Group items tagged

Johnson Controls, a global leader in building efficiency, announced the new LX Series of air conditioners and heat pumps by York, its leading air conditioning, heating, refrigeration, and ventilating company. They feature a MicroChannel coil with enhanced heat transfer characteristics, enabling them to achieve the desired performance levels with less coil surface area than competitive condensers and up to 50 percent less refrigerant. The units are available with environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant as well as R-22. 14.5 SEER LX Series air conditioners use a compressor blanket and swept-wing fan blade for quieter operation. 15+ SEER can be achieved when the air conditioner is matched with a variable-speed air handler or gas furnace. A fully louvered steel coil guard, corner posts and a polymer mesh protect the condensing coils from damage. The unit's heavy-duty cabinet is made of powder-painted steel that resists corrosion and rust creep.\n\n\n\n\nIn addition, the MicroChannel coil offers better galvanic corrosion resistance than conventional coils. In testing, the coil withstood 7,000 hours of salt spray with a higher success rate than conventional coils at just 1,000 hours, making the units particularly desirable for seacoast applications, reveals the company's press release.\n\n

"Centuries ago, Nikola Tesla envisioned and pioneered the concept of wirelessly transmitting power over long distances through the Earth's ionosphere. In the recent past, wireless energy transfer has occurred by way of an electromagnetic (EM) field set to a certain frequency level. While transmission efficiency over longer distances is attained to an extent by this method, it becomes increasingly difficult when complicated pointing and tracking mechanisms are mandatory to maintain the right wavelength between the transmitter and the receiver. Another drawback to this approach is that any object that falls between the transmitter and the receiver impedes the beam, thus interrupting power transmission to a potentially harmful degree if the power level goes beyond a certain threshold point. Even though microwave frequencies could prove effective to transmit power over long distances through a radiated EM field, the aforementioned caveats still apply. The other possible way to wirelessly transmit power is by non-radiative fields. For instance, a transformer operates by magnetic induction drawing similarities to wireless power transfer. Energy transfer in a transformer happens from the primary coil to a secondary coil in the absence of a direct electrical connection. The same approach can be seen in inductive chargers found in electric toothbrushes, for example. However, for this functionality to operate smoothly, primary and secondary coils must be positioned in close proximity to one another."

Long ago, the industry determined that the combination of copper tubing and aluminum fins provided the most efficient transfer of thermal heat in condenser coils. Manufacturers of residential units are not necessarily on that same page - or that line of thinking - today. Most manufacturers, if not all, are revising, have revised, or continue to revise their outdoor coil construction. One of the main objectives, of course, is to increase heat transfer efficiency, as energy efficiency is high on every homeowner's wish list. In the end, each manufacturer believes it has engineered and/or perfected - at least up to now - the most-efficient coil design. Some, like Goodman Manufacturing, have made changes as a direct result of the efficiency offered from R-410A refrigerant.

PKE is the new range of ECO Coils&Coolers branded air condensers launched by Luvata for commercial AC and refrigeration applications. It is the enhanced offspring of the PCE range (currently phasing out), with improved efficiency and optimized sound emission parameters. Like all ECO Coils&Coolers ventilated units, even the PKE range is available for CO2 applications. The PKE offers an improved hauling and fastening system, thanks to new features. Moreover, the side panels are removable allowing easy access to the units' internal compartments, which have been increased by 120 mm. In order to facilitate maintenance and service, the PKE range has also been equipped with special door holders with a hold open feature. For models with 4 and 5 fan motors, the number of doors has been reduced and the width has been increased, as to allow easy access to the internal components. Lastly, the base has been reinforced for particularly difficult installations. On the other hand, thanks to a compartment incorporated with the condenser to enclose the compressing and the electrical control units, called housing, the PKE range does not require long connection pipe-work, thus reducing the risk of possible leaks. The special internal surface of the compressor compartment has been designed so as to increase sound absorption, reveals the company's press release.

The Chinese Henan Province has announced that it plans to invest in key regional projects. According to the plans, nine projects are related to the non-ferrous metals industry, two of which are copper semis plants. The first is a high precision electronic copper sheet and coil project of Chalco Luoyang Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 100,000 t. The second is a copper sheet and coil project of Henan Sanfeng Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 50,000 t.

Note that these coils could also be perfectly made out of copper, combining all the advantages of the new design with the advantages with copper. For bigger motors beyond pedelecs, such designs have been or are currently being developed (Copper Alliance worked in 2005-2010 with automotive OEMs in this area).

South Africa's largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal South Africa, has announced its first price decrease for the year and will cut the price of both hot-rolled coil (HRC) and wire rod by 5% as from October. The price of HRC and wire rod, which provide the base prices for flat and long steel respectively, will decline from their record levels, with the price to be cut by about R500/t on just about about all grades, barring plate which will remain unchanged.

US speciality brass mill Ansonia Copper and Brass Inc. has announced that it will lay off 85 of the 102 employees at its Liberty Street, Ansonia, factory in Connecticut. The plant manufactures copper alloy rod and wires. Company President Raymond McGee said "it's a very, very difficult situation". He blamed the redundancies, on top of 76 employees laid off in April 2007, on the company's struggle with escalating costs. Since 2002 electricity costs have soared 239%, natural gas 200%, fuel oil 125%, and copper and nickel 500% apiece. Ansonia's other facility in Waterbury, CT, which manufacturers copper alloy tube is unaffected by the announcement.

Further evidence of the impact of the North American economic slowdown on copper demand has recently been published by the ABMS and government statistical bodies. North American copper wirerod production plummeted 9.6% year-on-year to 174,000 tonnes in April. Output had been on a downward trend but the magnitude of the deterioration in April has still come as something of a surprise. A year-on-year increase of 2.0% in North American output January had been followed a 1.0% fall in February and a 2.7% drop in March. In April Canadian output was flat year-on-year due to improving export sales to the US, while US production fell 9.8% year-on-year and Mexican shipments slumped by 17.5%. On a year-to-date basis North American wirerod production was 2.9% lower in the four months to April 2008. Weakening demand from the automotive industry, coupled with a resurgance in copper prices and the return of Russian wirerod imports has clearly led to a deteriorating market situation for domestic mills.

Mueller Industries second quarter results highlight the tough times that the US brass mill industry is facing, but that companies can still operate profitably in a challenging market environment. The company's plumbing and refrigeration segment saw sales fall 11% to US$404m, while its operating profits dropped 32% to US$35m. The company blamed lower shipment volumes and lower spreads for the weaker performance. Sales at the company's OEM division, which includes its brass rod activities, rose 10% year-on-year to US$354m, while its operating profits rose 5% to US$19m. The improvement here is due to acquisition of Extruded Metals. Commenting on the results Harvey Karp, Chairman of Mueller Industries said "Mueller's earnings for the first half of 2008 were achieved despite the continuing decline in the housing industry, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, the turbulence in the financial markets, rising metal costs, sky-high energy prices and a slowing national economy. Considering these adverse circumstances, we are pleased with the results."

Rea Magnet Wire has announced that it will lay off the 75 staff employed at its Las Cruces plant located in the West Mesa Industrial Park and suspend production. This is expected to take place by February 2009, however, it depends on the work commitments of the plant. The company produces copper, aluminium and brass insulated magnet wire and bare wire, supplying motor, transformer and coil manufacturers. Rea's workforce in North America exceeds 1,000 staff. The decision to close the plant is attributed to weakening demand for magnet wire in the US. As a result of poor market conditions, the company cannot continue to operate at limited capacity. Rea Magnet reported that the decision is not permanent and it hopes to reopen the plant as long as the market circumstances permit so.

Also on display was a technology for transmitting power wirelessly by using coupled resonators, which show the potential of turning the now ubiquitous laptops into virtual transmitters to power multiple handheld devices, Intel executives said. Two flat copper coils -- a transmitter and a receiver -- are used, each tuned to resonate at a particular frequency.

"Highland Township deputies responded to the 5300 block of North Milford Road on Friday after an employee arrived at the DTE electrical power substation to discover someone stole six 100-foot coils of aluminum cable since last he was at the site March 4."

"For remote charging to take off metaphorically as well as literally, though, devices employing it need to be interoperable. That means establishing industry standards. Unfortunately, in a competition reminiscent of that in the 1890s between alternating current (Tesla's preference) and direct current (promoted by Thomas Edison), three main consumer standards have emerged."

Nissan Copper Ltd., of Mumbai, is planning construction of a greenfield plant near its existing Silvassa facility. Expected to begin trial production in early 2010, the new plant will produce inner groove copper tube and LWC coils. "Presently, [these] tubes are not being produced in India and the margins for this product are expected to be high," the company said. The new plant will have a capacity of 12,000 t/y.