Some situ­a­tions require new ways of thinking – and setting up the air condi­tioners on the roof of the ebm-papst loca­tion in Hagenmoos/St. Georgen was one of them! The factory hall is simply too large for conven­tional setup with a crane. They would have had to build an access road espe­cially for the crane. Instead, they decided to trans­port the five air condi­tioners to the roof via heli­copter. However, it has a load limit of 1.2 tons. This is why on December 9, 2016, the heli­copter had to fly a total of 20 times: each air condi­tioner consists of four parts that were re-assem­bled on the roof.

ebm-papst is a fan supplier and customer at the same time

Tech­nical plan­ners and plant engi­neers were commis­sioned with the tech­nical plan­ning of the air condi­tioning in the second construc­tion phase. According to Andreas Gleichauf, Head of House & Building Manage­ment at ebm-papst in St. Georgen: “Our spec­i­fi­ca­tions said that we could only use the most up-to-date, effi­cient prod­ucts. For air condi­tioning, that means the EC fans from ebm-papst in Mulfingen. And we wanted to use our own fans.” Laughing, he added: “After all, we’re all part of ebm-papst.”

The deci­sion to use air condi­tioner manu­fac­turer NOVA Appa­rate from Donaueschingen was easy to make. The rooftop air condi­tioners satis­fied all the require­ments in the invi­ta­tion to tender and the head­quar­ters of the medium-sized company with 130 employees is only 30 kilo­me­ters away from St. Georgen. “To us, it was also impor­tant to work with a manu­fac­turer from the region,” said Gleichauf. NOVA Appa­rate GmbH is one of the most inno­v­a­tive equip­ment manu­fac­turers in Germany, contributing over 50 years of expe­ri­ence to projects.

Delivery via heli­copter (Photo: ebm-papst)

Effi­cient EC tech­nology from Mulfingen for St. Georgen

The air condi­tioners work with energy-saving EC centrifugal fans from ebm-papst Mulfingen’s new RadiPac series. They are specially designed for use in air condi­tioners and room venti­lation devices. The aluminum hollow profile blades of the back­ward-curved centrifugal fans are more effi­cient and the profile shape of the blades reduces the impeller’s weight. The air condi­tioners are also equipped with thermal wheels and plate heat exchangers to recover heat, saving energy and money in the process. The humidity effi­ciency limit is 90%, which means the devices can be oper­ated to the benefit of the envi­ron­ment at minimal oper­ating costs.

Addi­tional invest­ment volume of €15 million

The opening cere­mony for the first construc­tion phase with an area of 3,800 m² for a new elec­tronics produc­tion line was held in March 2016. At the same time, the corner­stone for the second phase – with an addi­tional invest­ment volume of €15 million – was laid. With this invest­ment, ebm-papst St. Georgen will be adding another 10,000 m² to the area in Hagen­moos. The building will increase produc­tion capacity for the auto­mo­tive and drive engi­neering divi­sions while adding more space for logis­tics and admin­is­tra­tion. The space vacated at head­quar­ters will be converted and expanded for the Research & Devel­op­ment depart­ment.

The centrifugal fans in the RadiPac product range from ebm-papst Mulfingen will air condi­tion the ebm-papst build­ings in St. Georgen. (Photo | ebm-papst)

“Icebox” is the high­light of the energy concept

The new building’s high­light is a modern energy concept that seam­lessly follows the envi­ron­mental and sustain­ability goals that have guided ebm-papst for years. Two so-called “iceboxes” with a total volu­metric capacity of 1,000 m³ are the central heat and cold source.

The plant takes advan­tage of the phys­ical prin­ciple of the latent heat of freezing: when water goes from the liquid to the solid state, energy is released. A heat exchanger removes the energy from the water, which is used to create warm water. To close the circuit, a regen­er­ator thaws the water again with heat extracted from the outlet air.