Customer application September 18, 2020

Cooling Circuits with Potential Energy Savings

SIRIUS®3 offers compelling energy efficiency. To efficiently install their modular refrigerated counter, AICHINGER relies on the WAGO TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Block system.

One of the major costs for supermarkets, butcher shops and other food businesses is the energy consumed by cooling: To keep their wares fresh and protect the cooling circuit from interruption, they must keep them at constant temperature around the clock. When it comes to equipping the counters they developed and produce with control modules for energy-efficient cooling, ventilation and sterilization, AICHINGER GmbH installs preassembled TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks from WAGO.

The Benefits of WAGO for You:

  • The right actuation variant of WAGO’s preassembled TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks is available for any application

  •  Reliable, easy, intuitive handling with Push-in CAGE CLAMP®

  •  The WAGO Smart Printer prints marking strips in seconds

Efficient Cooling and Optimum Sanitation Thanks to SIRIUS®3

Whether a well-stocked delicatessen, a small village butcher shop or a traditional supermarket – when it comes to presenting fresh products, each shop is subject to the same legal requirements: They all must prevent spoilage of meats and sausages, fish, milk products, salads and ice cream by keeping them permanently cooled in an environment that is as germ-free as possible. And due to rising electricity costs, cooling expenses are especially problematic for this business. “With SIRIUS®3, we guarantee efficient cooling and optimum sanitation. We have also been able to accomplish energy savings of up to 42 % over comparable refrigerated counters,” says Sebastian Holzberger, marketing manager at AICHINGER.

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Marketing manager Sebastian Holzberger (left) and Jürgen Lämmermann, manager of the Electronics department at AICHINGER, in the shopfitters’ showroom at their headquarters in Wendelstein near Nuremberg.

One Central Refrigeration Unit Controls the Refrigeration Supply

While refrigerated counters just a few meters long suffice for smaller businesses, in supermarkets, total lengths of over 20 meters are not uncommon. Some of these are used for presenting prepackaged goods for self-service; other counters are used in the areas staffed by service personnel (note: SIRIUS®3 can be used in both the service counters and self-service areas). Here, the functional and ergonomic details – for example, easy-to-reach compartments for packaging and hand tools – ensure a high degree of user-friendliness, resulting in faster sales at peak times.

Cooling is supplied by a central refrigeration unit, which is often found in adjacent rooms. “Such a centralized refrigeration supply is significantly more efficient for companies in the foods sector than equipping each refrigerated counter separately. To keep the goods fresh even when outdoor temperatures are high, the refrigerated counters must have high temperature resistance. This requires constant monitoring and control of the temperatures inside the counter,” explains Jürgen Lämmermann, who manages the Electrical department at AICHINGER.

Custom Refrigerated Counters Made In-House

This company from Franconia, founded in 1904 by Johann Aichinger as a woodworking shop, has developed into a medium-sized business which now has 520 employees and 15 field offices for planning and customer support. AICHINGER delivers around 2,000 units per year; the annual production of SIRIUS®3 alone encompasses about 5,000 meters of refrigerated counters. The majority of these ends up in branches of the major German supermarkets, such as REWE, EDEKA and tegut, but also in numerous butcher shops and delicatessens. SIRIUS®3 can also be found worldwide in supermarkets like Leclerc in France and Morrisons in Great Britain. Even further afield, they are also used in both major shopping centers and stand-alone businesses around the world – AICHINGER products are found everywhere from France, to Dubai and Russia, all the way to Papua New Guinea.

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Each SIRIUS®3 refrigeration counter module is equipped with its own control box for the electrical technology. This includes a power supply unit, the control regulator for temperature, cleaning and sanitation and TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks.

Monitoring around the Clock

SIRIUS®3 is available in five straight modules and six corner modules with different lengths and angles. The modules can be freely combined with each other to flexibly adapt to virtually any sales area. “Each module is equipped with its own control box for the electrical technology. The control box contains a power supply unit for the fans, the temperature control regulator and the controller for the automatic cleaning and sanitation system. This ensures that the trays beneath the goods are rinsed regularly, and the surfaces of critical components are disinfected with UVC light,” says Jürgen Lämmermann.

The control elements within the control box are connected to temperature sensors mounted in the refrigerated counter, the solenoid valves and compressor motors for regulating cooling, the fans and the lamps for lighting the display. The temperature control regulators for each individual module can be connected to a main module via bus system. This permits, for example, the headquarters of a supermarket chain to monitor all of their refrigerated counters in Germany around the clock – and react quickly to any deviations to reduce loss of goods and rising energy costs.

Easy and Safe Installation with WAGO Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks

For switch the various control elements, preassembled rail-mount terminal blocks from WAGO are installed in each SIRIUS®3 control box. With its compact dimensions, the TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Block system leaves plenty of room for wiring to the power supply unit and the various controllers. And thanks to Push-in CAGE CLAMP® connection technology, installation is easy and intuitive, and operation is reliable. “Because the connections for the controllers, temperature sensors, solenoid valves and other components of the refrigerated counters are already there on the DIN-rails that have been assembled for us, our fitters can install the corresponding wiring in the shortest time possible for the specific refrigerated counter module size,” emphasizes Jürgen Lämmermann.

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Easy installation thanks to components from WAGO: Jürgen Lämmermann (left), Electrical department manager at AICHINGER, speaking with his coworker Sebastian Holzberger, sales manager (right), and Thomas Baum, technical sales consultant at WAGO.

Fast and Easy Marking with TOPJOB® S

Yet another plus is the simple marking system of TOPJOB® S. With the Smart Printer, a high-performance thermal transfer printer, marking strips of up to three lines and the universal “WMB Inline” markers are printed in seconds. AICHINGER employs two printers for their marking tasks: Narrow strips that can be easily affixed to the rail-mount terminal blocks are printed, as are labels for marking individual components. The clearly legible marking significantly simplifies the fitters’ work and saves time during assembly.

Maximum Energy Efficiency

Thanks to its refined cooling technology, the SIRIUS®3 refrigerated counter offers the highest level of energy efficiency: The evaporation temperature t0 is between −3 °C and −6 °C, with a maximum cooling capacity of 95 to 195 W per running meter. “We are so convinced of the performance and cooling efficiency that we post the operating data of our SIRIUS®3 refrigerated counter in the EDEKA branch in Dietenhofen, Germany, live on the Internet at www.sirius3.de,” explains Sebastian Holzberger. He is not alone in this opinion: Because of its efficiency, the SIRIUS®3 was awarded not only the 2015 Internorga Future Prize, but also the 2015 Fleischer Handwerk Award. More information is available at www.aichinger.de and www.sirius3.de.

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With the two Smart Printers, the process of printing the strips and labels for identifying the rail-mount terminal blocks and components is fast, easy and clean. This makes the fitters’ job easier and accelerates production.

Author: Thomas Baum, Technical Sales Consultant at WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG

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