Fan Unit Upgrades
Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment accounts for more than 40% of a commercial building’s energy consumption.
In the refrigeration, air conditioning, and building technology sector, uncontrolled asynchronous motors are still frequently used to drive fans. But they have a serious disadvantage: comparatively low efficiency. This has an effect on energy consumption in practically all applications. It’s possible to boost energy savings, without the hefty pay out of installing a completely new HVAC system: retrofit.
What is a retrofit?
In a retrofit, specific components are upgraded to improve the performance of an existing HVAC system. Typically, inefficient fans with AC motors are replaced with highly efficient EC fans. The conversion from AC to EC fans not only pays off for the environment and the user’s overall budget, but also improves convenience at the same time.
Simple and safe fan retrofitting – with a plug & play approach.
EC motors are extremely efficient, unbeatably compact and feature very smooth operation. When it comes to efficiency, they are always superior to widely used asynchronous motors. The motor’s efficiency is much higher than the value that we are familiar with from the IE4 efficiency class, and it is considerably quieter than conventional belt-driven AC fans.
Our EC motor is equipped with control electronics that enable it to precisely adjust the air volume to the requirements. It also has advantages when it comes to EMC problems – and the unit only needs to be wired at one transmission point. EC motors have established themselves as drives for fans in many applications. The term “EC motor” is often used for different concepts, but one aspect is always the same: the GreenTech EC motor from ebm-papst is designed without the rare-earth magnets that can cause procurement problems.
Key benefits of upgrading to EC fans:
- Up to 70% reduction in energy consumption.
- Integrated, infinitely variable speed control.
- Reduced noise.
- Payback periods as low as 2 years.
- Direct drive motors for maintenance free operation.
- They are, in most cases, directly interchangeable with their inefficient predecessors, allowing for simple replacement with minimal disruption.
Simple Steps to EC Upgrade
Stage 1 – An initial site survey is carried out. This is to establish what you currently use and what you would like to achieve. There is no cost for this initial survey to check the feasibility of the project. Our wide experience of all types of systems means we are adept at quickly giving you advice on how your equipment could be upgraded and the benefits this could deliver; i.e. potential energy savings and subsequent ROI.
Stage 2 – Following on from our initial survey, we will consider your needs in more detail and provide an estimate of the potential savings in energy consumption, carbon and financial cost. We will also indicate the cost of EC fan installation and payback period.
Stage 3 – We have confidence in our estimates but don’t expect you to accept them without question. So if you proceed with an EC fan upgrade, we will recommend an initial trial installation to confirm the figures. For example, if we have proposed upgrading 100 fan coil units, we’ll begin with one or two to confirm the savings before going any further.
Stage 4 – Following a successful trial installation, you’ll have all the information you need to implement a site-wide upgrade. Whether this is done all in one go or in a phased programme over several months or even years is up to you. Either way, you’ll have the necessary details of both savings and costs to plan a successful energy reduction project.