SPANGLER CEO Helmut Graspointner has been elected to the executive board of the Bavarian Umweltcluster [environmental cluster].

The Bavarian Umweltcluster is a network comprising members from the Bavarian environmental economy, science, the municipalities and municipal enterprises. It bundles together Bavarian expertise in the areas of waste and recycling, alternative energy, air pollution control, resource efficiency and material flow management, water and wastewater treatment.

Helmut Graspointner: “I’ve always been convinced of the work of the Bavarian Umweltcluster. I’m glad that I can now contribute through my work on the board.“

Experience in the family-run business

Helmut Graspointner has been part of SPANGLER for over 25 years now. He started to work shortly after it was founded by Franz Spangler and has been connected to the family-run business since then. He is CEO at SPANGLER and this role involves responsibility for the departments Engineering, Process Automation and Manufacturing.

Graspointner’s commitment in various pastimes undertaken in the natural world allows him direct access to matters around environmental protection and responsible behaviour.

Further information available at: www.umweltcluster.net.

Jordan is one of the most arid countries in the world. The once mighty river Jordan is now just a narrow creek. The demand for water is too large in the countries upstream. Steadily growing population figures and the climate change are stifling hopes of a rapid improvement in the situation.

As part of a wastewater-treatment-plant project in the desert state, two lines of coarse/fine screens with conveyor screws and wash presses have been deployed at ambient temperatures of up to 45 degrees.

Safety in the face of ignitable gases

However, the biggest challenges for the SPANGLER control system used in the project were not the heat or the desert sand, but the requisite safety regulations. Usually, as potentially explosive gases can accumulate in the screening room, everything which could be a potential ignition source, such as control units, are located outside the screening room, e.g. in a control room. At the plant in Jordan, however, the cabinet had to be installed in the potentially explosive zone due to the restrictions of the building.

The SPANGLER control cabinet is therefore multiple protected against the ingress of gases. Even an explosion inside the control cabinet cannot cause significant harm as the approx. 40 mm thick wall with its specially moulded cable ducting ensures that nothing can penetrate to the outside.

SPANGLER is also certified to manufacture cabinets according to UL698A, which are mainly used in North America, the Middle East and in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia or Japan.

Renewable energy is the future. Burkhardt, a company based in the Upper Palatinate town of Mühlhausen, has been pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible for years now with its innovative products.

SPANGLER undertakes the planning and engineering of control systems for CHPs and wood gasifiers for them. At the moment SPANGLER is predominantly manufacturing control systems for controlling the complex systems.

The principle of wood gasification is an old one. However, it is only since the advent of the pellet form – which is inexpensive and can be precisely portioned with concurrent high energy density – that this technology has experienced a renaissance. The combustible gases are removed from the timber through the application of high temperatures. These are then recovered in a CHP plant by driving a generator. This produces energy which is used for current feed. The thermal power generated during the operation of the internal combustion engines is used by Burkhardt who feed the heat into a district heating network.

At home in the Upper Palatinate

The two companies are close, both in terms of innovation and geography (in the Upper Palatinate). The focus of both companies on sustainable and robust business relations means that the projects always lead to good, fast results. To date, 140 plants have been constructed in this way and delivered all over Europe and even to Japan, with more projects on the horizon. For Account Manager Franz Achhammer this smooth cooperation is a reason to be happy: “SPANGLER and Burkhardt speak the same language: innovation. The demands placed on the SPANGLER solutions are not always straightforward. However, the feeling of changing something is very satisfying.“

SPANGLER is currently booming, especially with regard to the area of renewable sun and wind energy. In this respect, a completely new development in Canada has just been installed.

With regard to the operation of large solar fields, performance degradation occurs due to the movement of the sun throughout the day, as the solar panels are not always optimally aligned. In order to remedy this shortcoming, the modules must be mounted so that they are movable on their axes in order to be able to optimally correct the inclination towards the sun using actuators.

Alongside the customer, SPANGLER has enabled a substantial improvement thanks to a newly developed piece of software. Now, in place of the frame previously driven by an actuator, a double axis is to be used which can be relied upon even when the apex is exceeded and in strong winds.

Integrated weather station

The first reference plant, generating 500 kW of power, was built in Canada. Along with a Beckhoff IPC control system and its control cabinet, two programmers from Töging made their way to the ten control cabinets in the vicinity of Toronto. At minus 2 degrees Celsius – conditions which are almost summery by Canadian standards – the equipment was installed and put into operation within a week.

A weather station was integrated, connected to the control system and thus the plant is provided with the necessary data such as location, temperature, precipitation, wind speed and other information.

SPANGLER’s forte in designing a plant that accurately reflects the customer’s needs – thanks to intensive cooperation with that customer – can be seen to its full effect. In particular with regard to intelligent systems which initiate a calculation and reaction based on various parameters and represent the future of software development.

As evidence of successful implementation another such plant was put into operation a few weeks ago.