The innovation centre for the technological industry in Belgium Sirris, together with the Belgian government (FOD Economie) and local industry, has invested 1.5 million euros in the construction of a mobile climate chamber. This is a world first. Manufacturers from around the world no longer need to move their large, heavy or secret machinery and products to Antwerp to test them at extreme temperatures from -40°C to +60°C. The mobile climate chamber, 20 metres long, 9 metres high and 7 metres wide, is moved like a kit to wherever the manufacturer wants it. ZF Wind Power, one of Europe's major wind turbine component manufacturers, is the first to use the mobile climate chamber.
Sirris has already had one of Europe's largest climate chambers in Antwerp since 2012, where it can test the performance capabilities of large and heavy electromechanical machines in arctic cold or extreme desert heat. From now on, it also has the world's first-ever large mobile climatic chamber. A strong example of innovation in collaboration with the Belgian government and ZF Wind Power.
Launching mobile climate chamber
"With this mobile climate chamber, Belgium confirms its role as a pioneer in the energy transition. Thanks to the support from the Federal Energy Transition Fund, we are strengthening our testing and innovation capacity and giving companies the means to validate their technologies under the most extreme conditions. This is crucial to increase the reliability of wind energy, anchor industrial innovation at home and keep our companies internationally competitive."
Mathieu Bihet, federal minister of energy
Controlled conditions
In a climate chamber, manufacturers can subject their products and installations to extreme weather conditions experienced by their products anywhere in the world. In this way, they test the most extreme climatic conditions on prototypes in controlled conditions. This enables companies to build durable products and installations that meet customers' most extreme specifications.
A year and a half
This is easy for small products, but in the field of energy transition it involves very large machines, such as wind turbine drive lines, which are not easy to move from the production site to a test environment. That is why Sirris, together with engineers from ZF Wind Power, and the help of Limburg-based Vos Technics, which specialises in industrial refrigeration techniques, has been working on a mobile climate chamber for a year and a half.
Launching mobile climate chamber
"Until today, companies had to transport their products or machines to our climate chamber in Antwerp to test them under extreme conditions. In certain cases - especially for parts weighing over 150 tonnes - this became an expensive operation and sometimes not even possible because of size and weight. From now on, we can bring the climatic chamber to those manufacturers," explains Pieter Jan Jordaens, energy transition specialist at Sirris.
Five sea containers
The climate chamber fits into a large construction kit of five sea containers large and can be built in one week. Ideal for testing large infrastructures for five to six weeks or longer. That allows manufacturers such as ZF Wind Power to test not just certain components such as a gearbox, but immediately the entire drive train. And the demand is there. Not only in Belgium, but also internationally, and for various sectors. Think of the robotics sector."
New prototype
Sirris developed the climate chamber together with ZF Wind Power. The company, manufacturer of drive systems for wind turbines, is the first to use the mobile chamber just as it commissioned Sirris' climate chamber in Antwerp 13 years ago as its main customer. A new prototype is already being tested under extreme conditions at ZF Wind Power's site in Lommel.
Validation as the basis of innovations
Validation is crucial in the wind industry. Extensive testing enables ZF Wind Power to manage the risks inherent in the industry. It is essential to get approval from customers, insurers and certification bodies to launch new designs. Every component must be reliable to keep turbines running continuously around the world. Thanks to this Belgian innovative climatic chamber, which can test down to -40°C, ZF Wind Power is strengthening its position as a market leader in the wind industry.
Offshore wind energy
"In our own Test and Prototype Centre, we simulate real conditions with functional load and robustness tests, among other things. The dynamic behaviour of the gearbox, similar to the situation at the top of the turbine, is thus evaluated. With a cold chamber, we test the behaviour of components under extreme temperatures. Thanks to this new mobile climate chamber, we can now also test our largest products in a safe, efficient and high-quality manner. In this way, we guarantee that our products perform at their maximum not only today, but also in the long term and in all circumstances so that turbines keep running and the energy transition is assured," said Bert Verdyck, CTO ZF Wind Power.
Source and photo: Sirris
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