Established in 1983, SWEP is one of the world's leading suppliers of compact brazed heat exchangers (CBEs) and related products and services. The products are used where there is a need to transfer heat efficiently from one medium to another. The main areas of application are in industry, refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, ventilation and district heating. The company is close to its customers, with representation in more than 50 countries and its own dedicated sales force in more than 20 countries. The headquarters are located in Landskrona, Sweden. There are manufacturing plants in Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Malaysia, Slovakia and also in China. The company is a stand-alone company within the global Dover Corporation.

Products to meet every challenge
Only long experience and in-depth leading-edge competence allows an aggressive and complete product program to be presented to the market. SWEP CBEs currently comprise four different product ranges each with a selected number of types developed to meet specific requirements in cooling, heating and industrial applications. The products differ in a number or respects, such as combinations of materials, pressure requirements and functions.

- Evaporators: SWEPs very wide range of compact dedicated evaporators for single or dual refrigerant circuits offers small refrigerant hold-up volumes and true counter-current flow.

- Condensers: SWEPs very wide range of compact dedicated condensers for single or dual refrigerant circuits offers small refrigerant hold-up volumes and true counter-current flow.

- Single-phase heat exchangers: SWEP offers a very wide range of compact heat exchangers whose excellent single-phase heat transfer performance meets all the markets demands.

- Special solutions: Special requirements demand special solutions, and SWEP carries out continuous research and development to find those solutions. SWEP has supplied customized CBE solutions to thousands of customers worldwide. Every application is unique, whether it’s a refrigerant, heating or industrial application. Examples include ADWIS, SWEPs Air Dryer With Integrated Separator, Minex, a hybrid PHE (plate and frame heat exchanger), and NHP (Nordic Heat Pump), the company’s dedicated, verified solutions for heat pump applications.

New Q80 for heat-pump applications
SWEP launches the Q80 – the first in the new Q-range of evaporators optimized for R407C or R410A heat-pump applications. The Q80 is designed for operation in the lower heat flux segment (2-7 kW/m²).

The Q80 features a new injection system that ensures perfect distribution of the refrigerant into the evaporator. The new dedicated distribution system is particularly suited to heat pump conditions.

Jenny Larsson, Project Office Manager at SWEP, says the Q80’s optimized distribution system provides robust operating conditions with the lowest superheating.

“The injection system minimizes the heat transfer surface used for superheating of the refrigerant, while maintaining stable operating conditions,” Larsson says.

“The injection system is also fully integrated with the evaporator, thereby eliminating any additional assembly operations.”

According to Jonas Hansson, Sales Manager, SWEP HUB North Europe, the Q80 can be used with all commercially available system components. It also utilizes the most modern and efficient design available on the market.

“This is a cost-effective and sustainable solution, because the Q80 is based on the latest channel plate technology that further enhances the usage of the heat transfer area,” Hansson says. “It is also easy to install with no loose components to be assembled thanks to the integrated connection and distribution system.”

Hansson adds: “The Q80 meets the requirements of customers looking for improved heat-pump qualities and with high coefficient of performance (COP) demands.”

New mission emphasizes environmental concerns
SWEP’s products are leading the way on the road to environmental improvement. For example, recent new products include the first CBEs to be optimized for modern, environmentally preferred refrigerants such as R410A (SWEP P-types) and R134a (S-types).

SWEP considers this so important that it has revised its business mission, which is now: “To lead the global development, production and marketing of brazed plate heat exchanger solutions supporting conversion to sustainable products and processes.” Of course, SWEP cannot force the world to change. But SWEP can point out the direction to go, and be ready with appropriate products along the journey.

Environmental concerns are also being addressed within SWEP, with a group-wide plan for ISO 14001 certification. ISO 14001 offers SWEP a structured way of controlling the company’s direct and indirect environmental aspects and improving its environmental performance. ISO 14001 certification indicates a high level of environmental responsibility. It shows SWEP cares about the environment, complies with legislation and is working towards improvements in areas such as CO2 discharges, waste management, energy consumption, handling of chemicals, etc.

SWEP Slovakia received ISO 14001 certification at the end of 2007 – only a few months after the factory was opened – and SWEP’s new factory in Suzhou, China, is also making excellent progress. Perhaps the biggest challenge is at SWEP’s global headquarters in Landskrona, Sweden, which is aiming for ISO 14001 certification by the end of 2008. Every employee will receive training to enable them to meet the tough environmental targets that have been set. There is certainly no shortage of enthusiasm. Everyone in SWEP is fully aware that we hold the world on trust for our children, and that what we do now is crucial for their future.

SWEP’s new E5AS heat exchanger does more with less
SWEP International presented its new E5AS compact brazed heat exchanger (CBE) at Mostra Convegno 2008. IT has an innovative new asymmetrical plate pattern and special end plates that enable it to transfer more heat using less material (kW/kg basis). This not only reduces the CBE’s environmental impact, but also means that systems using the E5AS can now be smaller than competing solutions with comparable performance. Furthermore, central heating water circuits using the E5AS experience a lower pressure drop compared with current CBE designs. Pumps can be smaller, and therefore cost less and use less energy.

The main application for the E5AS is in boilers. Its long thermal length and small physical size make it particularly suitable for condensing boilers in domestic systems, where its environmental credentials are an additional benefit.

SWEP’s new DP500 evaporator heat exchanger offers even more power with R410A
SWEP International presented its new DP500 compact brazed heat exchanger (CBE) at Mostra Convegno 2008. It represents a further step in SWEP’s focus on CBEs dedicated to modern refrigerants such as R410A, and consolidates the company’s reputation as the most innovative and environmentally concerned maker of brazed plate heat exchangers. The new DP500 is optimized for R410A, like all other CBEs in SWEP’s P-range, and enables true dual solutions at the highest capacities.

Tailor-made to meet increasing customer requests for less harmful refrigerants that comply with stricter environmental legislation, the DP500 operates efficiently with R410A, one of today’s preferred refrigerants. The compactness of the DP500 means it also requires a smaller refrigerant charge, which is a further environmental benefit.

The DP500 will be used as an evaporator in R410A chiller applications up to 650 kW. “This will enable leading chiller makers to extend the capacity of the CBE/scroll compressor combination and win even more market share from the ageing shell-and-tube/screw compressor concept,” says Sören Friis-Hansen, Strategic Key Account Manager at SWEP.

Case Studies

Cooling food with transcritical CO2