ZF Wind Power and Sirris Launch Mobile Climate Chamber
Innovation allows testing of difficult-to-move machinery in the most extreme conditions
ZF Wind Power is using a new mobile climate chamber developed in Belgium. This innovation, created by Sirris — the Belgian innovation center for the technological industry — together with the Belgian government (FPS Economy) and local industry partners, represents a world first. The consortium invested €1.5 million in the construction of the mobile chamber, which allows manufacturers to test large, heavy, or confidential machines and products at extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to +60°C without transporting them. Measuring 20 meters long, 9 meters high, and 7 meters wide, the chamber can be shipped as a kit and assembled wherever the manufacturer requires it.
"With this mobile climate chamber, Belgium confirms its role as a frontrunner in the energy transition. Thanks to the support of the federal Energy Transition Fund (ETF), we are strengthening Belgium’s testing and innovation capacity and providing companies with the possibilities to validate their technologies under the most extreme conditions. This is crucial to increasing the reliability of wind energy, anchoring industrial innovation at home, and keeping our companies competitive at international level,” explains Mathieu Bihet, Belgian Federal Minister for Energy.
Construction kit in five shipping containers
In a climate chamber, manufacturers can subject their products and systems to extreme weather conditions similar to those their products will experience anywhere in the world. This allows them to test prototypes under the most extreme climatic conditions in a controlled environment. This in turn enables companies to build sustainable products and installations that meet the most extreme specifications of their customers. This is easy for small products, but when it comes to energy transition, we are talking about very large machines, such as wind turbine drivetrains, which are challenging to move from the production site to a test environment. Sirris, together with engineers from ZF Wind Power and the help of Limburg-based Vos Technics, which specializes in industrial cooling techniques, spent a year and a half developing a mobile climate chamber.
“Until now, companies had to transport their products or equipment to our climate chamber in Antwerp to test them under extreme conditions. In certain cases – particularly for components weighing over 150 tons – this was an expensive operation and sometimes even impossible due to their size and weight. From now on, we can bring the climate chamber to these manufacturers. It fits into a large construction kit consisting of five shipping containers and can be assembled within a week. That’s ideal for testing large infrastructures for five to six weeks or longer. It allows manufacturers such as ZF Wind Power to test not only certain components, but also the entire drivetrain. And there is demand. Not only in Belgium, but also internationally, and for various sectors. Think of the robotics sector, for example,” says Pieter Jan Jordaens, energy transition specialist at Sirris.
Validation as the foundation for innovation
