The Dons Of Cooling
Sheffield based company Loadhog are really putting the environment first at their new factory on the bank of the River Don.
Loadhog (www.loadhoglids.com), who manufacture an innovative form of reusable packaging for palletised products, needed to find a way of providing tool and hydraulic cooling for up to six injection moulding machines.
As a company committed to protecting the environment, and using renewable energy sources wherever possible, Loadhog realised the key to their cooling needs was on their doorstep – quite literally! With the right system in place the river water, working on a maximum temperature of 16°C, could be utilised to achieve a process water temperature of 17°C when extracting 350kW.
Hampshire based Aqua Cooling Solutions designed a bespoke system for Loadhog which could extract the river water, filter it and use it for cooling via a stainless steel gasketed plate heat exchanger before finally returning it to the river.
Whilst environmentally very sound, the concept of using the river water posed a number of problems initially. Not only would the water temperature vary significantly throughout the year due to climatic changes, but it also carried a high risk of being contaminated with silt and debris. In addition, Loadhog had to be completely confident that the system wouldn’t have any adverse environmental impact on the River Don in the longer term.
Due to the system design it was impossible to consider adding anti freeze to the cooling water, so Aqua designed the system with a priming pot on the suction of the river extraction pumps. This allows the system to drain water in the suction leg when it is not in use and then restart without requiring priming.
The river water cools via a stainless steel plate heat exchanger and the temperature is controlled by a three way valve.
All materials used were either PVC or 304L stainless steel to eliminate any risk of contamination to the river. The system’s automatic filter back flushes whilst still filtering, so any debris from the water passes to the return line and goes back to the river.
With the water temperature now not exceeding 16°C it is far more stable than using conventional air cooling techniques. This has allowed Loadhog to cool moulds to below 20°C without the need for additional chillers and associated costs.
The system has created a significant reduction in our operating costs and benefited the environment. It is easy to maintain and takes up 70% less space than conventional air cooling systems. Aqua Cooling have demonstrated their ability to provide a bespoke solution to our demanding standards”, comments Mark Jackson from Loadhog.
