Development of a cleaning fluid heating system that uses a heat pump "Eco de Heat EX"~Contributing to the decarbonization of factories through energy-saving performance and maintainability~

Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (Representative Director and President: Kingo Hayashi; head office in Nagoya City, Aichi; "Chubu Electric Power"), Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co., Inc. (Representative Director: Shinya Otani; head office in Nagoya City, Aichi; "Chubu Electric Power Miraiz"), Degree Corporation (Representative Director and President: Shigeo Mori; head office in Suzuka City, Mie; "Degree"), and Fine Machine Kataoka Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Keiji Kataoka; head office in Anjo City, Aichi; "Fine Machine Kataoka") jointly developed a cleaning fluid heating system that uses a heat pump "Eco de Heat EX" ("this product").
Chubu Electric Miraiz, Degree, and Fine Machine Kataoka will start retailing this product in the first half of FY2024.

In the process of producing metal parts, once the parts are cut or polished, they need to be washed with a cleaning fluid heated to 60 degrees Celsius to remove any metal shards, oil and other impurities attached to them. Currently, steam boilers and electric heaters are used to heat this cleaning liquid but as increasingly more customers seek to decarbonize their factories, heating methods that use energy-efficient heat pumps are gaining attention.
However, existing heating systems that use heat pumps are difficult to maintain. The impurities in the cleaning fluid accumulate and clog the plate heat exchanger used to heat up the cleaning fluid (Note). This would require the expertise of heat pump vendors who would come in, and disassemble and clean the heat exchangers.
Introducing existing heating systems is also costly and requires modification of surrounding equipment that needs to be connected to the cleaning equipment.

This product uses a coil heat exchanger that heats the cleaning liquid by letting refrigerant warmed by the heat pump flow through coil-shaped tubes. The simplicity of this structure compared to the plate heat exchanger used in existing heating systems allows customers to clean the heat pump by themselves. This new heating system, designed to be connected to cleaning equipment, can be installed at a lower cost and with less modification work required for surrounding equipment, reducing the barriers that customers who use cleaning equipment face in introducing heating systems.
In addition, while existing systems use warm water in the heat exchange between the refrigerant and cleaning fluid, this system directly heats the refrigerant and cleaning fluid, making the system more efficient and space-saving compared to existing heat pump systems.
Furthermore, this product consumes approximately 60% less energy compared to steam boilers and electric heaters, contributing significantly to the decarbonization targets of customers.

Chubu Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power Miraiz, Degree, and Fine Machine Kataoka will continue to create and provide new value to solve societal problems in addition to improving customers’ efficiency and contributing to a decarbonized society.

(Note) Heat exchanger made of multiple layers of heat exchanger plates between which warm water and cleaning liquid flow alternately to heat the cleaning fluid