Heating and cooling up to 550 °C with molten salt

LAUDA, leading manufacturer of Constant temperature equipment and systems worldwide, is now offering temperature control systems that function using liquid salt. The advantages: unique working temperature range up to 550 °C and high operational safety for seamless production processes.

After successful test runs and customer approval in-house at LAUDA, the first high-temperature system to use molten salt as a heat carrier was loaded for transport to the customer's facilities. LAUDA has been designing specialized Heating and cooling systems for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries for over 50 years. They provide precise temperature control thermostating for reaction vessels, evaporators, dryers and filters using heat transfer liquids – primarily thermal oil. If extremely high temperatures are required, such as in aluminum oxide or melamine production, lye evaporation, and other high-temperature reactions, molten salt offers some real advantages as a heat carrier compared to thermal oils, which are limited to an operating temperature of around 400 °C. In comparison, the salt mixture used by LAUDA permits temperatures up to 550 °C. They are liquid under operating conditions, have ideal use characteristics, such as low viscosity and high heat capacity, and ensure non-pressurized operation.

The principle of operation: A pump conveys the liquid salt mixture from a heated bottom tank to a heater (either a combustion heater or an electric heater) that heats it to the desired temperature. If necessary, a cooling module can be integrated that will cool the salt mixture down to a temperature just above its solidification point, precisely and to the correct degree. This makes it possible to realize a constant temperature system with a unique working temperature range. When the pump is turned off, the salt mixture automatically drains back into the tank. This prevents solidification in the system and ensures high operational safety.

All LAUDA systems are delivered to the customer as modules, ready to be connected and with a controller included. Extensive tests in the LAUDA testing facility make starting up on-site a quick process, thus reducing standstill times during installation.

About LAUDA

LAUDA is the world's leading manufacturer of constant temperature equipment and applications for research, applications technology and production. Its product range includes Constant temperature equipment, Measuring instruments and Heating and cooling systems. Customers in the medical technology, semiconductor and biotechnology industries, among others, count on the high-quality products made in Lauda-Königshofen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company, founded in 1956, nowadays has around 430 employees and twelve foreign subsidiaries. With more than 60 years of experience behind it, it offers a unique product range, including compact laboratory thermostats, industrial circulation chillers, and customer-specific heating and cooling systems having over 400 Kilowatts of cooling capacity. As a result, LAUDA is the only company serving more than 10,000 customers worldwide to guarantee optimum temperatures throughout the value added chain. The high-quality products maintain constant temperatures to the nearest five-thousandth °C, or regulate the temperature within a range of -150 to 550°C with a high degree of accuracy. Production processes are accelerated or made possible via active cooling or heating.

Future-oriented innovations for temperature control solutions in Paris

For LAUDA, the world's leading manufacturer of temperature control devices and systems, this year's Forum LABO, which took place in Paris from March 28 to 30, 2017, has been very successful with numerous interesting technical discussions. A very special highlight for the trade visitors was the presentation of LAUDA LOOP, a novel thermoelectric circulation thermostat based on Peltier technology. By means of a current flow, the LAUDA LOOP temperature is generated by semiconductors and can be used for either heating or cooling, simply by reversing the current direction. The air cooled LAUDA LOOP device types L 100 and L 250 are suitable for external applications in a temperature range of 4 to 80 °C. For the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology sector, LAUDA LOOP provides real added value thanks to its compact and space-saving design. LAUDA LOOP can be flexibly used for the temperature control thermostating of refractometers, bioreactors, electrophoresis chambers or for sample preparation. In industrial cooling applications, LAUDA has presented the Ultracool UC Mini compact process circulation chiller for cooling outputs between 2 and 5 kilowatts. The size of the device has been reduced considerably compared to the established previous models. The square design with a side length of only 64 centimeters allows the customer to spatially position the Ultracool UC Mini in a very flexible manner. The impressive product portfolio at the fair was rounded off by the LAUDA PRO product line. For the first time, there are powerful bath thermostats for exact, internal temperature control from -100 to 250 °C and efficient circulating thermostats for dynamic heating and cooling of external applications from -45 to 250 °C. During the three exhibition days in Paris, these new devices also underlined the new benchmark for uncompromising temperature control from LAUDA.

Official opening of the new office building and 60-year company anniversary

There were two occasions at LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO KG in Lauda-Königshofen last Wednesday afternoon at a festive event with a large number of honored guests. On the one hand, a new administration building with offices and conference rooms could be officially opened a mere six months and a few days since the cornerstone was laid at the beginning of March and, on the other hand, the official ceremony formed part of the celebrations to commemorate the company's 60th anniversary.

"We are celebrating 60 years of successful company history. With the dedication of our new office and meeting rooms we are also working to shape our future. To me maintaining a balance between Honoring the achievements up to now while keeping an eye on the future at the same time," emphasized President & CEO Dr. Gunther Wobser, who was able to welcome a large number of honored guests from business, community and politics. They included such guests as MdB Nina Warken, MdB Alois Gerig, Landrat Reinhard Frank, Bürgermeister Thomas Maertens, Dr. Harald Unkelbach, President of IHK Heilbronn-Franconia, the two executive chairmen of Sparkasse Tauberfranken, Peter Vogel and Wolfgang Reiner, Architect Klaus Schreiner, the managing directors of the Faul and Bethäuser construction company, Herbert Bethäuser and Norbert Groß, former LAUDA managing director and current advisor and shareholder Dr. Gerhard Wobser, former managing director Karlheinz Wobser and shareholder Christine Koschker.

The six-decades of company history did not just have highly successful phases, but it also had difficult ones, admitted Dr. Gunther Wobser. The company faced a crisis in the 1990s due to high investments and dwindling sales. "This experience has humbled us," he emphasized. For this reason, the company has been pursuing the "STEP" site development program for the past ten years, which LAUDA is implementing to modernize step-by-step from the inside out. This includes the now completed new construction, with which the existing administration wing is being expanded by the addition of floors to the production hall built in 2013.

LAUDA is more than just a business enterprise, however; it is also committed to art, emphasized Dr. Gunther Wobser. A total of 124 art exhibits have been put on display since 1995. As a highlight, the president & CEO referred to an exhibit of the internationally renowned Professor Ben Willikens, whom he was also able to welcome to the festive event as an honored guest.

"What does the year 1956 mean to you? was one of the themes based on LAUDA's founding year, which was included in a round of podium discussions with Warken, Gerig, Maertens, Unkelbach and Dr. Gerhard Wobser. "LAUDA is an important part of the hometown and business history of this city and region," emphasized Maertens as an example in the discussion round moderated by Michael Dickescheid, Head of Marketing and Communication at LAUDA.

Unkelbach then awarded an honorary certificate of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) to Dr. Gunther Wobser on the occasion of the anniversary and for the company's special commitment to the economy. Maertens also presented an art gift to Wobser on behalf of the city of Lauda-Königshofen. In turn, Dr. Gerhard Wobser and Karlheinz Wobser were honored by the President & CEO with the first award of the Golden Dr.-Rudolf-Wobser medal, dedicated to the company founder, for their special services in the ongoing expansion of the company, which they took over in 1977, after the sudden death of their company founder and father.

"The sphere of architecture emerges wherever technology is genuinely fulfilled", said architect Klaus Schreiner, quoting the famous architect Mies van der Rohe, since his belief according to this quote applies perfectly to the new LAUDA office building. Schreiner mentioned the construction of around 4000 cubic meters of converted space, and the installation of 38 tons of steel components, 800 square meters of concrete flooring, and 850 square meters of glass facade surface with internal solar protection as examples of the building's technical data.

Towards the end of the festivities, the new building wing was formally blessed by the two clergymen Stefan Märkl and Volker Lenz. "I am proud to be able to be here at LAUDA", emphasized Dr. Marc Stricker in his closing words.

The festive event was musically framed by the fascinating and enthralling beat-boxing, sound effects and vocal acrobatics of "Robeat“" alias Robert Wolf from Stuttgart.

Following the celebration, LAUDA officially opened its third "Worldmeeting" in the Lauda vineyard on Wednesday evening with employees from both the headquarters in Lauda and the international LAUDA subsidiaries. As part of this multi-day meeting, the agenda included such activities as a company tour with all of the foreign guests and a large internal celebration of the 60th company anniversary on Thursday evening in the Lauda City Hall.

As a further and final highlight of its 60-year enterprise, LAUDA will be holding an open house on Sunday, 9 October, 2016 from 10 am to 5 pm, to which all interested citizens are invited. A company tour will provide the visitors with insight in the production and working world of the global market leader. The opportunity will also be offered to view the new administration wing with offices and conference rooms.

The LAUDA Group in facts and figures

• The temperature specialist LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG was founded on March 1, 1956 by Dr. Rudolf Wobser in Lauda, as a measuring device factory.
• Today, the company is the world's leading manufacturer of innovative constant temperature equipment
  and installations for research, application technology and production, and high-quality measuring devices.
• With more than 60 years of experience and the unique product range of compact laboratory thermostats, via industrial circulation chillers up to customer-specific projected heating and cooling systems, having more than 400 Kilowatt cooling capacity mean that LAUDA is the only company that can guarantee their customers (numbering more than 10,000 worldwide), the optimum temperature throughout the added value chain.
• At the current time, around 420 staff are employed by the company, together with its twelve foreign companies, and around 320 of them are located in the headquarters in Lauda.
• Group sales amount to around 70 million Euros.