Revolutionizing Vamtec’s operations with Ewon Flexy

Mihir Patel, an engineer specializing in absorption chillers and founder of Vamtec, found maintaining installations across the UK and Europe to be a major challenge. Discovering Ewon Flexy during a demo project in Dublin marked a turning point. "Ewon Flexy was the solution we needed to provide 24/7 remote support while avoiding unnecessary travel," Patel explained.

 The importance of continuous monitoring for absorption chillers

 Vamtec primarily equips hospitals and universities with combined heat and power (CHP) systems. These systems burn gas to produce electricity, generating waste heat. During winter months, this is used for heating, while in summer, absorption chillers use it to produce cooling.

Absorption chillers rely on a closed-loop cycle of four processes to create chilled water: evaporation, absorption, generation, and condensation. They are considered eco-friendly and "natural chillers" because they do not use Freon gas, which can harm the ozone layer and contribute to global warming.

In the event of a problem or breakdown, is therefore crucial to provide prompt assistance.

Data collection enables analysis and predictive maintenance

Built around the Ewon Flexy, Vamtec’s Web HMI is a web-based, real-time automation system that provides advanced data collection and alarm management, including remote performance monitoring and proactive maintenance. This information can be accessed through any standard web browser.

"Ewon Flexy enables the Web HMI to connect with PLCs from major manufacturers and multiple protocols like Modbus, SNMP, and BACnet", Mihir Patel explains.

An exceptionally seamless setup

"A single day’s visit is all that’s needed to establish communication,” Mihir Patel explained. “After that, I can retrieve data, monitor operations remotely, and create virtual HMIs displaying all chiller parameters. For specific time frames or historical data over the last 30 days, I can zoom in for a detailed view. Every day at 8 AM, all installations send automated email reports via Ewon Talk2m, making it an incredibly powerful tool for us.”

Since discovering Ewon Flexy, everything has worked perfectly, and the solution is compatible with any PLC.

Mihir Patel, engineer and founder of Vamtec

A fully secure connection

"The entire system is cyber-secure—we use mobile broadband to keep the equipment completely isolated from the customer network. Data from the Flexy is sent to the Talk2M DataMailbox, which then connects to our server and directs the data to MySQL. We use Grafana, a user-friendly UI, to display and analyze the data. It’s been a great success, and we’ve started implementing this solution across other installations."

More about Vamtec

Founded in 1994, Vamtec specializes in absorption chillers based on thermo-chemical processes. Based in England, the company operates throughout the UK and Europe, supporting all brands and models of chillers.