ZEISS Power & Energy Solutions

Quality Assurance for Heating and Cooling Systems

Precision in heating and cooling

Ensuring efficiency and reliability

Heating and cooling systems are essential for maintaining comfortable and energy-efficient environments. They are utilized in a variety of settings, including residential, commercial, and industrial spaces, including hospitals, laboratories, clean rooms, and large data centers. To ensure these systems operate efficiently and reliably, rigorous quality assurance processes are crucial during their manufacturing. This guarantees optimal performance, extended lifespan, and reduced maintenance needs throughout their service life. ZEISS metrology solutions enable precise measurement and inspection of components, both large and small, ensuring the highest level of accuracy and reliability in the production of heating and cooling systems.

Quality assurance for heating and cooling systems

Innovative Metrology for enhanced energy efficiency

New standards for quality and efficiency

Thermal energy is a key element of energy supply, and efficient thermal management is critical for maximizing performance while minimizing heat losses at every stage. This includes generating heating and process heat with heat pumps, recovering process heat, and implementing active cooling through heat exchangers, as well as other methods for enhancing thermal energy.

Discover how the ZEISS portfolio can help you increase efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction.

Tools and plates

Precision in heat exchanger plate manufacturing

Heat exchanger plate production starts with the fabrication of highly precise embossing tools, which are crucial for the multi-stage embossing process. These tools are designed to handle various plate designs, media flow patterns, and dimensions, with their precision directly influencing the quality of each plate.

Plates are stacked according to performance requirements to form the complete heat exchanger. Sealing between plates and media is achieved through gaskets or processes like brazing different materials. To ensure superior quality, highly accurate tool measurements, comprehensive plate assessments, and microscopic analyses of embossed parts and defects are indispensable.

Discover how ZEISS solutions can enhance every step of this process.

Tool design and plate forming

Ensuring precision in 3D geometry and defect detection

The challenge

In the production of heat exchangers, different tool sets and numerous single components must seamlessly fit together to ensure the precise clearance gap necessary for optimal plate stamping. The diverse designs, ranging from macro to microstructures, must facilitate the unobstructed flow of coolant through specially engineered structures while ensuring proper plate-to-plate sealing. Additionally, detecting defects and analyzing material thickness post-stamping are crucial for reliable performance. Addressing these challenges requires advanced metrology solutions to enhance efficiency and reliability. Achieving dimensional accuracy of outer contours, recesses, and geometric elements is crucial for maintaining stack alignment. Additionally, detecting defects and cracks post-stamping, as well as analyzing material thickness and performance after operation, are essential steps in ensuring the quality and reliability of the final product.
Our solution

To ensure the integrity and functionality of complex geometries and surface features in heat exchanger components, chromatic white light measurement is performed using ZEISS DotScan sensor on a ZEISS coordinate measuring machine (CMM) with a rotating probe head.
Optical contour measurement with ZEISS O-INSPECT guarantees precise alignment and dimensional accuracy during plate joining and stacking, which is essential for optimal assembly and efficient heat transfer in the final product.
Full surface assessment is conducted with optical 3D scanning solutions using the ATOS sensor, enhanced by automation via ZEISS ScanBox allowing for efficient and consistent data capture.Material characteristics are analyzed through 3D polished micrographic imaging with ZEISS Axio Imager 2 light microscope, which identifies microstructural features and potential defects critical to performance and longevity.

These advanced measurement solutions significantly enhance the production of high-quality, dependable heat exchanger components.

ZEISS CMMs

ZEISS Optical Solutions

Quality assurance for heat pumps

Compressors for small volume, private, and low output applications

In small volume, private, and low output applications, compressors within heat pumps are crucial for efficient heating and cooling. Designed for compactness and energy efficiency, they suit residential and small business needs. To achieve high performance and reliability and to ensure that each compressor meets stringent standards, quality assurance throughout the entire production process is essential.

The challenge

Compressors face several intricate challenges in their design and operation. Achieving complex geometries and maintaining tight tolerances are essential for optimizing both operation and efficiency. The rotating parts within compressors must align perfectly to ensure smooth and reliable performance. Additionally, compressors often require different and non-standard designs to accommodate various throughput needs, depending on the overall volume that needs to be compressed. Addressing these challenges is crucial for delivering high-performance compressor solutions.
Our solution

The solution for compressors includes high-accuracy coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) that cover all relevant dimensions, equipped with a multi application sensor system (MASS) for precise measurements. Large CMMs are available for handling high-volume compressors, ensuring efficient measurement of extensive components.

ZEISS Microscopy Solutions provide advanced imaging and analysis capabilities, enhancing precision and reliability in the manufacturing and quality assurance processes of compressors.

ZEISS CMMs

ZEISS Industrial Microscopy