ebm‑papst is carrying out a retrofit to update the ventilation systems at its German locations by replacing its existing EC fans.
By upgrading 161 systems in all, the company will achieve energy savings totalling an estimated 10 per cent.
The project began when ebm‑papst took a close look at its own ventilation systems as part of its sustainability strategy and decided to undertake an upgrade.
The inventory identified 136 air handling units (AHUs) and 25 refrigerating plants that were suitable for retrofitting.
One unusual aspect was that many of the installed fans were already working with EC motors. This was partly because the systems at the relatively new Hollenbach site only went into operation in 2007, and partly because some of the older systems had already been upgraded to the latest EC technology a few years ago.
However, replacing EC with EC also makes perfect sense from an energy point of view. Depending on the installation situation, energy savings of up to 12 per cent can be achieved.
With the Mulfingen retrofit, gateways from ebm‑papst neo were installed in many systems. These gateways can read the data from the fan and can monitor running times or measure current consumption, for example.
The gateways can communicate directly to the ebm‑papst neo cloud via LTE, enabling them to identify and exploit additional potential for savings.