Case: Bottom plate for a heat pump
This case concerns a bottom plate for a heat pump, used in the industry and in larger households. When the costumer switched to our processes, their resource consumption in relation to manufacturing the product were significantly reduced.
How we manufacture the bottom plate
To achieve a sufficient strength of the product, the bottom plate for the heat pump was previously manufactured using a massive 8 mm plate. When our engineers received the customers inquiry, they calculated a new design where an only 2 mm thin steel plate was used instead.
The design was provided with grooves, which resulted in a more optimal allocation of pressure throughout the plate. Thereby, the new 2 mm bottom plate lived up to the same strength requirements as the previous 8 mm plate solution.
Thus, by letting our engineers re-think the product design and by switching to our processes, the material consumption was significantly reduced, the weight of the product was reduced, and the product became much cheaper to manufacture, while still meeting the specifications and the quality requirements.
Despite the product’s large dimensions, the bottom plate is now pressed in one fully automated deep-drawing operation. As the product is made from galvanized steel, there is also no need for further processing and finishing.
The fully automated process with only few operations, constitute a cheaper and more efficient manufacturing solution, and allow for manufacturing very large production volumes.
