Heat pumps in industrial cleaning applications

The concept is tested by four manufacture companies. For the passage cleaners the saving potential for all tested systems is between 44-55 %. The results show that the economical advantage is greater for larger systems but the saving do not justify the investment for systems with heating need less than 15-20 kW. It can be concluded that there is a large saving potential with the use of these solutions. The process has shown that measurements and cleaning systems is necessary to choose the right solution. Without a clear picture of the needed heating effect the risk is very high that the solutions will be dimensioned wrong. To avoid this barrier KSN Industries has developed a energy logger that easily and simple can estimate the precise need.

The technology is demonstrated without any technical difficulties and the process has shown it is possible to construct suited heat pumps with standard components. It is also clear that the solution where the energy is recovered directly from the cleaning systems has operated as expected. There are always a suitable energy source available and it is also possible to use external sources if this is more appropriate. The concept where the heat pump is connected to the cleaning systems without larger action and existing heating as back up the solution is without any risks for the end-user. The heat pump can be changed quickly if something went wrong or for service.

It can be concluded that there is no technical barriers for the promotion of the technology.

The demonstration system has shown that the cleaners total energy consumption is reduced by 49 % and the system has been operating in more than a year without any problems. It is expected that eventual problems for promoting the technology will be a non-technical. The payback time is short but the investment is to large to make fast decisions.