A revolutionary innovation in cooling systems based on Icelandic ingenuity and design
Iðan Education Centre visited Kælitækni and met with Elís H. Sigurjónsson, the company's CTO. Elís talks about a CO2 refrigeration system that the company has been developing. The system is environmentally friendly and the refrigerant is an Icelandic raw material. The technology has proven to be effective in terms of efficiency and maintenance and can save up to 60% in energy consumption.
When Elís H. Sigurjónsson, CTO of Kælitækni, moved back to Iceland in 2015 after studying and working in Denmark, he realized that there was no market for environmentally friendly refrigeration systems in the country. “I realized that the refrigeration industry is 25 years behind the times,” says Elís, who previously worked in Denmark where he was involved in the development of CO2 systems with Danfoss and other parties. “I just look at the market and think, this is a huge project; the implementation of environmentally friendly refrigeration systems is simply non-existent.”
Refrigeration systems designed for Icelandic conditions
Elís began project work with his partner Ingvar Kristinsson, who was open to innovation. The beginning was difficult, and they faced resistance from contractors and at engineering firms, but they didn't let it get to them. “We operate on the idea that we are in Iceland, the temperature is low here, and we should design the refrigeration systems according to those conditions. As good and cheap to run as possible. That has always been our motto,” says Elís, who says they quickly realized that small customers also want to switch to environmentally friendly refrigerants.
Electricity costs are reduced by up to 80%
“There is a huge gap in the market that needs to be closed, and Carel comes into the development work. “They see it too. No one is producing a system like this. We started development work four years ago and set ourselves a goal: We are going to use Icelandic CO2 as much as we can and design multi-purpose machine systems, one solution for everyone. That was our goal; it was supposed to be cheap, easy to install and service, and be useful to many, and that's what we have today,” says Elís about the Heosbox, which is a line of machine systems that run on CO2 as a refrigerant. “We installed the first prototype in the basement of Hagkaup in Skeifan, and that system has now been running for three and a half years without needing any maintenance. No problems have arisen. That's what we're seeing; it requires little service and maintenance, and in addition, electricity costs are reduced by up to 80%.”
