Rapidly mounting energy costs are forcing companies in the manufacturing industry to consume less energy without losing productivity. Besides offering advice and service, Rittal is supporting its customers with new technologies. Production managers at Hansgrohe SE, for example, were impressed by the energy savings achieved with the ‘Blue e+ S’ series of cooling units.
Overview
- Project
- Hansgrohe SE
- Location
- Schiltach, Germany
- Challenge
High energy consumption of the cooling units installed and the search for energy-saving potentials
- Solution
Blue e+ S cooling unit, energy savings of more than 50 per cent
Rittal promised us some 60 per cent – and, sure enough, we’re currently achieving savings of 61 per cent in our actual operations. To be honest, it surprised us.
Founded in Baden-Württemberg in 1901, Hansgrohe SE a company with a lot of tradition, uses modern technologies to stay ready for the future. This also includes a focus on sustainability – all its worldwide locations have been climate-neutral since 2022. With the help of technologies that save water and energy, the company also aims to ensure that every product from the Hansgrohe and AXOR brands will help reduce water consumption and cut emissions by 2030.
Hansgrohe employs a high degree of vertical integration in producing its high-quality bathroom and kitchen products. To ensure this, the company uses many machines and enclosures, as well as a correspondingly large number of cooling units. Even though their share of total energy consumption is rather low, Hansgrohe has set itself the goal of using every possible means of improving energy efficiency. That is why Hansgrohe was also open to testing the new Rittal enclosure cooling units of the Blue e+ S series, with their 750-watt rated output voltage.
Challenging testing environment
Rittal and Hansgrohe decided on a test run in the grinding and polishing facilities — six production lines with robots imparting metal parts with a high gloss level following casting and milling. However, sanding dust can still soil the cooling unit, despite the use of suction removal techniques. On top of this, waste heat also dissipates from the machinery – one ideal key area for Rittal’s new ‘Blue e+ S series’ cooling units. Rittal carried out a service and efficiency check to make a valid calculation of the savings potentials, even before the test began. This data can also be used to determine when the investments will pay off, which funding programmes can be accessed, and the degree to which emissions can be reduced.
Efficient and easy to manage
Replacing the old cooling unit with a new one took less than two hours. Those in charge can also check whether everything is in order ‘on the fly’ with Rittal’s “Scan & Service” app. Johannes Kopf, project and investment planner at Hansgrohe added: “Everybody knows that you can achieve energy savings of 20 to 30 per cent with a new, energy-efficient unit. However, Rittal promised us some 60 per cent – and, sure enough, we’re currently achieving savings of 61 per cent in our actual operations. To be, honest, it surprised us. What’s more, if we disregard the integrated condensate evaporation – in other words, if we carry out a like-for-like comparison with our old unit – this figure rises to 70 per cent. In any event, the Blue e+ S has exceeded Hansgrohe's expectations. Rittal has proved that the data that was calculated during the efficiency check can also be achieved in practice. We are going to implement further recommendations from the efficiency check bit by bit, with a view to optimising energy consumption in our production plant.”