Pioneering Cable Heaters: A Story Of Collaboration And Persistence
History tends to record the ‘light bulb’ moments when innovations are first discovered. But after those individual moments of inspiration, there often follows a long period of further research and refinement, as many different people collaborate and play their part in turning a great idea into a viable product.
This is one such story: how Güntner, over a period of many years, pioneered the development of cable heaters for low-profile commercial evaporators. It begins as long ago as 2008 in Güntner’s Mexico HQ, when former Controls Manager, Juan Izasmendi, first came up with the idea of replacing rigid defrosting rods with an alternative. It made sense: a cable heater would be much easier to install and to remove for maintenance, especially in smaller commercial settings, such as restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and even small freezing rooms, where space is at a premium.
Some prototypes were built, but the idea didn’t seem to add up from a cost point of view. As a result, the project was shelved for a decade.
Then, in 2019, the idea was revived by Gerardo Calamaco and Joel Delgado, two employees at Güntner in Mexico. The company had organized a version of Shark Tank, the business reality TV show, looking for innovative ideas from its workforce in the Americas. Calamaco and Delgado entered the cable heating idea and took third place. They went on to do some testing, but after a year, it became clear that an outside partnership would be required to take the idea further.
At this point, Juan Soto, R&D Administrator, and Güntner’s innovation team took over the project and forged a partnership with one of Güntner’s suppliers. Cables were engineered, samples were produced, testing was undertaken – but still the concept couldn’t be made to work as a commercial venture. The partnership came to an end.
Serendipity often plays a role in innovation, and so it was that one day not long after the project seemed to have stalled forever, Everardo Gomez, Managing Director of Güntner in Mexico, happened to mention it to a sales colleague in Colombia. His colleague mentioned a leading Italian distributor in the heating industry, who had done work in a similar area. “Everything changed at this point,” says Gomez. “The Italians were experts, and together with the innovation team, they were able to ultimately take the project to fruition.”
Another two years of development followed, in which Güntner and the Italian company worked on a viable solution, testing it in Güntner’s laboratories in Mexico and Germany.
The copper wires in the cable are coated with silicone, and one of the major challenges was to achieve a high wattage without melting it. “Throughout the process, a lot of people said it just wasn’t possible,” says Gomez. “We had to play around for a long time to get the right balance, and finally we got it.”
A bonus of using cable heaters is that they are far easier to transport than long, rigid rods. The team were also keen to cut energy consumption, which is an increasing focus for customers for both financial and environmental reasons. Because the cable heater is knitted throughout the coil, heat is distributed more efficiently, and less power is required. Also, in case of malfunction, only a part of the heater is affected, and therefore it does not require immediate replacement. As a bonus, because the temperature of the cable heater doesn’t need to be as high as that for rods, evaporated steam is avoided, which can add to frost on the upper part of the coil.
The cable heater is now a standard, integral part of Güntner Cubic COMPACT Air Coolers and Güntner Slim COMPACT Air Coolers in the NLA region.