Tempco Blog articles

Energy recovery with immersion exchangers in industrial laundries

04/11/2022

A recent application of energy recovery from waters employed in an industrial laundry, for a customer in Puglia, represents for Tempco a further demonstration of the actual flexibility and versatility of TCOIL immersion exchangers. In the past we’ve already developed an application thanks to the free shape design offered by these kind of dimple jacket heat exchangers, employed on mangano ironers in industrial automatic ironing.

This new application of TCOIL immersion exchangers in industrial laundries is the first of its kind that we supply, and this is in fact a very brilliant and innovative solution, giving the customer a huge advantage in terms of energy saving. The customer has indeed water available at the temperature of 45-50° C, that is conveyed into the exchanger, with feeding water at 12° C that can therefore be heated at 35-40° C. The gain is about 20-25° C, and the water heated thanks to the recovered thermal energy is further heated in a boiler at 45° C ready for a new working cycle. A power saving of about 2/3 of the required power is thus obtained, so that for example the customer has a consumption of only 300 kW instead of 1.000 kW.

Tempco scambiatori TCOIL a immersione lavanderie industriali

This is a very smart application, with heat recovery and a strong energy saving, that becomes even more interesting these days due to the huge increase in gas and energy costs. The increase of energy prices is indeed reducing the payback of a similar solution, drastically shortening the return of investment for the customers, because if once it would have been calculated in 10 years, now it potentially decreases to only 3 years. With then a ROI very much more accessible, even because this kind of solution, with stainless steel construction, offers a very much longer working life.

Once again, another example of the change of paradigm similar to the switch from gas to electrical heating, that we were speaking about in our video on the electrification of heating in thermoregulating units.

Tempco scambiatori TCOIL lavanderie industriali

Tempco scambiatori a immersione TCOIL lavanderie industriali

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Pressure drop and thermal transfer performances in exchangers, why do they increase together?

28/10/2022

There is a little trick that I’m explaining here related to the functioning and thermal transfer efficiency of heat exchangers: why the performances increase while the pressure drop increases?

The thing is simple: when we allow increased pressure drops on the fluid’s flow rate within an exchanger, and thus pressure drop of water circulating within the shell or the tubes, or on the two sides of a plate heat exchanger, we obtain a boost in performances. That’s because, being equal the section of the exchanger, increasing the pressure drop means that we are increasing the flow rate. Even better said, when we are accepting higher pressure drops, that means that we can reduce the passage section of the fluids and thus increase their flowing speed.

That leads to a more turbulent flow of fluids, which in the exchanger involves a higher number of collisions among the particles of the fluid and thus a higher thermal transfer rate. That’s why the thermal transfer efficiency increases too.

The same thing can be done for a pre-existing exchanger, where in order to boost the thermal transfer performances we can simply increase the flow rate, which correspond in quite a linear ratio to an increase of pressure drop and therefore of the performance of the heat exchanger.

This is a tiny good trick that is valid in the design of heat exchangers, both for plate heat exchangers or shell and tube exchangers, and for any kind of heat exchanger.

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High pressure Brazed plate exchangers in CO2 refrigeration for transports

21/10/2022

We’ve already spoken about CO2 refrigeration systems, a green and sustainable HVAC solution that not only eliminates the employ of synthetic refrigerants, but uses in addition a natural source, thus renewable and with zero environmental impact. The side product of CO2 refrigeration thermal cycle is indeed water.

For an application in HVAC for transport vehicles, both for the driving cabin and the passengers areas, Tempco has recently supplied super high pressure brazed plate exchangers, with a special design that enables the exchangers to withstand pressures up to 140 bar. The innovative HVAC solutions that employ CO2 for sustainable conditioning require indeed the employ of equipments and components especially designed for high operating pressure levels. A challenging new field of application for sustainable HVAC and brazed plate exchangers, that leads to new special engineering and construction deployments.

Tempco scambiatori saldobrasati alta pressione refrigerazione CO2

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Tempco TREG HCE monofluid thermoregulation in 3D model

14/10/2022

Monofluid thermoregulation with TREG HCE thermoregulating units in cooling tasks is showed and ‘laid bare’ in this in video animation on our Tempco Youtube channel.

The video clearly showcases the flowing circuits in inlet of both the thermoregulated fluid and the cooling water. Once the thermal transfer is achieved within the plate heat exchanger, the unit provides the fluid regulated at the temperature requested by the process. The video clearly shows the fluids’ circuit scheme, with lateral views from both sides of the thermoregulating unit.

 

Furthermore, at the dedicated Solutions page in the Tempco website is also available an interactive 3D model of the thermoregulating unit, which allows to freely rotate the machine at any desiderd angle view and zooming in high resolution details prospects, offering the possibility to extensively explore the construction and engineering of these thermoregulating units.

Tempco TREG HCE monofluido modello 3D circuiti

Tempco TREG HCE monofluido modello 3D scambiatore

Tempco TREG HCE monofluido modello 3D raffreddamento

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Hot and cold extremes in automotive test bench

07/10/2022

Thermoregulation is a key asset in test bench applications generally, and in particular for the temperature regulation system that in Tempco we have engineered for the testing tasks of automotive components of a customer. The system has to serve the test bench of automotive parts ensuring the regulation of temperature levels in a wide range, from -15° C up to +130° C.

The solution employs TREG series thermoregulation units, equipped with electrical heaters managed by thyristors. This allows to achieve an excellent adjustment of the thermal capacity, so that power consumption is strictly limited to the real demand of the testing process, ensuring in addition very narrow tolerances of temperature levels regulation.

Tempco termoregolazione banchi prova componenti automotive

 

The thermoregulating units are combined with TCHIL chillers, providing the cooling energy in order to complete the wide thermoregulation range in which the automotive components test bench works.

Tempco termoregolazione banchi prova componenti auto

Tempco termoregolazione banchi prova parti automotive

 

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Rise in energy prices and heating, switching from gas to electrification

30/09/2022

The energy crisis, the rising of energy prices and the issues in gas supply from East caused by geopolitical problems of the conflict in Ukraine, are pushing companies towards electrification in their heating tasks in production processes. These issues are indeed increasing the prices for energy production, and therefore of heat.

The switch we are witnessing is from gas heating to electrical heating, as in Tempco we are receiving daily requests of this kind. This involves especially companies that have a self-production of electrical energy, coming from renewables such as photovoltaic. And in particular for big enterprises that have huge centralized systems that provide steam and high temperature diathermic oil for heating of production processes.

In fact, these companies are switching from this type of units to smaller units electrically heated. In the past, in Italy the cost of electrical energy was higher than gas, but actually the situation has turned, making this kind of choice preferable and more convenient, especially as said in case of self-production of power from renewables.

In addition, these kind of units allow to implement solutions using static relays or thyristors, thus allowing the adjustment of power consumption to the real request of heating in the production plant, limiting power consumption where is really needed. It is then possible to employ smaller units dedicated to heating of smaller parts of the plant, refining the energy consumption by heating only the process where it is necessary, instead of having a unique centralized heater serving all of the utilities at once.

Stay updated on the latest applications by subscribing our monthly Tempco Newsletter – Solid Temperature.

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Refrigerators, PLC and inverter in precious metals refinery

23/09/2022

Refinery and treatment of precious metals involve several critical points along the production process, which includes casting, melting and separation. Cooling systems are essential assets in the refinery industry, ensuring the right temperature regulation of the furnace and along the different steps of the refining process.

For a customer operating in the refinery industry of precious metals, Tempco has supplied a special plant served by refrigerators, that provide the cooling energy required for the thermoregulation of the production process. A pumping circuit, equipped with control of temperatures and flow rates using a PLC with operator panel and inverter for energy saving, conveys the cooling fluid to the different utilities within the refining plant.

Raffinazione metalli preziosi Tempco sistema raffreddamento

The cooling solution contributes to achieve the energy efficiency and sustainable production levels reached by the customer, that also widely employs solutions for automation, supervision and control of the production process.

Stay updated on the latest applications by subscribing our monthly Tempco Newsletter – Solid Temperature.

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Cooling, chiller and heat exchangers in hybrid yachts

16/09/2022

Electrification, electric engines and hybrid powertrain are, along with alternative and renewable energies, some of the most hot trends that are not only affecting the automotive sector, but having in fact a huge impact with a growing interest for electrification and hybrid solutions in the maritime sector, for hybrid yachts and ships.

There are indeed yachts that combine the traditional endothermic engine, powered by diesel fuels, with an electric engine. On ships, the endothermic engine doesn’t drive directly the propellers, but provide power to power generators that power electric engines controlled by an inverter, that finally make the propeller move.

Hybrid yachts and ships are thus an innovative and green alternative solution, using electric energy stored in batteries in order to power these electric drives. Clearly, all of these electric engines, power inverters and electrical equipments generate great amounts of heat that must be dissipated. And the amounts of heat involved are way greater than those to cope with in the automotive sector, where a simple radiator can provide the cooling of the equipments.

Special ad hoc cooling systems are thus deployed in order to dissipate the large amounts of heat generated on hybrid yachts, such as exchangers that are installed under the boat, called keel cooler, that directly employ sea water to achieve the thermal duty required. But there are several cruising situations where sea water has too high temperatures, and thus auxiliary chillers are installed onboard to generate refrigerated water. The cooled water then serves typically plate heat exchangers, that finally provide the cooling of the electric engines, power inverters and all the different electric equipments employed on hybrid yachts.

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Data center, investments double globally with stronger focus on ESG issues

09/09/2022

Last year the number of investments in data center globally had a strong growth, with a number of transactions that reached 117 units in 2021, scoring an annual increase of 64%, and doubling the value of investments up to USD 59,9 billion. These are the results of a report by the DLA Piper International law firm, titled ‘The meteoric rise of the data centre: key drivers behind the global demand’. This extraordinary growth is expected to continue, as in the first half of 2022 there have been already 41 transactions worth USD 21,3 billion, which doubles the USD 10,6 billion total of the same period in 2021.

Even more interesting on the perspective of Tempco is the growing focus that investors, debt providers and developers have on energy security and ESG issues related to data center infrastructures. The global growth of data centers is clearly driven by the increasing demand for cloud services, and by the rise of IoT and artificial intelligence applications, with also the incoming rollout of 5G connectivity and the dawn of Metaverse. At the same time, the regulatory scrutiny and intervention in ESG have been increasing, with initiatives such as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and metrics like PUE (Power usage effectiveness) more and more weighing on requirements for data centers around the world.

Crescita investimenti data center temi ESG sostenibilità DLA Piper

In this context, almost all respondents (94%) said that scrutiny and diligence surrounding ESG issues increased when making data center investment and/or development decisions in the past 24 months, and 99% of them anticipate a further increase in the next 24 months. More than a third (35%) of developers/operators said that they divested at least one data center in the past two years due to concerns related to ESG. The survey also shows that net zero carbon emissions are firmly on the agenda for a majority of respondents, as 68% of equity investors and 60% each of both debt providers and developers/operators said that the data center in which they had most recently invested either has a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 or it had already achieved this. Finally, energy and ESG factors are top drivers when it comes to generating a premium for data center investments: 70% of developers/operators and 75% of both debt providers and equity investors said they would be glad to pay a premium to invest in or finance a site with very good to excellent ESG and sustainability credentials.

As in topics we have already treated in the past, sustainability and energy saving in data center notably refers to the switch from air cooling systems of IT equipments and electronics to liquid cooling solutions, taking all of the advantages provided by immersion cooling in data centers. This represents in fact a shift gears for data centers, towards a more sustainable and green future for IT computing infrastructurea with a lower environmental impact. There are indeed several advantages offered by liquid cooling of data centers equipment, starting with the possibility to employ cooling fluids at higher temperatures thanks to the higher heat dissipation rate of liquid compared to air. Great energy savings are then also due to the elimination of fans and compressors in chillers, and furthermore allowing the implementation of free cooling systems.

DLA Piper crescita investimenti data center fattori ESGInvestimenti data center raffreddamento a liquido ESG

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Chocolate chips and cooling

02/09/2022

Good start of September and welcome back from summer vacation! And there’s no better way to have a sweet come back than speaking about chocolate, don’t you think? In particular, have you ever wondered how chocolate chips and flakes are made? Once again, it’s an interesting food production cycle that involves temperature regulation tasks.

To produce chocolate chips, indeed, and in fact for every kind of food product that is made in flakes or chips, the warm product is laid out on a conveyor belt made in stainless steel, or in another kind of material which is suitable for food contact. The product is then cooled from the bottom of the conveyor using cold water jets, and therefore solidifies.

The conveyor belt has a defined length in order to achieve the complete cooling of the product. At the end of the conveyor, a sort of scraping blade lifts and scrape off the product from the belt, finally creating chips and flakes. An interesting, simple and brilliant process, which once again requires a cooling application task.

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TEMPCO researches and develops systems and solutions for cooling, heating, control temperature and heat exchange in different industrial processes.

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