GEA to set new standards at SMM

The largest model from the GEA Bock F28 series offers a displacement of up to 553m³/h, which GEA says means it has closed a performance gap in its production portfolio. The new eight-cylinder models have been designed based on a combination of GEA Bock compressors in smaller and medium-sized output ranges and large GEA Grasso compressors for industrial refrigeration facilities.

Compared to competitors’ models in this output range, GEA says the F28 weighs considerably less and is significantly smaller, which simplifies installation and transport. Despite their large displacement, GEA’s compressors are designed to fit through any common ship’s door, which makes for simple installation since no additional work is needed on the ship’s bulkheads.

The F28 compressor is claimed to set new standards for open piston compressors. As with the previously largest GEA compressors from the F18 series, the GEA Bock mexxFlow valve system is used in F28 models. The valve system features double lamellar ring design for the valve plate, with optimised flow characteristics, in combination with a cylinder head especially designed for use with this valve plate. By using this system, GEA says the efficiency of the compressor is enhanced by around 15%, compared to the use of conventional valve-plate engineering. It is also said to result in more cooling duty with less power consumption.

GEA’s F28 can be operated with all widely-used refrigerants. At SMM, taking place in Hamburg in September, the model series presented will provisionally feature only operation with synthetic refrigerants, which will be available in 2015.