Some 35 years ago, Rittal launched its climate control design software Therm onto the market as a free service – the first manufacturer in the world to do so. Today, more than 80,000 customers worldwide use the software to perform over 500,000 calculations each year. “There’s a common saying ‘Never change a running system’, but that’s not the approach we take,” says Verena Schneider, Business Owner for RiTherm in the Cooling Solutions business unit at Rittal. “Energy-efficiency requirements are growing, and there’s a demand for reliable CO₂ figures, so we asked ourselves what our customers will need in the future,” she continues. The result is RiTherm – the completely new design tool that is available on the Rittal website and in the Eplan Cloud. Customers who have been using Therm up until now can transfer their projects and enjoy all the benefits on offer.

CARBON FOOTPRINT AND F-GASES

The software generates a precise design for enclosure climate control. To ensure the solutions will cope with real applications, whatever the circumstances, worst-case scenarios are used as the basis for ambient temperature figures. The energy-efficiency calculator uses project data for the site in question, including finer details such as altitude data and regional temperature profiles.

The project data is used to calculate the most efficient climate control solution for the specific circumstances. RiTherm also generates the carbon footprint of the planned climate control solution, from delivery to operation. “Although it’s not a statutory requirement yet, major end customers want their plant engineers to provide proof that they have selected the most efficient climate control solution,” Schneider explains. Finally, documentation is generated in the form of a standard-compliant heat dissipation certificate in line with the Machinery Directive. With the new F-gas Regulation now in place, RiTherm also helps customers with the tricky issue of choosing a refrigerant – information and details about the global warming potential (GWP) of the respective cooling solution actively support customers in this decision.

PLENTY MORE BENEFITS, TOO

“Thanks to the intuitive, cutting-edge design of the interface, working with RiTherm is really enjoyable,” says Schneider. Requirements-based calculations for enclosures, special enclosures and now even bayed suites of enclosures can be generated with ease to provide users with a proposal for the necessary cooling solution. Customers are also delighted by RiTherm, as Niklas Papenheim, a project manager at Comati Automation, confirms: “The air throughput calculation is the feature we use most. Once we have that figure, we can choose suitable fans or cooling units quickly and easily.”

RiTherm also includes other functions and services, such as thermal calculations for outdoor enclosures and data transfer between the Eplan software tools. “Heat-loss zones” is another new function. It enables customers to define customised zones within their bayed enclosures that are to be considered as one interconnected area for the purposes of thermal calculation. There is also the option of factoring in cooling output buffers and designating these in the documentation. And these are just some of the features of the new RiTherm design tool – there are many more.