Reference
Festo AG & Co. KG / Technolgiefabrik
Heat generator
- Combined heat and power unit CHP
- Boiler
- Heat recovery / waste heat
Cold generator
- Absorption chillers
- Free cooling
- Chiller
Planning
- GF-Ingenieurgesellschaft für Gebäudetechnik mb
Execution
- Windmüller Technik GmbH
An Industry 4.0 example
Festo has designed its technology factory in Scharnhausen as a best practice example of Industry 4.0. The requirements for heating and cooling were correspondingly high. All challenges were overcome with two Zortströms. 20,000 Festo employees turn over three billion euros a year with pneumatic and electrical automation technology. For Festo, the new technology factory in Scharnhausen is a decisive driving force for the automation of the future. Valves, valve terminals and electronics are produced here. The building has impressive dimensions: four levels with a height of 22 meters, 66,000 square meters of floor space, 1,200 employees, 28 kilometers of piping for heating and cooling.
Three combined heat and power plants, each with an output of 500 kilowatts, supply heat and electricity. Additional generators are two exhaust gas heat exchangers with 200 kilowatts each, a heat recovery system and two gas boilers with two megawatts each for peaks. The combined heat and power units also supply the three absorption chillers with heat, enabling efficient operation in summer too. Cooling peaks are covered by additional chillers.
The solution: two Zortström
In order to optimally connect producers and consumers of heating and cooling, GF Ingenieurgesellschaft für Gebäudetechnik from Heilbronn contacted Zortea. The best possible solution was found with two Zortströms: They operate all heating and cooling circuits at the optimum temperature level and decouple them hydraulically. This enables continuous operation of the combined heat and power units that supply the absorption chillers.
The core of the heating system is a Zortström with a diameter of 2.2 meters, which provides the consumers with energy from the generators in five temperature zones from 35 to 90 degrees. It ensures hydraulic decoupling and thus drastically reduces the power consumption of the supply pumps compared to conventional installations. In terms of generation, the more ecological combined heat and power units are given priority over gas boilers. The optimum use of the exhaust gas heat exchangers and heat recovery also contributes to the efficiency of the overall solution.
Optimum temperatures for heating and cooling
The solution with the Zortströms optimizes the interaction between combined heat and power units and absorption chillers in particular: The Zortströms enable continuous operation of the combined heat and power units. They therefore continuously supply the necessary heat for the chillers. This prevents the chillers from switching off or the additional gas boilers from starting up.
Benefit
Efficient
- Thanks to the particularly good integration of the CHP units and the hydraulic optimization by Zortström, the absorption chillers can be optimally supplied. This means that the cooling requirement is also ideally covered.
Simple
- Switching and complicated controls are no longer necessary.
- Uncomplicated, clear hydraulics despite a wide variety of load and operating conditions.
- Simple integration of combined heat and power units.
Safe
- The required temperatures are precisely available in the Zortström at all times.
- Transparent control increases operational safety.
