Danfoss is launching a major new offensive on the water and waste water industry as part of their global 'Geared for Growth' programme. In the UK, an expanded sales team focused on the water industry will be headed by Craig Rapson, who has joined Danfoss from Fraser McDonald in Scotland, where he was responsible for Danfoss sales for a number of years.
Danfoss enjoys strong market leadership in the HVAC and Food and Beverage sectors and now aims to achieve leadership in the water and waste water sector where previously, their penetration has been limited by lack of suitably large pump drives.
Now, the new super-compact high power AQUA range, designed and built in the new state-of-the-art facility at Loves Park near Chicago, offers the highest power density and efficiency in the market.
The AQUA range is specifically tailored to meet the needs of water applications with a host of dedicated programmable features. Duty / stand-by operation, a frequent requirement on pumps, is catered for by pump alternation controls which allow the drive to control either of two motors, to both of which the drive is tuned.
An embedded timer allows the user to select the run-time for the duty pump-set before auto change-over to the stand-by is initiated, to even out wear on the system. 'Pipe-fill' mode is incorporated to control the fill-up of water pipe systems at start-up, avoiding water hammer and potential damage to seals or the system infrastructure.
This closed loop function allows the setting of a 'filled pressure set-point' and the fill rate can be set as desired. These are just two examples of the numerous special 'water' features of the AQUA range.
According to John Martin, Northern European Region strategic business area manager, With these specialised, more-powerful drives, Danfoss is now poised to compete for a leading role in the water industry and have invested strongly in experienced personnel.
We will be taking a highly focused approach to this market and anticipate annual sales growth in excess of 15%, a rate of growth being achieved by these new drives in other markets. Craig Rapson particularly has in-depth experience of water applications and with the other members of the team, will provide the crucial 'front end consultancy' service that adds real customer value to an already competitive and attractive product range.