Keller HCW successfully working together with Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences

Tobias Nimz has completed his bachelor dissertation in the process engineering department of Keller HCW with the top mark of 1.0. With his dissertation on “Thermodynamic examination of heat transfer in a countertravel kiln with roof tile load”, he has completed his studies in Process Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück. During his bachelor dissertation he was mentored by Prof. Dr. Ralf-Gunther Schmidt of the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück and Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Hüsing of Keller HCW. To drastically reduce the energy consumption during firing, Keller HCW has been examining the principle of the countertravel kiln. This was preceded by extensive theoretical considerations established with the support of Fluent software. Based on these positive results a test kiln (5 m wide, 16 m long and 5 m high) was built. Over a period of several months the Keller HCW team and Tobias Nimz performed numerous firing tests with roof tiles to obtain reliable examination data and fundamental measuring results. Heat transfer by convection and radiation were determined and checked as to whether the typical energy transfer in the countertravel kiln works according to the solid-solid-principle. Since the results are positive, further types of setting with different products have been tested. In this connection, another student is working on his bachelor dissertation and this will be completed shortly.