibration thermostat, LAUDA has released a piece of constant temperature equipment designed for the specific requirements of test laboratories and customers who perform calibration and adjustment work on a daily basis. The equipment has been specially developed for the precise calibration of thermometers, such as industrial platinum resistance thermometers, temperature probes, thermocouples or electric thermometers. Liquid calibration baths are considered the most stable temperature source and offer the most consistency for the comparative calibration of temperature probes and sensors in a laboratory. They use a large quantity of liquid to maintain a stable and homogeneous test environment for the calibration of calibration objects of varying sizes, shapes and lengths.
These applications call for calibration thermostats that maintain a constant, temperature-independent liquid level. To achieve this, LAUDA uses a two-chamber bath, consisting of the temperature chamber and the application chamber, also known as the overflow vessel, usable space or buffer chamber. A pump unit pumps the medium from the temperature chamber to the application chamber, which has an overflow at a certain level. From here, the bath medium flows back into the temperature chamber. The ECO calibration thermostat also has a height-adjustable, cylindrical working chamber. This makes it possible to adjust the liquid bath surface in the working area to above cover plate height. Fully immersed thermometers can thus be read directly at the immersion point. In addition, the separate working chamber provides a constant immersion depth regardless of the volume expansion of the bath liquid, an excellent temperature stability of ±0.02 K and a homogeneous temperature distribution within a working temperature range of -25 to 200°C.
The new ECO calibration thermostats: Available with natural refrigerants
With the new LAUDA ECO calibration thermostat, LAUDA has made an important commitment to environmentally friendly temperature control technology. For example, the device is operated with refrigerants that comply with the European F-gas regulation. In addition, the new REJ 1225 G temperature calibration thermostat is optionally available with natural refrigerants. The thermostat can easily and flexibly be integrated in existing work processes thanks to a variety of interfaces, including Profibus, Ethernet or Pt100/LiBus. The large, color TFT display provides a clear overview at a glance and lets you program a variety of temperature curves, which are processed automatically by the thermostat to support your everyday laboratory work.
LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers can be controlled by means of a web server via a PC or even mobile devices. The devices are also connected to the LAUDA Cloud.
LAUDA presents new Ultracool circulation chillers from -10 to 35 °C according to the Ecodesign...
LAUDA, the world market leader in precise temperature control, presents a new generation of ultra-modern circulation chillers of the Ultracool series which have been developed with a focus on energy efficiency and in compliance with the European Ecodesign Directive. LAUDA has also set new standards in the digitalization of temperature control processes as a result of the integrated web server, which permits control via mobile devices, as well as the connection to the LAUDA Cloud. Industrial circulation chillers are often used in continuous operation. They cool applications used e.g. in the printing industry, machine and plant construction and metal working. Companies are increasingly focusing on energy-saving and sustainable measures as part of the energy revolution; the need for energy-efficient options to control the temperature of industrial processes is also constantly increasing.
LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers with an energy saving of up to 50 percent
The new LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers have been developed in compliance with the European Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, in order to meet customers' requirements for energy- and resource-saving products. The Directive defines limit values for energy efficiency which process circulation chillers must fulfill. This turns the new Ultracool devices into extremely efficient industrial circulation chillers. The design allows energy costs to be reduced by up to 50 percent depending on the operating conditions compared with conventional chillers which are not Ecodesign-compliant. This not only reduces operating costs but also provides payback times of less than one year.
LAUDA Ultracool: Prepared for Industry 4.0
The new circulation chillers are equipped with an LCD remote control with a cable connection as standard. An Ethernet interface for connection to a computer or local network (LAN) is also integrated as standard. In addition, the intelligent connectivity concept of the new Ultracool circulation chillers provides flexible operating options. For example, the Ultracool devices can be controlled by means of a web server via a PC or even mobile devices - an Internet connection is not necessary. The new LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers are also among the first devices from the world market leader in temperature control technology to be connected to the LAUDA Cloud. This enables data exchange and monitoring from any computer with an Internet connection – irrespective of the location. LAUDA will systematically expand its Cloud offer from 2020 onwards and offer services such as predictive maintenance to avoid downtimes.
Ready for any customer requirement
LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers cool precisely in an extended operating temperature range from -10 to 35 °C with a temperature stability of ±0.5 K. The protection class IP 54 allows outdoor installation, and fan control as standard guarantees operation at ambient temperatures down to -15 °C and reduces noise emission. LAUDA has been able to reduce the footprint in comparison with equivalent previous models. All the new LAUDA Ultracool circulation chillers can be optimized for any customer-specific requirement thanks to numerous options such as speed-controlled pumps or flow meters. The bi-frequency power supply (50/60 Hz) enables worldwide use.
The LAUDA temperature control systems at Bertrandt in Ehningen (Source: Bertrandt)
LAUDA provides temperature control for test processes for electromobility
The ongoing development and ever greater acceptance of new drives which use electricity or hydrogen poses new challenges for automobile manufacturers. Suppliers and service providers who support established automobile manufacturers with their know-how are a crucial success factor for dealing with electromobility. Bertrandt AG provides its customers with test stands with climatic chambers to test high-voltage batteries from the module level and hybrid batteries to batteries for all-electric vehicles under various climatic and load conditions. The components are exposed to a wide variety of conditions in climate simulations or accelerated aging in fatigue tests. Bertrandt has successfully offered these industry-specific development services for over 40 years and is a globally operating company with around 13,000 employees and 57 locations. This year the company built one of the largest high-voltage battery test centers in Germany in Ehningen. Bertrandt has put its faith in temperature control technology from LAUDA to equip the new test chambers.
High-precision temperature control down to -40 °C
In addition, the company has ordered Process Cooling Units with volume flow control from LAUDA which meet the high demands of customers in the automotive sector. The units are used to control the temperature of test specimens inside a climatic chamber, such as HV storage devices, i.e. high-voltage batteries, which are used in electric cars as well as solar systems. The customer uses two large SUK 400W units for performance tests and ten additional SUK 350W units for endurance tests and simulation runs. The Process Cooling Units precisely control the temperature from -40 to 120 °C.
The special feature: LAUDA develops the refrigeration systems with a water/glycol mixture as the temperature control medium and a single-stage schema cooling circuit. By dispensing with a cascade refrigeration system, LAUDA can guarantee the future-proofing of the design with regard to the European F-Gas Regulation, since a refrigerant with a high GWP value is not required for the second stage. The refrigeration system must have sufficient power reserves, in order to be able to guarantee precise control even at limit temperatures around -40 °C. Each individual Process Cooling Unit must be precisely tailored, since water/glycol mixtures begin to freeze at temperatures around -45 °C (depending on the concentration).
Fully automatic filling facilitates test processes
LAUDA has equipped the Process Cooling Units with fully automatic filling and draining of the test specimen, in order to facilitate the testing processes of the customer in the automotive sector. This technology, which has been in LAUDA's product range for a long time, is now being requested by more and more customers and is becoming the industry standard, explains Manuel Faulhaber, Project Manager at LAUDA Heating and Cooling Systems. Since Bertrandt is a service provider which serves a wide variety of customers, the systems have also been designed with fully automatic filling and draining of the entire system. Bertrandt is therefore able to use a wide range of customer-specific temperature control media for its test procedures without cumbersome manual filling and draining - a massive time saving for the service provider.
Premier class 400 °C: Systems with this temperature variable enable more effective heat transfer, a higher throughput and therefore the optimization of temperature-relevant production processes.
LAUDA manufactures high-temperature system up to 400 °C for German chemical company
LAUDA Heating and cooling systems, the plant construction division of the world leader in precise temperature control, specializes in the manufacture of individual solutions based on customer requirements. In this respect, the experts from LAUDA hold sway over a temperature range from -150 to 550 °C which is required for production facilities in the pharmaceutical industry or test stations in the automotive sector. The temperature control specialist has now designed and manufactured a heat transfer system for a long-standing customer, one of the biggest German chemical companies. This was also quite the exception for the experienced engineers at LAUDA.
The customer ordered a system which must reach a working temperature of 400 °C without any problems. The heater is used in the field of materials research, in so-called scale-up tests and for the preparation of reactions which make such a high temperature essential. "Heat transfer systems with a working temperature range up to 350 °C are part of the day-to-day business of LAUDA", says project manager Ralph Herbert. "The range up to 400 °C is in the premier class." However, this is increasingly in demand in the meantime, according to Ralph Herbert, because it allows more effective heat transfer, thereby enabling a higher throughput and optimization of temperature-relevant production processes. Depending on the requisite outflow temperature and application area, these heat transfer systems use various types of thermal oils (silicone oil or eutectic mixtures). Generally speaking, they are electrically heated and generate a temperature-controlled liquid flow which heats the customer application in turn. A cooling option via heat exchanger can be integrated depending on requirement.
In-depth technical expertise essential
The particular feature of the jump from 350 to 400 °C is that the engineers at LAUDA have to deal with significantly higher working pressures. The stainless steel reactors used on the application side also have to withstand a higher load. "The maximum pressure in the heat transfer fluid circuit in normal heat transfer systems with thermal oils is 6 bar, but it increases up to 21 bar in the 400 degree systems, depending on the thermal oil used", explains Ralph Herbert. This requires expertise in pipeline construction and the individual equipment components which not every manufacturer can offer.
LAUDA manufactures heat transfer systems in this high temperature range several times a year – whereby the planning and design are always especially important aspects for the LAUDA experts, confirms Ralph Herbert. The team of engineers at LAUDA is currently planning thermal oil systems with a maximum working temperature of up to 430 °C. The system was completed on schedule for the customer from the chemical industry, inspected and approved in the test bed at LAUDA and then commissioned on site together with the customer.
