Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg Water-Cooled Solutions for Greater Energy Efficiency

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Heat is a single common by-product of today’s manufacturing machines that include the advanced automation technology required for both high speed operation and high precision. To keep these processes running, Industrial Cooling is critical.  When ambient conditions are at their worst liquid cooling is an ideal efficient solution.

The Challenge…

One of our machine tool customers needed a customized solution adapted to their customer’s environment allowing their industrial electronics to operate at optimal efficiency. Industrial cooling was needed for a grinding machine requiring cooling control accuracy. This is especially important as it significantly influences the grinding tolerance. The machine sands parts to remove all irregularities before sending them off for further assembly (gear manufacturing), the required control accuracy or hysteresis is up to +- 0.1 K in active units and up to +- 0.5 K in passive units.

The goal was to cool the machine with available water using a passive enclosure cooling unit at a flow temperature of 22°C. The main requirement for this project was that the water from the return flow (returning to the water ring) had to be at least 9°C warmer to match the customer’s own energy efficiency requirements.

The Solution…

After an analysis of their needs, Pfannenberg’s PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers appeared to be the best solution. Our water-cooled solutions are designed with durable components to ensure the effectiveness and longevity of the critical cooling process at hand.

   

We installed our new passive PWW 6000 into our compatible EB 60 WT Chiller housing which is extremely flexible. Passive water cooling makes sense if the flow temperatures are not too low and if a water circuit is available. This solution works reliably at a temperature difference of more than 5°C between the water circuit and the chiller.

To support this new solution for our customer, Pfannenberg provided 2-days of on-site training bringing “live initial operations” online.

Thanks to the success of this installation, our customer secured 10 more projects using our PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers with one in China.

Click here to get more information abour our PWW Water to Water Heat Exchangers.

Topics: Enclosure Cooling, Cooling Units, Thermal Management, Water Cooling

Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg Cools Customers Worldwide

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Pfannenberg’s North American headquarters are based in Lancaster, NY but the company serves customers around the globe with plants in Germany, Italy, China and recently Brazil.

Our internal company motto is “Sharing Competence” which allows worldwide teams to work together for a better understanding of our customers, providing dedicated service and solutions for projects globally.“This is the basis for our culture of innovation. We work closely with our internal teams, suppliers and customers to share information, developing an internal company know-how,” said Blaine Witt, Chief Sales Officer. “This process allows us to develop products and solutions based on what the market really demands.”

This strategy has not only contributed to receiving recognition as one of  “Western New York’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2015 but also to global recognition as a recipient of a “Red Dot Award” award, won for our PYRA-MA Flashing Sounder.

Having manufacturing centers worldwide “allows our teams to work together to support the customer’s needs on every continent,” Witt said. “Looking forward, as technology evolves, our innovation will allow us to build new products that are intelligent and able to communicate with other systems.”

Our global presence and market know-how is a real competitive advantage as our Enclosure Thermal Management products help some of the largest companies worldwide stay cool and safe, protecting and keeping electronic equipment running to avoid costly downtime. We also manufacture visual and audible signaling devices for security, industrial fire alarms, building, industrial process, disaster warning, hazardous areas, light art and illumination.”

Click here to read the full article!

Topics: Enclosure Cooling, Cooling Units, Thermal Management, North America, Company News & Annoucements

Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg’s Micro-channel AC cooling units for electronics cooling

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Micro-Channel cooling is a proven cooling technology that has been used in the Automotive and HVAC industry for over 25 years. Pfannenberg was the first company to introduce micro-channel condenser technology to the industrial process and electrical enclosure cooling industry.

Our extensive 34X1 DTS range features our dual condenser fans with ultra efficient micro-channel condensers designed to meet all industrial environment expectations with products compatible with US regulations as Nema Type 12 indoor, Nema 3R/4 outdoor and Nema Type 4/4x stainless steel for washdown applications.

Pfannenberg’s DTS range of Cooling Units offer a smaller footprint, improved heat transfer efficiency while also providing an environmentally friendly solution by using 50% less refrigerant than standard coils!

Greater Efficiency

The micro-channel condenser coils utilize an ultra-efficient design providing up to 40% more heat rejection thanks to multiple channels
within the tube and a brazed joint between the tube and fin. This improves the transfer of heat from the refrigerant into the ambient air.

Single Row, Less Clogging & Fouling

The single row air flow path of the micro-channel condenser allows for a condenser air flow path that clogs less and is significantly easier to clean during general maintenance.

Corrosion Resistant & Less Weight

The 100% aluminum design with zinc coating increases the corrosion resistance – versus conventional copper tube and fin condensers – and significantly reduces the weight of the product.

Increased Durability

The Cooling Units design provides for a condenser coil that is harder to damage during transit and general handling of the cooling unit.  Fin combing is not required to maintain proper airflow channels.

Cost Effective Design

Machine production of the condenser and the reduced material cost of using aluminum vs copper tubing creates a significant savings over conventional copper tube and fin designs.

Uses 50% Less Refrigerant

In an age where many companies are required to account for and pay fees based on refrigerant usage, having a system that provides the same cooling capacity using 50% less refrigerant is a life saver for plant managers.

Topics: Enclosure Cooling, Cooling Units, Thermal Management

Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg’s enclosure cooling units installed in the Gotthard Tunnel

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Under construction for 15 years, the 35 mile long Gotthard tunnel located in Switzerland opened in 2016.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel impresses with many outstanding features:

  • It is the longest railway tunnel in the world at 57 km and its tunnel run, with all the transverse and connection tunnels, stretches over 154 km.
  • From 2016, passenger trains should have a top speed of 250 km/h, reducing the travelling time e.g. between Milan and Zurich to under 3 hours and should almost double the haulage capacity on the Swiss North-South Axis to 40 m tons of goods.

Operating a tunnel poses a huge challenge for engineers and operators. All products and solutions have to meet the highest requirements and have to work perfectly even under harsh ambient conditions. In particular, this applies to electrical enclosures and their thermal management, which are subject to extreme alternating pressure loads, temperature differences and are also exposed to dust and moisture.

In close collaboration, Swibox and Pfannenberg have developed a special climate control concept for tunnel applications. Robust Swibox electrical enclosures with a pressure body which was developed especially to protect the cooling circuit and the side mounted cooling units with integrated controller and heater from Pfannenberg guarantee a high system uptime which are situated, in the 176 cross passages amongst other places.

These electrical enclosure cooling units ensure that the thermal pressure of the electronic components integrated inside the electrical enclosures does not become too high and that they work safely and reliably throughout their whole service lives.

 

Electrical enclosures withstand every alternating pressure

The largest technical challenges were the high requirements to the system of protection of the electrical enclosure, IP65, and also the high alternating pressure load which is caused by the trains passing through. When entering the tunnel, the train pushes the air ahead of it, causing overpressure until the train passes by the cross passage where the electrical enclosures are standing. As soon as the train has passed, the overpressure transforms suddenly to a corresponding under-pressure.

All the electrical enclosures and the installed cooling units are exposed to the load of this alternating pressure of up to +/- 5 kPa. It had to be ensured that all devices can withstand this alternating pressure mechanically, simultaneously implementing the high system of protection.

It was possible to meet these requirements, thanks to the mechanical unit custom construction developed especially in cooperation with the company Swibox. This construction ensures a leak-proof separation of the surrounding (outer wall of the unit) and the inside of the electrical enclosure (unit inside), also under pressure load. A special feature here is the developed pressure body inside which the components of the inner cooling circuit are housed. Therefore, it was not enough to use reinforced sheet metal: the selection of a suitable material and the increased material thickness in combination with specially installed stiffening plates led to the desired compressive strength.

Climate control concept of electrical enclosures does not only mean cooling

Another challenge in tunnels is the ambient air. Large temperature differences ranging from -20 °C to +40 °C, maximum humidity of 100%, and ferrous abrasion of brakes, rails and contact lines in the ambient air increase the risk of corrosion and show how different a tunnel application is compared to standard applications.

Therefore, a special enclosure climate control concept had to be established for specifically this application. In addition to the cooling units, which are predominantly used inside the mountains (ambient temperatures up to +40 °C), Pfannenberg heaters also had to be installed in the portal sector (ambient temperatures to -20 °C). These heaters ensure that the temperature inside electrical enclosures does not fall below the so-called dew-point (the temperature that moist air has to drop to – by unchanged pressure – so that the amount of water dissolved in the air is precipitated as condensate). At the dew-point, the relative humidity is 100%; that means that the air is saturated with water vapour.

Pfannenberg’s new generation of controllers, designed especially for this project, were also installed. This is especially important to prevent unplanned failures and downtime and, by planning maintenance works in advance, to guarantee a high level of system uptime. The controllers are not only used directly inside the cooling units. The climate controller was also integrated into 500 other electrical enclosures without a cooling unit. This makes a temperature monitoring system possible, which, like the climate control units, can communicate with the tunnel control system and, if necessary, can be replaced with such, without having to reinstall the data transfer.

In 2010 the first cooling units were delivered to the company Swibox. In the meantime, all units have been delivered and will be installed one by one, together with the electrical enclosures, in the 176 cross passages of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. They have already been able to prove their reliability every day during the various test phases until the start of the scheduled railway operation on 2016.

Click here to read the full Case study!

Marine Vienney

How to select the right chiller for your application

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Whatever your industry, choosing the best packaged chillers to meet the demanding requirements of today’s industrial applications can be complicated. 

For that reason, Pfannenberg designed a 6 step guide to help you select the best chiller depending on your environment, process and type of application.

Click on the picture to open the PDF or use this link!

Pfannenberg designs versatile packaged chillers which are ideal for applications that have cooling requirements of less that a half a ton up to 30 tons. All chillers are shipped as factory packaged systems requiring only field power and piping to provide recirculated chilled coolant to virtually any process. Pfannenberg’s new CC Chillers are ideal for quick setup and trouble free operation.

Click here for more information about our range of Packaged Chillers!

Topics: Enclosure Cooling, Cooling Units, Packaged Chillers

Marine Vienney

Safest Way to Cool with Water

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Electronics Cooling with an Air to Water Heat Exchanger

Water is the most efficient form of heat removal. Using an air to water heat exchanger allows you to safely cool your electronics using water, while also keeping external contaminants from entering your enclosure. Air to water heat exchangers also offer the advantage of being low maintenance while using significantly less energy than traditional methods.

Advantages of Pfannenberg’s Air to Water Heat Exchangers:

How do we safely cool with water?

#1: Bulkhead fitting for condensate drain providing superior ingress protection.
#2: Solenoid valve – controls liquid flow for capacity control and energy conservation.
#3: Color-coded water lines easily identify water supply & return lines.
#4: Air flow path designed to prevent condensate water from entering the enclosure.
#5: Internal design guarantees  full separation of water lines from airflow paths.
#6: Electronic thermostat for more accurate control of temperatures. Manual purge feature eases winterization.
#7: One-piece cover with sloped top for better protection of internal components and easy cleaning in wash-down applications (not pictured).

CONCLUSION:

Water has been used for years around sensitive electronics.  There’s no reason to be afraid of using water to cool your electronics. This is a great option to consider when your looking for safe and efficient solution to manage your cooling.

Marine Vienney

How to Choose the Proper Enclosure Cooling Product

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Reliable Thermal Management:

Understanding the proper thermal management of your electrical enclosures is critical in keeping your production process up and running. Trouble-free production is only guaranteed if the sensitive climate inside your electrical enclosures is maintained, even the slightest overheating of the electronic component units can result in serious consequences such as production downtime and premature aging of parts. It’s important that you choose the proper enclosure cooling

Choosing the Best Solution for Enclosures and Electronics Cooling:

Before choosing the best cooling solution you need to know your environment. Is the control cabinet placement in an environment where the air is full of dust or oil? Is the equipment to be cooled exposed to the weather, i.e. moisture and sunshine? How large are the designated dimensions of the required cooling units? Once these questions have been clarified completely, you can move on to choosing the best cooling solution for your application.

Common Thermal Management Products:


FilterFans®

  • If the ambient temperature is always lower than the temperature required in the electrical enclosure, then  Filterfans® represent an economical solution for thermal management of electrical enclosures.


Enclosure Air Conditioner

  • If cooling cannot be accomplished by the outside air
  • If the temperature required inside the electrical cabinet should be equal to or lower than the ambient temperature
  • If the ambient air is strongly contaminated with oil or conductive dusts
  • When higher ingress protection is required (Type rating)


Air to Water Heat Exchanger

  • If a chilled water supply is available
  • If aggressive ambient air restricts the use of conventional cooling units
  • If a very high IP class is required (up to IP 65)
  • If a maintenance-free cooling unit  is required
  • If energy efficiency is considered at a plant level concern

Need Help choosing the correct cooling solution?

If you need help choosing the proper cooling product for your application check out our Pfannenberg Sizing Software, it’s a free tool for you to use.

Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg New PWS 3000 Series Air to Water Heat Exchangers

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Save energy & safely cool your enclosures even under harsh conditions.

Lancaster, NY, May 13, 2013- Pfannenberg, Inc. introduces a new line of air to water heat exchangers designed to meet the unique requirements of industrial enclosure cooling applications. Our new PWS 3000 Series Air to Water Heat Exchangers offer a complete solution for recirculating water cooling systems for control enclosures especially under harsh conditions. With cooling capacities ranging from 2,218 BTU (650 W) to 34,121 BTU (10,000 W) these units are specifically engineered to allow safe, efficient use of liquid coolant to cool enclosure electronics. Additionally our sloped horizontal cover surfaces and optional NEMA Type 4X stainless steel type rating make the PWS 3000 series perfect for wash-down applications.

About Pfannenberg, Inc.

Pfannenberg, Inc. is a global manufacturer of thermal management, water cooling solutions and signaling technologies. Pfannenberg’s enclosure thermal management products help some of the largest companies worldwide stay cool and safe, protecting and keeping electronic equipment running to avoid costly downtime. In addition to our thermal management products Pfannenberg also manufactures visual and audible signaling devices for security, fire, building, industrial process, disaster warning, hazardous areas, light art and illumination. Pfannenberg is proud to provide solutions as a single source to its customers. Our business philosophy – Safety for man, machine and the environment

You can find more information about Pfannenberg, Inc. at: www.pfannenbergusa.com

Marine Vienney

Pfannenberg Illuminates the Tallest Christmas Tree in Paris

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Flashing lights make the “Place de la Concorde” shine

Hamburg, December 2012 – The tallest Christmas tree in Paris, which stands at 35 metres high, has been shining at the Place de la Concorde since the 6th December.

Equipped and illuminated with Pfannenberg 52 Quadro F12 flashing lights and inaugurated in an official opening ceremony by Paris’ mayor, Betrand Delanoë, the extraordinary light spectacle can be admired by inhabitants and visitors for a whole month longer.

Once again, Pfannenberg has proven that it is a competent partner in terms of art illuminations. As early as 2003, 20,000 Pfannenberg flashlights put the Paris landmark, the Eiffel Tower spectacularly in the limelight. Pfannenberg as a Hamburg company it was an absolute must to illuminate the Hamburg City Hall in 2004. And in 2008 9,500 flashing lights illuminated the Trinity Bridge, the television tower and the summer night sky in St. Petersburg.The French company SAF MAGNUM was commissioned by the City of Paris and is thus responsible for the Parisian Christmas Tree illuminations. The company is, amongst other things, a specialist for the illumination of events. Whilst searching for a manufacturer of flashing light circuit boards, SAF MAGNUM encountered the Quadro flashing light used in the Parisian Eiffel Tower which was produced by Pfannenberg. SAF MAGNUM then used this to build a prototype for the Paris Christmas tree.

For the flashing lights on the Christmas tree the circuit boards of the flashing light Quadro F12 were built into a plastic ball with a diameter of 50 cm. The ball is then, in addition, illuminated permanently from the inside by 12 red high-performance LEDs. The red permanent glow of the balls is made to sparkle by the Pfannenberg flash circuit board by means of a white flash once every second. This light generates 13 joules flash energy, 140 candela light intensity and an internal random generator creates a unique champagne pearl effect.

Click here to see raw video of the tree lighting.

Marine Vienney

Enclosure cooling. But how and where?

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Pfannenberg Paper Featured in May Design World:

When it comes to keeping electronics cool, you have several choices. For enclosure cooling, industrial air conditioners cool internal electrical components. The conditioners mount directly to the enclosure and are selected based on the amount of heat gain, interior air temperature requirements and, since the heat from the interior is rejected by the condenser of the air conditioner into the area adjacent to the enclosure, are also selected based on the ambient air conditions in the immediate vicinity.

Many industrial applications involve harsh environments including air laden with dust, grit, and/or oil mist, packaged air conditioners are not always easily applied and a remote cooling solution is required. Remote cooling moves the enclosure heat to a location away from its installation site – allowing the control enclosure to be sealed against the operation environment.

Remote cooling may involve using the air conditioner with a remote condenser or “split” refrigeration system. Here, the refrigerant compressor and evaporator remain packaged in the locally installed air conditioner. But the condenser is located in a more environmentally favorable location. Because the refrigerant gas from the compressor must be sent to the remote condenser, and the condensed refrigerant liquid must be returned to the conditioner’s evaporator, the piping between the local and remote components becomes an important part of the split system. If piping size and geometry are not properly engineered, the cooling system will be under capacity and the potential for problems with lubrication can cause premature compressor failure. Split systems also require charging the cooling circuit with refrigerant in the field and one remote condenser for each local condition is needed.

Another option for remote cooling involves equipping the control enclosure with an air to water heat exchanger that uses chilled water and a fan to condition and re-circulate the air within the cabinet. In this case, the entire refrigeration system is installed in a remote location and chilled water or a water-glycol combination is circulated to the enclosure-mounted device to remove the heat. Circulating a single-phase fluid makes the connecting piping a less critical element of the system.

An air to water heat exchanger can be beneficial for industrial applications. Because the heat exchangers use chilled water instead of vapor comp-ression refrigeration, it provides a sufficient cooling in a small package. In some cases, a single air-to-water heat exchanger can take the place of two or more air conditioners.

Air-to-water remote cooling can also offer increased energy efficiency when compared to using local air conditioners in environments where high ambient temperatures result in high refrigerant condenser pressures. As the refrigerant condensing pressure increases, the energy input for the compressor increases resulting higher operating costs. Contaminate-laden ambient air contributes to this situation by fouling the condenser coil and reducing its heat transfer efficiency. These problems are avoided by using a system where the refrigeration source is remote. If the chiller is located outdoors, there are additional efficiency gains to be made when seasonal changes in ambient air temperature allow lower refrigerant condensing pressures and lower operating costs.

The remote chiller-based system allows several enclosures to be cooled with a single chiller reducing equipment and installation costs. The chillers are selected to circulate the water flow rate required by the total number of air to water heat exchangers and programmed to maintain a fixed water temperature. Each enclosure-mounted heat exchanger controls the amount of coolant that it receives from the common coolant loop based on its own local temperature controller. The controller can be programmed to either maintain a fixed temperature or a variable temperature relative to the dew point temperature inside the enclosure to avoid condensation.

This coolant loop setup also provides an easy method of increasing reliability through redundancy. A second full-capacity chiller, installed in parallel with the primary chiller will provide up to 100% back-up for the cooling system. Simple controls are available to allow the back up chiller to be brought on line automatically in the event of a cooling failure. These controls can also rotate the lead and lag chillers to provide even duty cycles and ensure that the off line chiller is always ready.

Click here for more info on our Chiller range!