Demand increases for remanufactured CO2 compressors
UK: Bitzer UK’s remanufacturing arm, Green Point UK, has reported a steep increase in sales of remanufactured transcritical CO2 compressors.
According to Green Point UK general manager Will Pribyl, a combination of factors is responsible for the 40% year-on-year increase, with a quarter of the year still to go.
“Following the initial take-off of transcritical CO2 systems in mainstream refrigeration a couple of decades ago, the number of CO2 compressors coming to the end of their natural working life is increasing rapidly,” he said.
Until recently, the high pressures required for full quality assurance testing of these compressors has been an obstacle to processing these units and returning them as-new into service.
Following recent technical advances, however, this is now possible using a high pressure hydraulic test rig, developed by Green Point UK, that is able to safely test compressor bodies up to 180bar.
Green Point UK is one of the first in the company’s global network of remanufacturing centres to introduce this service for high pressure CO2 units.
Green Point’s operation in France, the company’s global lead remanufacturing centre, has also now adopted similar hydraulic testing for transcritical units, and the service is being rolled-out to other countries, in line with market requirements.
The UK service covers all Bitzer Ecoline 2, 4, and 6-cylinder transcritical compressors. The largest transcritical compressor remanufactured by Green Point UK to date is Bitzer’s 6DTE-50 unit. However, in principle there is no restriction on the size of compressor that can be reprocessed to as-new condition, including Bitzer’s recently introduced 8-cylinder compressor.
