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Liebherr goes radiant
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Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd has installed radiant tube heating from AmbiRad at its £15m state-of-the-art British HQ building in Biggleswade. The 5,000m² hi-tech facility houses service, maintenance and equipment testing for the Group’s complete range of heavy plant and construction equipment.
The new building, which is the size of a soccer pitch, has a roof height of 18 metres to accommodate the 25-tonne capacity overhead cranes. Among the innovative features designed into the premises is the UK’s biggest rolling road for mobile cranes, capable of handling up to 20-tonnes axles. There are 10 separate workbays for cranes, earthmovers, concrete truck mixers and a welding area.
Heating and maintaining comfort temperatures in such a large space building, which is subject to influxes of cold air when entrance doorways are opened, was a challenge for the services design engineers QuinnRoss Consultants Ltd.
AmbiRad designed a Nor-Ray-Vac continuous radiant tube system that would guarantee even heat coverage throughout the main assembly part of the building. The system was installed by M&E contractor Mitie Engineering Services (SE Region) Ltd.
A total of 14no. 46kW and 3no. 38kW burners were positioned in the main assembly areas, mounted at 15.3m from floor level. In the vehicle cleaning area, two AR35 U-tube radiant heaters were installed. This model is suitable for car wash environments, where water could be dangerous to standard radiant tubes. An additional heating supplement is supplied to the welding bay by four SG31 wall-mounted radiant plaque heaters.
The systems achieve excellent heat coverage, in spite of having to be positioned around and between the high-level cranes. The principal requirement of the system was that it should be economical to run. Radiant tube heating from AmbiRad is among the most economical forms of large space heating available. It allows the end-user close control of the heated environment, both with regard to temperature and zoning. The Liebherr system is divided into four separately-controlled zones to optimise fuel economy.
Radiant tube heating is cost-effective in large space buildings because it does not waste energy heating the vast volume of air within the building. It warms only people and objects in its path. All the heat is focused at the lowest two metres, exactly where it is most needed by people working in the premises.
