Completed funded project

Thermoprocessing plants are among the major energy consumers in the industrial sector. Increasing their energy efficiency is therefore of great importance from an ecological and economic point of view. A higher efficiency of thermoprocessing plants can be achieved through improved convection by means of rapid hot gas circulation and higher process temperatures. The metallic materials currently used for hot gas fans do not allow a further increase in circumferential speed at medium process temperatures up to 900 °C. Here, the specific stiffnesses and strengths of the alloys used are not sufficient for the extremely high thermo-mechanical loads that occur.

The aim of the joint project was to develop a new type of fibre-composite based (CFC) fan wheel for high-temperature use in rational industrial applications.
thermal processes. The focus of the planned R&D work was on the impeller of a centrifugal fan for use under inert conditions in high convection thermal processes.
process plants. With FE methods and the material characterisation (TOM) possibilities available at the HTL, existing thermal processes were to be investigated and specifically optimised with regard to the use of CFC fans.

The testing, characterisation and simulation methods applied at the HTL have contributed significantly to the success of the project. An overall furnace simulation of a chamber furnace used for the pyrolysis of CFRP components was created. In the simulation, the influence of the peripheral speed of CFC fan wheels on the heating of the furnace material could be quantified. This made it possible to demonstrate an improvement of the entire pyrolysis process.