Background
Raypak is a leading manufacturer of swimming pool heaters. Their flagship line of Natural Draft Gas Heaters was both expensive and dated. They needed a new look, new features, modern controls, and confidence that the redesigned appliance would pass a demanding set of performance tests.
Challenges
Raypak initially just wanted to integrate cathodic corrosion protection into the heater, in a way that was both effective and attractive. Porticos did the research, designed the tests, and delivered a subsystem that met every goal. Raypak named it the ProTek Shield.
Raypak then asked us to redesign the entire line of appliances to:
- Reduce part count
- Simplify fabrication and assembly
- Incorporate new controls
- Integrate the newly-demonstrated ProTek Shield
- Address known field failures
- Simplify installation and maintenance
- Make the heater more visually attractive
The biggest challenge with a Natural Draft gas appliance is that it must function even in high winds. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) allowed us to simulate how winds would infiltrate and circulate within the housing. This allowed us to strategically place baffles, and to use those baffles as stiffening elements to keep part-count low.
Outcomes
The ProTek Shield is the first of its kind in the industry. We look forward to helping to integrate that system into their other products.
