ebm-papst Fans, Blowers and Technology

by Tom Costello, Market Manager – Appliance & Heating Gas

Our three part series on “What’s that fan doing in my food chain?” ends with the preservation of food in our homes!

Since the early 1900s, the refrigeration of perishable food in our home has been possible with appliances designed and manufactured by pioneering companies like Kelvinator and Frigidaire. Initially, these appliances were limited in size and performance, but today they are at the heart of our kitchen. These modern-day appliances are offered in a variety of sizes, colors, and style in primarily three combinations: refrigerator and freezer, refrigerator only, or freezer only. 

The typical set-point temperature for the refrigerator (37 F to 41 F) and freezer (-9 F to 0 F) are vastly different yet the cooling system behind them is the same. The theory behind the cooling cycle is based on two coils, a compressor, and coolant that are able to transfer energy with the assistance of two fans located at the evaporator and condenser coils.

These fans, like the refrigerator, have evolved over the decades to deliver improved air and noise performance with up to an 85% reduction in electricity consumption. Even though air-moving technology has made great strides in energy consumption, human tendencies always pose new challenges for appliance engineers.

For instance, a variety of food in various shapes and forms jammed into a refrigerator can mean poor cooling conditions unless a powerful fan can properly circulate the cool air in the cabinet.

An axial fan may be a perfect choice for the linear airflow path of the condenser coil but a radial fan may be a better choice for the evaporator coil.
It may need to move the air in a 90 degree flow path and circulate the air around
the large mass of food in the refrigerator and freezer compartments.

At ebm-papst, our fan engineers are aware of these challenges and work closely
with the appliance engineers - offering a wide selection of powerful, high quality,
low noise and low energy air moving systems.

About Tom Costello
If it cooks or chills food, keeps us warm or improves how something’s manufactured, odds are it requires ventilation. During his 27 years in the industry, Tom Costello has supported the evolution of air movement and combustion systems for residential, commercial and industrial food service, heating and process applications. As market manager – appliance heating and gas at ebm-papst for the past 15 years, he’s helped designers, manufacturers and distributors incorporate the latest fan, blower and motor designs into their products. Tom received his B.S. in mechanical engineering technology from Northeastern University. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, scuba diving and home renovation.

By Jack Derewonko, Quality Manager

What does quality encompass at ebm-papst? It’s about producing reliable fans, blowers, motors, and assemblies that meet customers’ needs.  Delivering on time. Providing outstanding service and engineering support. And, near and dear to our GreenTech philosophy, it’s about designing and manufacturing products that continually improve upon the prior generation in terms of technology and environmental consideration.

Quality systems are embedded into every department at ebm-papst that help reduce process variation, avoid waste, lower operating costs and improve efficiency. Each quality system in our company is controlled and well documented so that everyone understands and follows them in the same manner. When a new product is developed, multiple departments review it to ensure that the customer’s specifications are in synch with our internal design and manufacturing processes. During production, our corrective action systems reduce waste and scrap which conserves both energy and time.

By addressing potential risks before products are manufactured, we improve our ability to deliver on time without defects. Using a straightforward method called Failure Mode & Effects Analysis, or FMEA, we’re able to systematically review any number of processes and determine the risk factors within each that could affect quality and/or service. A successful FMEA helps us identify potential failure modes in a product based on our experience with similar products and processes. We then adjust our systems to eliminate the issues that would have contributed to that potential failure. 

Our company-wide Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) emphasizes employee involvement and teamwork to eliminate waste and boost efficiency. In continuous improvement, we take a systematic long-term approach to improving all phases of work within our administrative, sales and marketing offices, our manufacturing facility and our logistics team. Lean manufacturing tools like 5S and one piece flow are just two aspects of our continuous improvement effort. By working together to identify and work through potential problems, we may get incremental improvements over time, or a breakthrough improvement all at once. Both are great outcomes to have in our toolbox as we strive for continuous improvement along our quality journey.

By Matt Menard, Market Manager - Air Conditioning

Here in New England, it’s the beginning of spring and the bittersweet end of college basketball. And here at ebm-papst USA’s Farmington, Connecticut headquarters, we’re so proud of the UCONN men’s and women’s recent NCAA Championship wins!

While March Madness describes the NCAA basketball tournament, it’s often an appropriate description for the mechanical systems at large sports arenas in spring and summer. As I watched college teams play through the bracket this season, I also marveled at how — as temperatures in the arenas rose and fell — these systems kept pace with fans’ and players’ comfort.

Controlling the HVAC Nightmare: The Basics
Arenas have everything working against energy efficient HVAC operations. Most of the time they are empty with the lights off, requiring very little heating or cooling. Within a matter of hours, they are filled with athletes, media, employees and thousands of fans. Extremely bright lights are turned on, emitting enormous heat loads. Hundreds of cooking devices begin cooking food for concession sales. Then, within a matter of hours, the arena is back to dark and empty.

The HVAC systems installed in large arenas need to be designed for worst-case scenarios. For example, a college basketball powerhouse arena in North Carolina would size its HVAC system for 10,000 people. How does this same university operate its system efficiently when the team is practicing in January?

Building Automation
In arenas where the cooling (and heating) load can fluctuate so drastically, a well designed and commissioned building automation system is the key to efficient operation. Event scheduling and well placed temperature, occupancy and humidity sensors will allow for the system to perform where and when it needs to, ensuring efficient operation and a well-conditioned arena.

Designing and Installing an Efficient System
Whether the arena is being built new or going through an upgrade, focusing on the efficiency of the entire system is key. The design team should focus on how the entire system operates at full and partial capacities, sizing and selecting components that complement one another throughout the range of operation. Simply selecting the most efficient individual components does not equate to the most efficient system.

Utilizing Speed Controls
A 98-degree arena holding 10,000 screaming basketball (or hockey) fans in late spring or summer would result in a 100% load on the HVAC system. However, when the team is practicing in January, the load may be as low as 10% of that system’s design capacity. By utilizing speed controls such as variable frequency drives for pumps, cooling towers and chillers and EC fan technology, such as ebm-papst backward curved impellers on the air movers, sports arena managers can save enormous money on their utility bills.

“Free” Cooling and Heating
There are many ways to heat and cool without boilers or air conditioners that well designed systems can use to save money:

• Airside economizers: when cooling is needed and it’s 15 degrees outside, why not mix in the 15 degree air to achieve the needed cooling?

• Waterside economizers: same as airside—when it’s cold out, don’t run the chillers! Use heat exchangers to chill the water using the air that’s just outside!

• Heat recovery: direct ‘waste’ heat from chillers, boiler flu stacks or exhaust air to preheat the domestic hot water before it enters the boiler system.

Years of trial and error (combined with the latest technologies) have taught us that the energy bill for sports arenas doesn’t have to be out of control – not as long as long as these systems are designed, operated and updated to adapt to varying schedule and heating/cooling loads.

About Matt Menard  
Matt Menard lives for the chill. With 12 years’ experience in HVAC systems, the market manager – air conditioning at ebm-papst actively supports designers’, manufacturers’ and integrators’ quest for cooling Nirvana with a wide range of air-moving products. With a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Matt enjoys skiing, golf and spending time with his wife and two children.

by Lou Moffa, Market Manager – Commercial Refrigeration

Last week, my colleague Joe Giacona talked about why ventilation is critical within food transport refrigeration. With many fresh foods making an average journey of 1,500 to 2,000 miles from their source, well-engineered refrigeration systems and fine-tuned logistics ensure that these fragile foods remain delicious no matter their destination.

This week, we continue the food chain journey through the supermarket right before it is purchased for use at your home. As with the containers inside ships and trucks, consistent and efficient refrigeration in holding warehouses and at the supermarkets themselves provide a slowing of the clock to help maintain food as long as possible. Commercial refrigeration systems must maintain safe temperatures; perform reliably and efficiently while working continuously in the background.

In keeping with our company’s GreenTech philosophy, ebm-papst developed a specialized line of air movers to help refrigeration engineers meet their critical design objectives. The ecological benefits are achieved with features such as programmable speeds to dial in the exact air needed, two speed fans that allow the fan to change speeds without complicated wiring or variable speed operation that allow ebm-papst fans’ EC motors to operate over a full RPM range to match the cooling performance needed without wasting energy. These various features are found in our product line so it is easy to choose the right air mover for the refrigeration system. Our small mounting footprint and quiet operation provide refrigeration designers with exciting new approaches to solving old problems.   

To help your local supermarket maximize your food shopping experience, our fans are designed into various refrigeration systems that you will see in a typical supermarket.

Once the food products arrive at the supermarket they are unloaded from the trucks and usually placed in a "walk in" cooler (or freezer). Most walk in coolers are near the loading docks at the back of the store hidden from public view.  Even if you have not been behind the scenes, you still have encountered them during your recent shopping. One side of the unit cooler is typically made out of glass display doors that are open to the public. Fast moving items like the milk in a supermarket or the beer in a liquor store have doors that you open so that you can select your product. Since these products are usually in the back of the store, they are against a wall near the loading docks so they can be restocked with little effort. This allows the store to keep large inventories of product and have it appear so that it is always stocked. Next time you open one of those doors, peak in behind the milk or beer, if you don't see the fans up above, you will hear them running as well as feel them move the air around the area.  Fans are needed to keep the air in constant circulation within these cases to help keep the products cool.

The other key refrigerated areas of a supermarket are the display cases that hold fruits, vegetables, frozen foods and every other possible food product including recently refrigerated pet foods in the pet food aisle. These display cases must perform two important tasks: They must keep food at a constant and precise temperature, and present the food in a way that shoppers can easily see it, want it and ultimately put it in their shopping carts. This is not an easy task but our ebm-papst EC fans meet the challenge even while they are subjected to constant cold temperatures, moisture from misting systems and the bumps and jarring from stocking these cases every day.

The reach in bottle cooler is another example of a refrigeration system that is in constant operation, keeping soda and water cool for impulse purchases. ebm-papst EC fans are used on both the hot (condenser) side and the cold (evaporator) side. Your home refrigerator has it easy compared to what a bottle cooler goes through every day. Multiple opening and closings and constantly being loaded with room temperature products gives these coolers a workout. Our fans keep refrigerated air in constant circulation to help cool down product as quickly as possible.

Our last stop on how fans are used in our supermarket, ends with a birds-eye of the condenser units on the rooftop. All of the reject heat from the refrigeration systems throughout the store is sent to the rooftop condensers. Our variable speed, EC Giant series of fans are installed here and are running at just the needed speed to cool down the refrigerant. Variable speed helps increase efficiency compared to running standard fans in an on and off manner.  By adding our latest AxiTop diffuser these EC Giants are operating quietly so that there is no unnecessary noise pollution and they are providing increased efficiency to help supermarkets further reduce their utility bills.

 
Whether it’s on a boat, in a truck or ready for supermarket display, our local, national and internationally-sourced food depends on reliable and efficient fans to help refrigeration systems to equalize air flow and save energy. To learn more, visit our new market solutions tool and click on “Refrigeration.”

Read part 3 of this blog series: What's that fan doing in my food chain? Part 3

About Lou Moffa
With his 11+ years experience with ebm-papst Inc., Lou Moffa listens to the challenges our customers face and recommends air-moving solutions that help refrigerant system engineers, warehouse owners and supermarket managers keep food fresh across a variety of storage and display environments. As the company’s market manager – commercial refrigeration, Lou holds an automated manufacturing engineering degree from Waterbury State Technical and a Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Engineering from Central Connecticut State University. In his free time, Lou enjoys tackling renovation projects around his home, cooking and exploring new food shopping experiences.

By Joe Giacona, Market Manager - Transportation

Sometimes we come across a bit of information that leads to a discovery about something we have long taken for granted. This new learning allows us a better understanding of how things function in a world that’s increasingly driven by technology.

A routine supermarket visit to purchase fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy items can yield one of those “ah hah” moments, especially when you look deeper. Take fruits and vegetables. There is such a wide selection - especially those that are on the shelf in the off-season! Where did they come from? California, Peru, New Zealand? How did they arrive at the peak of freshness? These are intriguing questions that offer “food” for thought.

In my years of experience within the transport refrigeration market, I appreciate the know-how, the people, products and technology that allows the movement of fresh food over long distances through what we call the food chain. This chain begins at the source, the point at where the food is picked and ends at your local grocery store. No matter what the cargo, the ‘chain’ of temperature control must remain unbroken over hundreds or thousands of miles to assure quality, maximize freshness and deliver value.

For the most part, refrigerated cargo is transported in either an ocean-going container or an over-the-road trailer/truck body with an integrated refrigeration or “Reefer” unit. These state-of-the-art machines are capable of maintaining precise temperature control throughout their interiors. They’re super-efficient because they balance temperature, air flow, and reliability.

On the surface, you’d think that temperature control is the most important – and you would be right. Almost. With sophisticated microprocessor controls, reefer units are designed to control cargo temperatures to within +/- ½ degree of set-point for extended periods of time over a wide variety of ambient conditions. However, temperature control cannot happen without precise air flow that moves air efficiently and effectively in every nook and cranny of the trailer to preserve those delicate fruits and leafy veggies we love. To protect the supermarket’s investment in its precious produce, the whole system must perform reliably over years of service.

Since the whole process is powered by some form of renewable energy or fossil fuel, it also must operate at maximum efficiency.

Our fans provide the critical ventilation that boosts the food-preserving performance of commercial transport units’ temperature controls. Designed to survive climate extremes and road shock, they allow precise delivery of air reliably and efficiently. Our food transport customers depend upon ebm-papst fans’ ability to meet their containers’ and trucks aerodynamic, electrical, and operational requirements day after day, month after month, year after year without fail.

The next time you purchase those delicious Chilean grapes or Mexican mangos in January, remember the combination of transport components and controls it took to deliver them across the food chain and unblemished to your table. Now that’s food for thought!

Read part 2 of this blog series: What's that fan doing in my food chain? Part 2

About Joe Giacona
Joe Giacona knows that HVACR components within transportation systems must deliver performance and reliability over the long haul. As market manager – transportation at ebm-papst, Joe’s 30+ years of diverse experience in HVACR help him recommend the best ebm-papst products to heat and cool customers’ buses, trains, trucks and other vehicles across North America. Joe actively supports the company’s market development, forecasting, field sales coordination and customer relations. He holds a B.S. in physics from Brockport State College and a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Buffalo. In his free time, Joe enjoys cooking for his family, do-it-yourself projects, keeping his 1960 Corvette Roadster in peak form, and making wine from New York and California grapes.

John Deere is a leader in tractor products, offering a wide range of products for every possible agricultural need. The company’s 80-to-100 horsepower 5080R tractor, the smallest member of its high performance 5R Series, is designed for comfort and productivity under high stress.

John Deere in Mannheim, Germany turned to ebm-papst for a cooling solution that would reduce high temperatures in the 5080R’s engine compartment. The companies worked together to develop new cooling technology for the tractor. The concept? Control the engine temperature with a fan that would incorporate a separate charged-air cooler.

The fan that ebm-papst developed for the 5080R brings charged air to a constant temperature. It ensures highly efficient cooling by improving the flow of cool, oxygen-rich air to the engine, which leads to better combustion. As a result, the tractor’s engine delivers more power and ‘zip’ under a variety of loads.

The new ebm-papst fan helped to significantly reduce the 5080R engine’s turbo lag. It also reduced the tractor’s fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. To free the fan from dirt, straw fragments and other debris after a day in the field, ebm-papst engineered it to run in the opposite direction for 30 seconds with just a flip of the control button inside the tractor cab.

Bring on the next harvest!

Click here to watch the full video on ebm-papst TV°: Charge air cooling in the John Deere 5080 R

The MAX’s O’Hartford 5K is a 3.1 mile race that takes place in downtown Hartford every year around St. Patrick’s Day. This event is one of many annual races sponsored by the Hartford Marathon Foundation, with their most recognized event being the Hartford Marathon.

Many of the O’Hartford participants dress in green and orange and some even wear costumes, making the event a very festive atmosphere. ebm-papst participants wore our green “GreenTech” shirts featuring the GreenTech logo on the front and a HyBlade axial fan image on the back. Both images on the shirt represent our corporate philosophy of continuous improvement and innovation. 

We decided to challenge employees to participate in this event as an effort to promote exercise and to encourage people to set new health goals.  A 5K event was chosen so that everyone from the walker to the casual jogger to the runner could participate. We had 20 ebm-papst participants who represented the following departments; Customer Service, Engineering, IT, Marketing, Production, and Sales.

Race events are nothing new at ebm-papst and our colleagues at ebm-papst Mulfingen, Germany take road racing to another level. They have been a long-time sponsor of a large race-event called the ebm-papst Marathon, which takes place every September in Niedernhall, Germany and includes a variety of race events.

This year there were over 2,200 participants in the race. The temperature was around 32 degrees, and even though it was a sunny day, a brisk wind kept the temperature closer to the low 20’s.  Besides the reward of working towards one’s personal fitness goals, a pint of local beer and a corned beef and cabbage sandwich on rye was enjoyed by all at the finish line!

Welcome, Joe Giacona!
ebm-papst Inc. is pleased to welcome Joe Giacona as market manager – transportation

Joe brings with him 30+ years’ experience in the HVACR industry.  He has held progressively responsible positions in engineering, advanced manufacturing, product management, marketing, sales and customer relationship management. He received a B.S. in physics from Brockport State College and a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Buffalo.

In his market management role, Joe is responsible for market development, forecasting, field sales coordination and customer relations for the ebm-papst fans, motors and blowers that heat, cool and ventilate buses, trains, trucks and other transportation vehicles across North America.

Joe believes that HVACR components within transportation systems must deliver performance and reliability over the long haul. “The highly engineered and durable brushless electronically-commutated (EC) air movers that ebm-papst offers are well positioned to meet current and future demands of this industry.“

Joe’s already hard at work helping our transportation customers match their requirements with engineered, air moving solutions that are tailored to their specific applications.

Joe can be reached at Joe.Giacona@us.ebmpapst.com.

By Mike Rota, Director of Distribution North America

Members of our leadership team recently attended the 2014 Grainger Show, which is said to be “the biggest & best maintenance, repair and operations show in existence”.  Being able to see the innovative products that today’s top industry leaders are creating while also introducing our newest ventilation and motor solutions was extremely advantageous for our team.

Here is a Q&A with our Director of Distribution North America, Mike Rota, who shares his insider perspective on the benefits of our team attending this highly regarded industry event.

Q. Why does ebm-papst participate in the Grainger Show on a yearly basis? What is the goal?
A. By participating in the Grainger Show, ebm-papst Inc. takes advantage of an opportunity to display and discuss new innovative products such as the DV6300.  Our air moving solutions are viable for the many markets that Grainger supports. As a market leader, ebm-papst is committed to working closely with our distributor partners and participating in the Grainger show is consistent with that commitment.

Q. How did our presence at this show benefit Grainger?
A. Our presence at this show benefited Grainger in many ways. I feel that the most important benefit is that it gave Grainger’s sales team and customers a chance to talk to us. We were able to provide them with more information and answer their questions about our products that are in the Grainger catalog and other products that are not.

Q. What kind of networking was gained from being present at the Grainger show?
A. Networking with key people from Grainger that support our products and key people that support competitive products is a very important residual benefit of participating in the Grainger show. Grainger has a good group of people working in our segment of the industry and spending time in an informal atmosphere (away from the office) is very helpful in building relationships.

To learn more about ebm-papst’s products, whether for maintenance & repair, or for brand new designs, please contact an applications engineer today at (860)674-1515 or sales@us.ebmpapst.com.

Compact, efficient FlowGrid air-inlet grill from ebm-papst  significantly reduces noise spectrum for
axial and centrifugal fans

Whether it’s heat pumps in the home, condensers in supermarket refrigerators or ventilation systems on the production floor, FlowGrid, the innovative patent-pending air-inlet grill from ebm-papst, is dramatically reducing noise levels for fans installed within limited-space air moving equipment.

What our award winning AxiTop diffuser does on the pressure side (outlet)
of the fan, FlowGrid does on the suction side (inlet). Easily mounted to applications with ebm-papst fans and backward curved impellers, its open grill design straightens airflow to minimize turbulence before the air hits the axial or centrifugal impeller blades. FlowGrid is ideal for fans installed within flat and central air handling units, air purifiers and heat pumps with centrifugal fans, or air-water heat pumps, condensers and V-shaped condensers
with axial fans.

“FlowGrid is the result of our extensive airflow testing for inlet conditions with a wide variety of customers’ axial and centrifugal fans across dozens of applications,” said George Riker, business development. “By improving the aerodynamic conditions external to the fan, FlowGrid reduces the adverse effects of these inlet conditions and
minimizes noise.”

Here’s how noise happens within a fan and how FlowGrid corrects it:

1. When the walls of a device such as an air handler, heat exchanger or heat pump are different distances from the fan, powerful vortices combine in the narrowest areas to form so-called ‘vortex strings.’

2. These turbulences then hit the rotating blades of the fan, generating noise – specifically a broadband noise and additional narrowband, tonal frequency components, known as propeller noise or tonal noise.

3. Mounted on the air intake side of the fan, the FlowGrid weakens these ‘vortex strings’ as they flow through the device.

4. This reduces sound pressure across the entire sound frequency range and especially in the low frequency tonal range.
   
   

Apart from reducing overall sound pressure, the most drastic reduction is in low-frequency blade-passing noise (the sum of the fan speed and the number of blades) caused by blades cutting through turbulence within small space applications such as heat exchangers. The FlowGrid grill has been proven in certain applications to reduce overall sound pressure levels by as much as 3.9 dB(A), and these blade passing frequencies by up to 16 decibels.

With FlowGrid, ebm-papst is making a clear contribution to passive noise reduction – a big part of our GreenTech philosophy. It can help manufacturers and ventilation specifiers comply with noise regulations and improve the environment for employees who work near ventilation equipment. The innovative air-intake grills, which require less acoustic insulation, work with both axial and centrifugal fans without reducing their performance. Using them can help to reduce or entirely avoid the use of cost-intensive, active noise-reduction measures.

For additional information about how FlowGrid can make a difference in your application, contact one of our application engineers today at 860 674-1515 or sales@us.ebmpapst.com.