An interview with Ursula Wittstadt,

 

 

 

 

Which company are you working for, what is your role/profession and the main expertise of your company?

Fahrenheit GmbH started as SorTech AG, a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg (Germany) with the first field test of an adsorption chiller in 2002. After launching the first commercial chillers ACS 08/ACS 15 in the German market, we have been following a continuous development in terms of power range and efficiency of our products in Halle/Saale, München, and Freiburg. Fahrenheit currently employs around 30 people. I joined Fahrenheit in 2017 as an engineer in the unit “Research and Development” after working 11 years in the field of adsorption technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems ISE.

What are your products and who are your products´ buyers?

Fahrenheit is the leading player in adsorption technology. Our customers span a broad range of industries. A common use case for our products is the combination with CHP units, to generate cold along with power and heat. In addition, we provide cooling for data centres, and we are working on automotive projects to integrate adsorption into cars.

What challenges are you currently facing in terms of “energy-efficient” technology?

We can only supply energy-efficient solutions for heating and cooling to our customers if the temperature levels of the application fits our technology. The challenge is to provide systems for a wide-spread range of temperatures. We are currently working on solutions with new sorption materials (e.g. different zeolites) and a combination of thermally and electrically driven heat pump processes.

What is your motivation for participating in Heat4Cool project and what challenges are you planning to overcome with your (Heat4Cool) products?

Our aim is to develop a heating and cooling solution for the residential sector that has a potential to be used in the retrofitting of the European building stock as a cost-effective solution with a highly efficient use of renewable energy.

Fahrenheit develops and manufactures adsorption chillers from 15 to several 100 kW capacity. The units can optionally be combined with compression chillers.