As an expert in advanced fully hermetic piston compressor technology and refrigeration solutions in the field of commercial refrigeration, Cisco focuses on stationary refrigeration, mobile refrigeration and medical refrigeration applications, and is widely used in related fields. During the 2024 China Refrigeration Exhibition, Industry Online was invited to conduct an on-site interview with Dr. Jan Ehlers, CEO of Cisco Compressor (2nd from the left in the picture below), and Mr. Shen Jiangbo (2nd from the right in the picture below), the head of the Greater China business, to have a deeper understanding of their business layout.
Dr. Jan Ehlers began by presenting the current demand in the commercial compressor market. He said that the global economy will recover slowly in 2024, and the global manufacturing industry will still face many challenges such as insufficient market demand. For the stationary refrigeration business, the market performance varies from region to region. In China, this year is expected to be basically the same as last year. In the overseas market, the demand for light business in the United States is gradually recovering; affected by many factors, such as geopolitical conflicts and the depreciation of the currencies of Egypt and other countries, the demand in the Middle East has been unstable in the early stage, and there have been signs of slow recovery recently; the current economy in Europe is weak, and the light business market has not yet shown obvious recovery performance.
With the development of new energy electric vehicles and the increasing loading rate of on-board refrigerators year by year, the market demand potential of on-board refrigerators is huge in the future.
The medical refrigeration application field is one of the important application areas of Secop. In recent years, Secop has been deeply engaged in the field of medical special, among which ultra-low temperature compressor products have received good customer response.
Enhance product competitiveness with technological innovation
During the Refrigeration Exhibition, Secop exhibited the SCE25LNDX compressor product that won the Innovative Product Award at the China Refrigeration Exhibition 2024, which not only has two invention patents, but is also a large-displacement, energy-efficient R290 product.
One of the development directions of Secop compressor products is the energy-efficient, large-displacement, environmentally friendly refrigerant compressor. Dr. Jan Ehlers introduced that this year, Cisco has launched new compressors with 23 and 25 displacement around the characteristics of high energy efficiency and green refrigerants, and in the future, Cisco will develop light commercial compressor products with larger displacement. In addition, in response to the market demand for small-displacement compressors, KLF compressors using green R290 refrigerant working fluid have also been mass-produced.
In recent years, inverter technology has been gradually applied to light commercial refrigeration equipment products. In addition to energy-efficient compressors, Secop insists on optimizing and innovating inverter compressor products, and will launch more inverter compressors in the future to meet the rapid development of market demand. On the one hand, the research direction of intelligent control is the direction of energy efficiency improvement, such as the research and development of NLE series compressors and SCE series 21, 23 and 25 displacement inverter compressors.
SCE25LNDX energy-efficient R290 light commercial compressor
The controller is an important component of the inverter compressor. Through continuous innovation and upgrading of the controller, Cisco has iterated to create a more intelligent controller. In 2023, Secop released a new generation of controllers for propane inverter compressors. According to Dr. Jan Ehlers, the controller is suitable for full voltage, intelligent and multi-functional, and its power can reach up to 1,500 watts, which is not only suitable for common applications, but also meets the requirements of the Cisco ULT series compressors.
In the future, Secop will also enhance its customized services and provide customized solutions for specific markets or specific products. Secop will optimize and upgrade the existing compressor products, further improve the intelligent level of products, and continuously improve the competitiveness of products.
Focus on the development of new energy and take advantage of the momentum to develop DC products
With the continuous development of the new energy vehicle manufacturing industry, the car refrigerator will usher in rapid development. At present, in addition to the enterprises specializing in the production of car refrigerators, some home appliance companies and even downstream car companies have joined the car refrigerator track.
As a market leader in mobile refrigeration solutions, the Cisco Group has been working in the field of mobile refrigeration for many years. In 2023, the company's Tianjin plant was certified to IATF 16949:2016 for the design and manufacture of hermetic compressors for automotive refrigeration. Its BD Nano compressor is the core DC compressor product of Secop. In 2022, the BD Nano compressor won the 2022 China Refrigeration Exhibition Innovative Product Award for its advantages of high reliability, high energy efficiency, low noise, and anti-electromagnetic interference.
The compressor is not only widely used in the field of new energy vehicles, but also used in trucks, RVs and other fields. In the future, Secop will carry out in-depth development of BD Nano products to improve its intelligence level to meet more needs of RV (sojourn) vehicles, and for the Chinese market, Secop BD Nano compressors will have the characteristics of specialization, customization and integration.
Regarding the future development of Cisco DC compressors, Dr. Jan Ehlers said, "As an upstream compressor company for car refrigerators, Cisco is gradually changing its role from a secondary supplier to a primary supplier. At present, Cisco DC compressor has established cooperation with ideal, NIO, BYD and other terminal automobile factories, and continues to deepen the close cooperation with customers. ”
BDN45F DC compressor
Focus on localized product layout
Affected by the new crown epidemic and geopolitical conflicts, global home appliance companies are paying more and more attention to the localization of the supply chain, and Secop Group is also expanding the localization of related products.
For compressor products, the N-series compressors, which were originally only produced in European factories, have been put into production at the Tianjin plant, and more compressor products will be produced in the Tianjin plant in the future. In addition, the Tianjin factory of Secop will also increase the local production and processing of parts.
For controller products, Cisco plans to design and develop different versions of electronic control products for different application scenarios through cooperation with local partners.
Dr. Jan Ehlers concluded: "The Chinese market is gradually becoming one of the important markets of the Secop Group, and the position of Secop China in the Secop Group is becoming more and more important. In the future, Cisco China will improve its comprehensive strength in production, sales, quality, technology and other aspects, always focus on customers, and provide better products and services for partners. ”