For the pupils of the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium grammar school in Böblingen, it all began with a visit to the SCHAUFLER Academy in Ergenzingen, to which Florian Stupp’s class was invited. ‘The idea came about during a refrigeration workshop,’ he explains. ‘I had lots of fun working with BITZER!’
Research and training are extremely important to BITZER as a leading manufacturer of components in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry, which is why the SCHAUFLER Academy, the international BITZER training centre in Rottenburg, not only trains industry specialists, but also acquaints students and pupils with the topic of refrigeration and air conditioning. ‘We’re extremely proud of Florian for making it this far, and of course are more than happy to continue supporting him and his projects in the future,’ says Volker Stamer, Director of the SCHAUFLER Academy.
A short time later, Florian Stupp, Volker Stamer and Simon Beck, Deputy Head of Research at BITZER, agreed on the specific topic and defined the project structure, which was followed by experiments, tests and concepts on implementation and programming. The developed content for detecting bubbles in liquids was then tested at a refrigerant circuit at the SCHAUFLER Academy. Volker Stamer is satisfied with the results: ‘We’ve tested the system several times and it’s highly effective at quickly and precisely detecting bubble formation in the sight glass. The design is simple and affordable, which allows the system to be retrofitted with minimal effort and investment – and those are key factors for small companies.’
As a regional winner in technology, Florian’s advancing to Baden-Württemberg’s ‘Jugend forscht’ state competition with his project. He has also won two special prizes for his work.
In this video, he explains his project personally starting at minute 57:50 (German only).
About the project: monitoring refrigerant circuits in the field
Small companies with high cooling demands such as bakeries and butcher’s shops rarely have consistently monitored cooling systems. But monitoring can prevent system errors and refrigerant leaks, which can be harmful to the environment and health. This is where Florian Stupp’s project comes in: to make monitoring systems affordable for small companies, he dedicated himself to the sight glass, an instrument for observing liquid flows and levels in the refrigerant circuit, as bubbles that form there could be a sign of a potential leak. With the support of the SCHAUFLER Academy, Florian Stupp developed an optical system that can detect the formation of bubbles like these with the aid of a microcontroller and inform the user via an interface. The system can identify system malfunctions and thus prevent downtime and refrigerant leaks, which are harmful to the environment.
