NORTH RIDGEVILLE, OH--(Marketwire - March 9, 2010) - Alanod-Solar, the worldwide leader in advanced reflective and absorptive surfaces, today inaugurated a new dedicated high capacity laser welding facility located in North Ridgeville, Ohio. This facility will manufacture and distribute the company's industry leading laser welded Miro-Fin® absorber fins for solar thermal collectors.
"We are combining the world's most advanced joining technology with the world's leading absorbing surface using machines designed and built by Swiss manufacturers," said Ingo Beyer, CEO and Managing Director of Alanod-Solar. "The end result is highly efficient, cost effective solar thermal fin absorbers that will enable a new generation of performance and value-oriented flat plate collectors for solar thermal systems."
Alanod-Solar's highly efficient absorber coatings for solar thermal applications lead to better overall performance of solar hot water and process heating and cooling systems. The company's aluminum based absorber surface is called mirotherm® and its copper absorber is named sunselect®. Solar systems using mirotherm surfaces can take advantage of the lighter weight and stable cost inherent with aluminum.
In its new facility, Alanod-Solar laser welds these absorber surfaces to copper or aluminum tubing to produce a highly efficient absorber fin called Miro-Fin. This new Miro-Fin product is configured to meet the unique demands of solar thermal designs in North America. It forms the core of highly efficient solar thermal collectors and is based on the same high selective absorbing surfaces pioneered by Alanod-Solar in Europe.
Laser welding is a highly advanced joining technology that creates stronger and more efficient conjoined solar surfaces. Alanod-Solar's technology team has pioneered the use of laser welding for its absorbing surface, and the resulting absorber plates and fins are widely acknowledged as the standard for the solar thermal industry.
The new continuous laser welding line is run by Alanod Westlake Metal Industries, a subsidiary of Alanod, and is currently operational. Its production capacity exceeds five million square feet of absorber fins per year. The facility employees 20 individuals local to the Greater Cleveland region, and is used for production, warehousing and distribution purposes. This production involves the slitting and cutting of Alanod-Solar's highly efficient absorber surfaces.
"We believe that the solar thermal market in North America is poised to grow by leaps and bounds over the next year as regulations, awareness, and incentives have all begun to prime the pump," said Andrew Sabel, North American Market Manager for Alanod-Solar. "This is a first investment in that potential, giving us the capacity to quickly and efficiently supply all of the Americas from this location with our industry leading components."
Alanod-Solar currently supplies absorber components for more than half of the flat plate collectors made around the world, including more mature solar thermal markets. The company recently announced that it has shipped more than one hundred million square feet of solar absorptive surfaces worldwide. Alanod Solar has produced and shipped more selective absorbing surfaces for the solar thermal industry than any other company in the world. These installed surfaces for the production of solar hot water and industrial process heat and cooling offset more than 1.2 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.
For more information on Alanod-Solar or to learn about the company's advanced reflective and absorptive solar surface solutions, please visit Alanod-Solar. For specific information regarding Miro Fin, please call 1-888-52-SOLAR.
About Alanod-Solar
Alanod-Solar is a division of ALANOD Aluminum Veredlung, a thirty-year leader in surface solutions based in Ennepetal, Germany. Alanod-Solar leverages the world's most advanced development labs and production lines to create superior reflective and absorptive surface solutions. The company's long history of excellence and reliability set it apart in the industry, with the performance of its products leading to higher efficiency, better durability and an overall lower cost of systems for solar technologies.
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