2023-01-11 Successstory
KRIWAN and Emerson Europe
It is generally known that KRIWAN is one of the global market leaders in the area of industrial electronics. For Emerson Europe, the company from Hohenlohe develops and manufactures not only eliable protective electronics but also matching sensors and smart software, and combines all this into a powerful unit. As a true system supplier, KRIWAN is not only a supplier to Emerson but also a development partner.
True customer understanding
KRIWAN has developed a customized system for protecting refrigeration compressors for global group Emerson. The partnership began in the classic way some 40 years ago. Since the 1970s, the Emerson Climate Technologies division, then operating under the name DWM, has relied on the INT69 motor protection relay and combined it with PTC sensors from KRIWAN. This protective combination was installed in almost all refrigeration compressors and therefore extended their service life. »Right from the start, it was one of KRIWAN’s special qualities that they understood exactly how our compressors were used,« says Jean Janssen, President of Emerson Europe. »Today, KRIWAN technology is found in a variety of compressors from the Emerson Group. Right up to the present, we’ve retained the ability to think of intelligent electronic solutions for and with Emerson,« explains Dr. Christian Ellwein, CEO of KRIWAN.
Together we achieve more
After decades of successful collaboration, KRIWAN and Emerson have agreed to expand their collaboration. Proud of it! That is how, around the turn of the millennium, an idea was developed for an individual protection and sensor solution designed specifically to meet the requirements of Emerson compressors. This vision became a reality in 2015 with the founding of the Emerson Europe Solution Center in Aachen. After intensive negotiations and the discussion of a wide range of different ideas, it was finally decided that KRIWAN, as an independent system developer and supplier, should become a development partner of Emerson in the area of Climate Technologies in Europe. »It quickly became clear to us that such a project could only be implemented with a partner such as KRIWAN,« Jean Janssen reflects, »because we absolutely wanted to be supported by a company that could contribute know-how and reliability, and that knew our Group and its products.« These are ideal requirements for the KRIWAN foundation company. A team of engineers and other specialists now work together across locations and countries. New concepts are developed, tested, accepted and approved in Forchtenberg, Aachen, and Mikulov in the Czech Republic.
Emerson’s own CoreSense™ technology uses the compressor as a sensor and provides additional functions such as diagnosis, communication or verification in addition to motor protection. On the back of this technology, both companies have jointly developed a modular concept that covers basic functions such as compressor protection using readouts and the analysis of compressor data, as well as the integration of IoT functionalities to meet a wide range or customer requirements.
The new electronics are characterized by high operational reliability, are robustly built and can easily withstand extreme environmental conditions such as heat, strong vibrations or contamination by oils and grease. This is where KRIWAN’s decades of experience in the development of industrial electronics undoubtedly pays off. »A lot of people can build consumer electronics,« explains Michael Neidhöfer, Sales & Marketing at KRIWAN, »but industrial electronics is much more complex. It has to do more and should last from 15 to 20 years.« The system is used mainly in semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors of the premium ›Stream‹ series and is optimally tailored to suit Emerson products. It can therefore only be used in these. »Each machine works differently,« explains Michael Neidhöfer, »so it is an enormous advantage if functions such as control monitoring, engine protection and preventive maintenance can be individually matched to the characteristics of the system.« As a development partner for Emerson, KRIWAN supplies all the electronics and sensors for the new generation of CoreSense™ technology, which is significantly more compact and space-saving than the previous generation, and can therefore be integrated directly into the terminal box. But the concept also includes intelligent software for reading out and analyzing the data output.
App into the future
Based on INTspector, KRIWAN is developing an app solution that allows access to device data and thus the processing of the information collected. The app makes it possible to display current status information and carry out set-up and calibration in real time. »This very good example also demonstrates that KRIWAN has already taken the step towards Industry 4.0 and connectivity and hereby helps customers to exploit the new possibilities arising from digitization when it comes to predictive maintenance,« Neidhöfer continues. »In addition to our traditional fields of activity, software development is becoming increasingly important because customers want complete solutions from a single provider.«
To good collaboration
CoreSense™ is only the first joint project of its kind between Emerson and KRIWAN; other development collaborations will follow. As a system provider, KRIWAN will also plan, design and implement comprehensive, individual solutions for other customers and partners in coming years. »We know what our customers need from their machines and systems in order to work successfully in their industry,« states KRIWAN CEO Dr. Christian Ellwein. »And we are positioned in development and manufacturing, with our main focus in sales and support, therefore we can offer our key customers customized system solutions and components that enable them to work even more efficiently and effectively.«
»We use KRIWAN’s overall know-how. That means one system provider «
The Emerson Europe Solution Center for climate, refrigeration and heating technology in Aachen brings together technical now-how, comprehensive market knowledge and state-of-the-art systems and facilities like a hi-tech laboratory. Customer- and solution-focused R&D is part of Emerson’s long-term strategy of developing integrated systems to help European companies meet the high demands of heating, refrigeration and climate technology through greater sustainability, efficiency and connectivity. The Emerson Climate Technologies division currently operates five plants and four development centers in Europe.
System provider instead of supplier
KRIWAN has set its own goal of developing the best-possible solutions for the protection of machines and systems in the widest-possible range of industries. The focus here is on the design of complete systems that can be perfectly adapted to suit the requirements of system and equipment manufacturers.
What makes KRIWAN a system provider?
At KRIWAN, the term system provider, also ›tier-one supplier‹, means customization in series production: development, design and production, including comprehensive support and service of proven KRIWAN quality, tested thoroughly by an independent test center.
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