INO Automation, together with partners, delivered, installed and commissioned the thermo-cooling solution at Falcon Sapphire in Ventspils, Latvia — one of the few monocrystalline sapphire growers in Europe.
Falcon Sapphire is a European precision-materials company that grows and processes monocrystalline sapphire. Its plant is in Ventspils, Latvia, and the whole process — from boule growth to cutting — happens in-house. The sapphire goes into optics and photonics, aerospace, medical technology, industrial lasers, electronics and watch glass.
Sapphire is grown by the Kyropoulos method — the crystal is slowly pulled from an alumina melt. The thermal regime is decisive: temperature fluctuations directly affect crystal quality and internal stress. That means the cooling loop has to run stably and predictably, not “roughly”.
The task was to hold temperature precisely and read data off the unit, so the process could be monitored and controlled rather than only reviewed after the fact.
INO Automation, together with partners, delivered, installed and commissioned an SMC HRS400 thermo-chiller with 38 kW of cooling capacity in the process loop and connected its data output, so temperature values are available continuously.
The project ran in four phases — from component supply to handing the system over in working order:
A sapphire boule grows over many hours. If the thermal regime drifts, you don’t lose one part — you lose a whole cycle. That makes cooling not a support system here, but part of process quality itself.
Monocrystalline sapphire goes into optics, LED and semiconductor manufacturing, industrial lasers and watch glass — anywhere a hard, transparent, chemically resistant material is needed. Precise industrial cooling and process temperature stabilisation are exactly what make that material repeatably high-quality.
Cooling, temperature control, air preparation — send a description or a photo of the machine.
INO Automation, with partners, delivered, installed and commissioned the thermo-cooling solution on site.
It depends on furnace power and process. This project used a 38 kW thermo-chiller. Exact capacity is sized from the heat load — send us the unit’s data and we’ll calculate it.
A crystal-growth method where monocrystalline sapphire is slowly pulled from molten alumina. Precise, stable temperature throughout the cycle is decisive for crystal quality.
Yes. In this project, with partners, we delivered, installed and commissioned the whole cooling solution. We can cover anything from a single component to a full system.
In Ventspils, Latvia — one of the few monocrystalline sapphire growers in Europe.
