A significant component for a new refrigeration range from Vahterus
14.12.2011
New plate size PSHE 6 used for the first time
New plate size PSHE 6 used for the first time
A significant component for a new refrigeration range from Vahterus
A condenser and an evaporator-drop separator provided by Vahterus form a significant part of German company GEA Refrigeration Germany’s new refrigeration technology. Grasso BluAstrum chillers are only just about to enter the market but they have already won an important German refrigeration devices environmental prize.
At a gala held in early December, the representatives of GEA Refrigeration Germany, John Ritmann and Wolfgang Dietrich, accepted Vahterus’ 30,000th heat exchanger. It will be installed as a part of a large size Grasso BluAstrum chiller which will soon be producing cold water for a GEA customer.
The 1200 kW heat exchanger uses Vahterus’ new size PSHE 6 plate for the first time. GEARefrigeration Germany and Vahterus have been in close cooperation developing the new product range for almost three years.
John Ritmann and Wolfgang Dietrich represent GEA Group's refrigeration technologies and work in Berlin. In recognition of the delivery they as well as Heikki Oksanen, head of the project at Vahterus, were sprinkled by christening champagne when the bottle was broken against the steel side of the condenser.
Both parties were happy with the results of the successful cooperation.
Mr Ritmann has been product manager and mainly involved with the development and market introduction of Grasso BluAstrum project for some three years. Mr Dietrich will be the new product manager continuing the tasks with GEA refrigeration devices.
Grasso BluAstrum is an entirely new generation refrigeration device range for industry and air conditioning.
Only the natural refrigerant, ammonia, is used in products of the range.
In addition to economic efficiency and performance, compact size was one of the goals in the development process.
”We turned all the components upside down in order to get what we wanted,” says John Ritmann.
There are six different types of chillers ranging from 500 to 1800 kW. ”It is essential that the product fits through a door without it being necessary to break down walls,” Mr Ritmann emphasises. The expected future replacement of chillers using R22 and HFC refrigerants makes
fitting through the door, an important cost factor in the replacement investments.
”And when the floor space of the machine is reduced to less than half, savings in facility costs are evident,” Mr Dietrich adds.
The aim of GEA Refrigeration Germany is for the customers to be able to directly start using products that utilise natural refrigerants instead them considering using HFC devices for a transitional period, as their operating life could be very short given that environmental legislation progresses fast in different countries.
Mr Ritmann describes how during the Grasso BluAstrum project all components of the refrigeration devices were checked over one by one in order to optimise their size and performance. In order to make the largest types BluAstrum 1500 and 1800 compact enough, a heat exchanger plate smaller than PSHE 7 but larger than PSHE 5 was needed. Develop a new heat exchanger plate became Vahterus’ task.
Mr Ritmann's own connections to Vahterus were created in the mid 1990s when development of natural refrigerants as an alternative for environmentally harmful synthetic refrigerants truly began. After Mr Ritmann started working for GEA, he still kept his old contacts and so he recalled the beginning of the project at the gala. He came to Vahterus to meet Mauri Kontu and asked whether they were interested in taking part in a project like this – yes or no?
”I could see it on his face that he knew that an opportunity like this could not be passed by,” John Ritmann said and made the audience laugh.
The task that seemed almost impossible at first became possible once the right partner was found.
And what will happen from now on?
John Ritmann and Wolfgang Dietrich are very happy with the cooperation and the results of which are becoming reality now that the Grasso BluAstrum chillers are entering the market.
”It is important to continue development, because what we in GEA want is not only the heat exchanger but the whole system surrounding it,” says Mr Ritmann.
Mr Dietrich states that Vahterus is a reliable partner.
”We can count on Vahterus. That is important; the heat exchanger in an essential component in our refrigeration device. We have now spent three years developing the product which means it is a significant joint investment.
Already a year ago in the autumn the Grasso BluAstrum chiller was awarded in Germany with an important environmental prize. Deutscher Kältepreis 2011 was given to a food producer’s refrigeration system that protects the environment.
The first five sold Grasso BluAstrum products are closely monitored in the beginning. Every detail of their operation is inspected for at least three months. This will also be the case at the customer where heat exchanger number 30,000 will soon be purring.