For more than 45 years, Merak, a subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse has specialised in the design, production and maintenance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment for railway vehicles. It is one of the biggest suppliers of railway vehicle air-conditioning systems on the world market with more than 40,000 HVAC units in over 200 different designs running across the five continents.
Merak’s headquarters are in Getafe, Madrid (Spain), and its four production sites are located in Getafe (Spain), Shanghai, Wuxi (China) and Westminster (US). Together with the KB Group’s latest acquisition for HVAC systems, Sigma, in Sydney, Merak and Sigma are close to their customers all over the world.
HVAC solutions for railway vehicles
Merak designs HVAC equipment for all types of railway vehicles, including light rail vehicles, commuter trains, metros, locomotives, long distance trains and high-speed trains. Actually, Merak is the European pioneer of HVAC technology in high-speed trains.
Merak equipment fully responds to customer requirements in all climatic conditions from the coldest parts of Russia, dustiness in the Middle East, and regions with an extremely high humidity such as South-East Asia.
Merak HVAC systems can include, if required, heat pump solutions, integrated auxiliary power systems, emergency inverters and air quality treatment systems. The company offers a wide range of HVAC units, including compact and split units, roof-mounted and underfloor versions, which can be used in drivers’ cabins or passengers saloons and for new and refurbished vehicles.
Heat-pump technology in railway air-conditioning systems
Merak invests continuous efforts in research and development, being a pioneer in the HVAC market for railway applications. Merak first started designing and manufacturing heat-pump technology for its air-conditioning systems in 1981. This energy-saving technology uses the cooling circuit for heating purposes within certain temperature ranges, and the energy consumption of a passenger carriage can be reduced by up to 30%.
Environmentally friendly HVAC equipment
In more recent years, Merak has researched for alternative solutions to design more environmentally friendly HVAC equipment, like using alternative cooling agents (CO2, air, HFO1234yf) or looking for more energy efficient solutions.
Adding to this, Merak has always been committed to passenger comfort, and for this reason it has included air-quality improvement solutions in its equipments, like UV-C lamps and CO2 sensors. Lately, it has developed a sand filtration system, used in extremely dry and dusty regions to separate sand from fresh air.
Thanks to Merak’s efforts to invest in research and innovation, its equipment offers several advantages to its customers:
- Improved passenger comfort
- Very compact and quiet
- Low lifecycle costs
- Energy savings
- Air quality treatment
- Maintenance friendly design
- State-of-the-art
- Applicable worldwide
