History

Karlsruhe´s good reputation as one of the “centers of refrigeration technology” in Germany goes back to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. mult. Rudolf Plank, who in 1925 established refrigeration technology at the TH Karlsruhe (Technical University of Karlsruhe) and founded the first Institute for Refrigeration Technology worldwide in 1926. One of his students, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Valerius Füner, introduced refrigeration technology at the former Staatstechnikum Karlsruhe, today´s Hochschule Karlsruhe (FH) (Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences) in 1948 (until 2005: Fachhochschule Karlsruhe; before 1970: Staatliche Ingenieurschule). Rudolf Plank achieved something great with regard to refrigeration technology due to his outstanding reputation as scientist, whereas Valerius Füner achieved something great with regard to engineering education related to practice and to advanced training in refrigeration technology.

In 1952, V. Füner established a refrigeration technology lab with financial support of sponsors from the refrigeration industry and brought into being the first refrigeration technology training course (“Kältekurs”). He taught these courses until 1979. They took place once a year. In the beginning, the courses ran for 12 weeks, later 9 weeks – between October and December respectively. The maximum number of participants was limited to 40.

In 1980, his successor at the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Reichelt, continued and expanded these training courses considerably. Instead of a 9-weeks refrigeration training course per year, by and by 15 to 20 one-week basic courses, advanced courses and special training courses covering approx. 50 weeks per year have been established and are completed by numerous company trainings. The number of participants per training course has been limited to 12, in exceptional cases up to 18. At an average, approx. 600 participants per year take part in these training courses. In 2006, the number of participants was approx. 900 (including three symposia). In 1980, the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe became one of the three neutral and approved DIN-Prüfstellen (DIN inspection authorities) for heat pumps and refrigeration technology in Germany at the request of J. Reichelt. The measuring and testing activities have also been expanded since then

In 1987, it was integrated into the Steinbeis-Stiftung, Stuttgart (Germany) under the name Transferzentrum für Kälte- und mobile Klimatechnik Karlsruhe.

The TWK GmbH Test- und Weiterbildungszentrum Wärmepumpen und Kältetechnik was founded in 1996 and was recognized as non-profit institution in 2005.

In 1997, we moved to a building outside the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe for the advanced training and education with regard to refrigeration technology and for the inspection facility (located at approx. 1 km from the Fachhochschule Karlsruhe).

In 2001, J. Reichelt brought into being the foundation VALERIUS-FÜNER-STIFTUNG with financial support of sponsors from the refrigeration industry.

In 2004, J. Reichelt turned TWK GmbH over to this foundation.

In 2005, a further GmbH named CO₂-Testzentrums Kfz-Klimatisierung has been founded. The CO₂-Testzentrum is a wholly owned subsidiary of the TWK GmbH, whereas this in turn is an institution of the foundation VALERIUS-FÜNER-STIFTUNG. Particularly for this testing center, a new lab building has been built next to the previous TWK building.