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Completed project

Sarov

High-Tech Ventilators, Konsar

The project was directed to the organisation of serial production of high efficiency, low noise, ventilators designed to meet the needs of wood processing and furniture factories, metallurgical enterprises, machine building, construction materials and food production.

The engineering company Konsar was set up in 1992 by employees of the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre to implement conversion projects (Konsar = Conversion-Sarov). The company specialises in developing and manufacturing equipment for cleaning industrial contaminants from air. It possesses a great deal of experience in designing and producing dust extracting radial ventilators. Already in 2005, the company realised that it needed to produce new highly efficient dust extractors, but resources were not sufficient to make that possible. The market was demanding new energy efficient equipment for removing dust, which conformed to world standards and features and employed modern filtration materials capable of removing particles of down to 0.1 мm. Meanwhile, Konsar was actively extending its production space and introducing IT technologies.

We put forward our first proposal for financing from CNCP in 2006, but it was only in 2008 that we actually joined the Programme. And just at the right moment. The CNCP grant enabled us to obtain the equipment we needed right in the midst of the crisis. This made it possible for us to begin the process of designing, developing and testing new prototype ventilators. The equipment included:

a high accuracy plasma cutting facility, capable of cutting metal of a thickness of over 20 mm;
computer controlled systems for processing sheet metal, which made it possible to manage the technical processes effectively and to manufacture components with complex configurations;
modern welding equipment.

A test stand was designed and constructed to carry out climatic, mechanical and aerodynamic tests, and a set of measurement instruments was also obtained.

Based on new aerodynamic modelling carried out in the Central Institute of Aero-hydrodynamics, and strength calculations carried out by specialists from VNIIEF, Konsar has developed, and is currently completing the design documentation for, the series of new high efficiency ventilators.

Tests on prototypes fully confirmed our expectations and our calculations. That convinced us that involvement in the Programme would enable us to be the first in Russia to supply high performance dust extracting ventilators which met world demands, and to increase the competitiveness of the products we were offering. Work on the CNCP project is now approaching completion. Thanks to grants from the Programme we have created 17 jobs, including 10 jobs for specialists made redundant from the nuclear facility. Involvement in the Programme has enabled us to:

create a high value added product, competitive in terms of quality with analogous European products and, possibly, with a wider range of applications;
improve the technical level of specialists engaged in designing ventilators;
extend the framework of collaboration with leading companies in Europe, which are in the same market but are willing to exploit potential synergies with us rather than to compete against us.

Konsar is at present the leader in the Russian market for dust removal equipment, a significant proportion of output goes for export. This has been made possible by the high level of qualification of our staff (90 % of whom are former VNIIEF employees), constant efforts to modernise technology, learning from foreign experience, and concern for our employees. Konsar has a diversified dealer network (involving more than 30 companies) in Russia and in the countries of the CIS, a network which is constantly being extended.

In conclusion, we would like to thank all of the specialists of the CNCP Programme, the Head of the Sarov City Administration, Valeriy Dimitrov, and his deputy Valeriy Zorya, for supporting and promoting this project.

Boris Pronevich,
General Director, Konsar

Sergei Gorelov,
President of the Board of Directors, Konsar

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