When producing machine components, the grinding stage is a production process with comparatively low energy efficiency. Up to 90% of the energy deployed is released as frictional heat. Large amounts of lubricants and coolants flood the workpieces and tools to cool them. The supply of coolants and their processing require enormous expenditure, including in terms of the energy. Researchers from industry and science have therefore jointly developed new processes that produce significant savings potential with minimum lubrication.  more...

What potential is provided by thermochemical storage systems? Researchers at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) have been pursuing this question. With a new test plant they are investigating the extent to which solar heat can be stored thermochemically for industrial processes and solar power plants.  more...

When it comes to transporting heat from boilers to heating surfaces or supplying cooling energy to cooling ceilings, water has proved to be an excellent heat transfer medium. However, in some application areas it is now facing competition: various research groups are working on heat transfer fluids that have at least double the energy density. Phase change materials such as paraffin, which are finely distributed in water, store heat when they melt and release it again when they solidify.  more...

The privately-owned Hofmühl brewery in Eichstätt is doing it - and so is the Hütt brewery in Kassel-Baunatal. They use solar heat to support their production processes. With around 1,300 breweries in Germany, there is significant potential here for solar-supported brewing processes. The Department of Thermal Power Engineering at the University of Kassel has published a guide on using solar process heat which describes how this potential can be exploited. Now, scientists are following suit with a detailed concept for the sector.  more...

During the long development history of mechanical engineering, engineers have substantially exhausted the traditional methods of reducing friction. Further optimisations are mostly just a matter of a few per cent. Innovative coatings made of diamond-like, shiny black carbon compounds can now exploit their advantages. They combine extraordinary lubricity with anti-adhesive properties, chemical stability and extreme material hardness. In the Pegasus research project, scientists from research and industry are working on their large-scale use for drive trains in vehicles.  more...

The age of unregulated, glandless circulation pumps is coming to an end. Several technically outdated series with electronic controls will also no longer be available next year. They do not meet the strict efficiency requirements of the new EU ordinance subject to the European Ecodesign Directive (ErP), which comes into force in 2013.  more...

With a new, tiltable rotary drum refining furnace, an industrial enterprise has succeeded in melting more copper at once. This also reduces the emissions from dioxins and other organic pollutants. The technical trials and the development of the energy efficient furnace were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment as a demonstration project within its Environmental Innovation Programme.  more...

Instead of screwing various module and collector types for solar power and solar heat on the roof, an obvious idea would be to use a hybrid collector that can do both and which creates a uniform appearance. In addition to generating photovoltaic electricity, which only utilises 15-20 % of the incident solar radiation, a so-called PVT collector can use the remaining radiation energy for generating heat. Researchers are working on optimising the output and production of these systems.  more...

The economic and ecological success of many CHP plants, district heating networks and large-scale solar power systems very much depends on the utilisation of heat outside of the heating periods. An increasingly interesting market for low-temperature heat is cooling and air-conditioning buildings as well as generating process cooling energy with thermally driven chillers. Scientists from Berlin and Bavaria have developed a new generation of particularly compact, efficient absorption chillers with small capacities for cooling and heating operations.  more...

47 per cent of the net electricity consumed in Germany is used by industry. Particularly in automation technology, robot arms would not move without drive energy and heavy components would remain at a standstill in the production. A potential study recommends new solutions for energy optimised system operations. The intention is to increase the energy productivity of the electrical and pneumatic drive technology by up to 50 per cent.  more...