Russian heating specialists are well aware of the TENRAD trademark. It’s famous for a large variety of good-quality radiators that are provided by “Vesta Regiony”. Its owner, Pavel Melnikov, has around 100 patents for other products in the sphere of plumbing.
So we were extremely interested in what Pavel Melnikov’s secret is, and that’s what he told us:
‘In order to succeed in a certain field, my sincere recommendation is to learn as much as possible about the existing approaches, mind their advantages and disadvantages and try to make up a way to reduce the negative aspects and increase the positive ones.
Back in 2010, Russians were already aware of TENRAD radiators. I was extremely dissatisfied by the appearance of our BM sectional bimetallic radiators in the showroom. The front side was okay but the back (which was facing the window wall) was spoiling the view from the outside.
Image 1. Radiators near a window wall
I decided to change that. The first thing I did was going to see what solutions other showrooms offer.
Image 2. Convector near a window wall
How the idea of a new type of radiator was born, says Pavel Eduardovich Melnikov
I thought about producing our own convectors. The main benefit of a sectional radiator is that it сonsists of only one type of elements. However, one cannot build an endless radiator. Luckily, this does not apply to convectors, as they can be as long as you wish. So I decided to blend them.
Once I met the chief executive of a well-known Italian company that’s producing radiators. He told me that his purpose was to attain the maximum heat flow rate. To my mind, it is absolutely not important, even though this fact can help in advertising. Just think of how silly a single-section radiator would look in a room!
Image 3. Single-section “radiator”
What is more, in accordance with the rules it is not allowed for the radiator to be narrower than 50% of a window. Therefore, I decided what features of an ideal heating device there should be. It should be not high, sectional, look the same both from the front and back, and stand on the footing.
I began searching for possible ways to create a 3-meter radiator. I used an aluminum alloy as I needed a vertical channel only in the last bimetallic section.
Image 4. Schemes from the invention description to the patent
In the meantime, I drew up a perfect height-adjustable footing.
Image 5. Radiator footing
The model of this heating device was sent to the lab in St. Petersburg (LaKIElIS). The results of the testing were the following:
● Operating pressure – 2.4 MPa;
● Heat transfer in the row section – 60.54 W;
● Heat transfer in the closing section – 94.5 W.
The invention was registered in Russia, Ukraine, China, and the Eurasian Patent Organization.’
Image 6. Russian Federation Patent No. 114756
The radiator Pavel Eduardovich Melnikov started selling in 2012 under the brand TENRAD AL/BM150 and is still a popular and highly-demanded heating product in the market.
Image 7. Radiator TENRAD AL/BM150
