ONI: High interest and many new questions about energy management - Almost 5,000 visitors at the ONI exhibition booth

The topic of energy management and the necessary technical systems have, against the backdrop of current technological developments, additional regulations, and constantly new requirements for efficient energy management—especially in energy-intensive operations—highest priority. This summarizes ONI-Wärmetrafo GmbH's trade fair appearance at this year's Fakuma in Friedrichshafen.

This was evident in the great interest and the questions from industry visitors, who flocked to the trade fair booth of the plant manufacturer and system solution specialist in the fields of cooling and refrigeration technology, heat recovery, and tool temperature control from Lindlar in the Oberberg region, more than ever before at a Fakuma.

Never before have there been so many new requirements, regulations, or development trends in the field of peripheral technology surrounding production plants and systems. As a result, visitors to the trade fair had numerous new questions that needed expert answers, and ultimately, suitable solutions in the form of product or system technology had to be available.

"The fact that there is also a correspondingly high demand for information and innovative system solutions among plastics processing companies is once again demonstrated by the approximately 16 percent increase in trade visitors at our booth compared to Fakuma 2014," explains Wolfgang Oehm, managing partner of ONI, regarding the strong visitor turnout.

Even more consulting needs around energy technology

The range of questions was broad and ranged from "Is there a mandatory introduction of an energy management system?" to "Natural or synthetic refrigerants, where is the journey heading?" to "What are the implications of VDI 2047 Part 2 - Hygiene in cooling circuits - on the operation of cooling tower systems?" or "How does Industry 4.0 manifest in plant technology around plastics processing?" For these and other questions, we were able to provide competent advice to customers and interested parties at ONI's trade fair booth, along with the appropriate product or system solution.

The presented project examples of completed plants or plant retrofits, all demonstrating significant savings results, impressed many industry visitors, as did the temperature control technology installed on four injection molding machines from Rhytemper.

The new Rhytemper Unit-Block Module was particularly prominently showcased. This unit block is the basis for various configurations, from water distribution to process-monitoring, dynamic individual circuit temperature control in cleanrooms. An adjacent Rhytemper column with three blocks, each equipped with 24 block modules, visually demonstrated the different configurations and the compact design.

"The continuously developed Rhytemper system technology is now capable of providing continuous production monitoring and thus quality assurance of the manufactured plastic parts by checking the thermal fingerprint in each shot. In addition to well-known advantages such as cycle time savings of around 18 percent compared to conventional temperature control systems and ensuring process stability, continuous production monitoring is a compelling argument for plastics processors. We can clearly see this from the disproportionately increased demand. In 2014 alone, we recorded a massive sales increase of about 55 percent compared to the previous year, and by September of this year, we had already reached the sales of the entire last year," says Falk Liebsch, authorized signatory of the subsidiary ONI-Temperiertechnik Rhytemper from Großröhrsdorf in Saxony.

Cooling machines with various refrigerants on offer

In the field of cooling machine technology, questions about future developments regarding refrigerants used were addressed. A variable-speed large cooling machine with a cooling capacity of 550 kW was shown, using ammonia (NH3) as a natural refrigerant.

The disadvantage of this NH3-based cooling machine technology is a higher price. Compared to the also efficient cooling machine technology with refrigerants such as synthetic R-134a (tetrafluoroethane), the system price is about 3 to 4 times higher.

"We offer our customers the technical solution that is currently and future-oriented, operationally reliable, efficient, and, considering economic and environmental aspects, ideal from our perspective. They can rely on our experience and innovative strength, as demonstrated by more than 4,000 customers in over 60 countries worldwide," assured Wolfgang Oehm to the many interested industry visitors.

Saving electricity remains a constant topic - Efficient cleanroom technology in focus

In the area of reducing electrical consumption, the EtaControl technology, which according to ONI can achieve energy savings of 25 to 50 percent on injection molding machines, and the system extension with the Etasave module, which allows the feed-in of saved electrical potential during regulation phases, once again attracted great interest. According to ONI, the EtaControl technology, first introduced five years ago, is now used on about 3,000 machines in clamping forces ranging from 1,500 to 40,000 kN and is being employed very successfully by processors because the high savings rates ensure short payback periods. In practical operation, amortization within 0.8 to 1.9 years is possible.

The area of ventilation and cleanroom technology has gained even more attention this year because many plastics processors need to improve their manufacturing conditions due to increased quality demands, and more and more K-processors are entering medical technology or related fields. In all cases, a defined room air quality is required, which should be provided with as little energy as possible. "The demand for defined air quality with low energy consumption or low operating costs can only be met in practice if, for example, free waste heat from cooling water circuits can be used for air heating. For this reason, our air technology system concepts are primarily adapted to meet the requirements for air quality, but immediately afterward, energetic optimization is carried out considering and utilizing free energy sources through the use of ONI heat recovery systems," describes Wolfgang Oehm the usable synergy effects.

Positive trade fair review from Wolfgang Oehm

"The Fakuma 2015 trade fair was a complete success for us! We also recorded an even higher number of industry visitors this year because energy efficiency and process optimization still hold high importance for plastics processors. Furthermore, new regulations confront us with a whole range of demands. For the questions arising from these, we were able to provide visitors with not only competent answers but also suitable system or product solutions."

For industry visitors, once again, the projects we implemented and the energy savings achieved after implementation were of interest. During the fair, there were many concrete project inquiries, and even now, a few days after the event, we are receiving an unusually large number of project requests. The fact that we could also take home some orders worth around 2.3 million euros from the fair is the icing on the cake," concludes Wolfgang Oehm regarding ONI's trade fair appearance in Friedrichshafen.