RAPID

IFS is a startup OEM providing continuous flow fluid heating equipment to the process industries built on their proprietary 'middle-out' platform to improve manufacturing performance and profitability. By avoiding the limitations of conventional equipment, IFS leverages new designs for heat transfer surfaces that maximize surface area to volume and create more turbulence in a flowstream. 'Middle-out' improves fluid heating performance metrics compared to conventional solutions: IFS increases heat transfer effectiveness by 8-10x, controls temperature 5x more accurately, operates at 90-95% energy efficiency, and halves the rate of fouling to extend production runs. We use our approach to solve for better heating in applications where existing solutions have significant limitations. 

IFS created their technology to address cross-cutting issues in manufacturing operations: yield losses, fouling, product quality, and incremental production expansion. Use cases range from high-performance trim heating to improve OEE in high-acid food & beverage production to reducing fouling in fluid isocyanates for specialty chemical processing. IFS sees the next frontier of its development in the broader chemical sector by demonstrating a process that allows plants to decouple bulk heating from reaction site temperatures and enable modularization in plant operations. 

This talk will describe the basic working principles of IFS' heating platform and characterizing the fluid dynamics and heat transfer mechanisms in IFS'  systems. We will also touch on recent pilot test results, upcoming projects & new applications, and some of the opportunities and challenges that we've found about process intensification and electrification in industrial settings. Please bring a lunch and your best heating puns for the Q&A.

For a link to this Zoom meeting, please email Ashley Smith-Shoettker.