Air conditioning systems of the future
In matters of cooling, ventilation, or geothermal heat, Adlershof firms provide knowhow that has launched them to the top of their fields
The indoor ski resort Ski Dubai is located in one of the hottest regions on the planet. Whereas outside the temperatures have been known to climb to 45 °C, inside, the 22,000 square metres of snow covered surface has to be kept below the freezing point – with cooling technology from Polar Refrigeration.
Polar Refrigeration, the subsidiary of Taha Investment Group in Dubai, settled in Adlershof in 2011 with the intent of “tapping into the technology park’s scientific resources”, confided Managing Director Nizar Taha. “Supported by our team of industrial refrigeration engineers, we can offer our customers turnkey systems for most cooling applications.”
The company specialises in custom refrigeration units for industry. One of its achievements was the installation of an entire system that produces 50 tonnes of flake ice used in the manufacture of concrete. The system is mobile and can be transported from location to location.
The air conditioning systems of tomorrow belong to the core expertise of Adlershof companies. Lufttechnik Schmeißer GmbH specialises in a technology that can vent, heat, and cool solely via the medium of air. Over a hundred years old, this family enterprise has been a resident of Berlin-Adlershof for thirteen of them. The production facilities this company shares with LTB Berlin manufacture ventilation systems and heat pumps for single family homes, multiple dwellings, schools, sports halls, and other buildings.
One reference project is the company’s own building Am Studio 2c, which it moved into one and a half years ago. “It’s a passive house style building supplied with geothermal heat,” explained the joint owner Thomas Schmeißer. Multiple boreholes a hundred metres deep supply a stable flow of saline water at 10 °C. In winter, a heat pump compresses the energy extracted from the earth and converts it into a form suitable for heating. This is used to heat fresh air that is then supplied to each room over a ventilation system. According to Thomas Schmeißer, “Radiators and underfloor heating are superfluous.” In addition, a special system recovers the heat from the outgoing air, which is likewise used to heat fresh air. In summer, the heat pump is simply switched off: the earth then supplies saline solution at 10 °C – and passive cooling is the result.
The heating energy consumed in the building is only 10–15 watts per square metre. Comparable buildings consume 40 to 100 watts or more. Many neighbours have declared their interest. A similar plant has already been realised at the company Bestec, likewise an Adlershof resident.
If a geothermal energy project wants to go even deeper than 100 metres into the earth, Klaus-Dieter Giese is the man to ask. This qualified deep drilling specialist and mechanical engineer has worked on virtually all deep drilling projects in the former GDR. His expertise also enjoyed great demand abroad. In Ukraine, he was involved in the conversion of a disused natural gas reservoir into one of the largest gas storage systems in Europe. In the mid 80s, he supervised the deep drilling work for the first geothermal heat project in Germany, in Waren, Müritz.
In 1999 he set up in Berlin the office DEIG-Energietechnik, which acted for the company G.E.O.S. Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH with a total workforce of 130. Besides systems for converting renewable energies, the office conducts feasibility studies into deep drilling projects for the utilisation of geothermal heat. For example, Giese prepared the geothermal heat project in the Bavarian town of Traunreut, Chiemgau. There, he assisted a team of investors in penetrating to a depth of about 5,300 metres. The next fifty years will see the extraction of geothermal heat for generating electricity and maintaining a district heating network for Traunreut.
In Adlershof, DEIG is involved in a research project to utilise the energy storage capacity of so called aquifers, underground layers of ground water close to the earth’s surface. Giese is unable to make any statements on the potential so far. Instead, he recites the old German miner’s saying: “It’s all dark off the pick.”
By Mirko Heinemann for Adlershof Special
www.polar-refrigeration.de
www.lufttechnik-schmeisser.de
www.deig-energie.de