© Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

Built to last

Reli­a­bility is one of the aspects that decides whether a racing car can win a Formula OneTM cham­pi­onship. It is also a deci­sive factor for the market success of ebm-papst fans.


A worst-case scenario for any Formula OneTM team: After painstaking prepa­ra­tions, a racing car must be with­drawn on during the race weekend because of a tech­nical issue. Similar scenarios involving vital cooling systems are also a concern for the oper­a­tors of data centers and other crit­ical infra­struc­ture. A failure of the cooling systems would lead to over­heating of the systems and could endanger the safety of the sensi­tive data stored in them. To avoid such scenarios, both Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport and ebm-papst work constantly on the reli­a­bility of their systems and prod­ucts.

Spot­light on reli­a­bility

Reli­able cooling systems are vital for the oper­a­tors of data centers and other crit­ical infra­struc­ture. (Photo | ebm-papst)

James Allison, Tech­nical Director of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport, recalls that that was not always the case in Formula OneTM. “There was a time when Formula OneTM teams mainly concen­trated on perfor­mance, and reli­a­bility was only a secondary consid­er­a­tion. It’s no wonder that it wasn’t a very successful strategy. Those days are long past in our sport, and all teams have real­ized that it makes no sense to have a fast car if it can’t finish the races,” he says.

“All teams have real­ized that it makes no sense to have a fast car if it can’t finish the races.”

James Allison, Tech­nical Director of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport

So reli­a­bility has been a key focus at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport for many years. The issue has become even more impor­tant this season as the teams are now only allowed to use three power units per year instead of the previous four. James Allison says, “We have thor­oughly docu­mented design stan­dards, demanding bench tests, clear approval proce­dures and regular quality audits to ensure that our internal and external suppliers meet our stan­dards.”

Rigorous testing

ebm-papst also adheres to the highest stan­dards in devel­op­ment and produc­tion, giving top priority to the devel­op­ment and use of high-quality mate­rials that increase reli­a­bility and also offer addi­tional bene­fits for customers. The fans produced using HyBlade® tech­nology are an example. Like every ebm-papst product, this combi­na­tion of an aluminum core and a glass-fiber rein­forced plastic covering is subjected to rigorous tests according to high quality stan­dards.

HyBlade® fans consist of a combi­na­tion of an aluminum core and a glass-fiber rein­forced plastic covering and are subjected to rigorous tests according to high quality stan­dards. (Photo | ebm-papst)

The design bene­fits and perfor­mance of the hybrid tech­nology had to prove them­selves in extreme stress tests at research and devel­op­ment facil­i­ties in Arizona, Singa­pore and Siberia. Since these loca­tions have extreme climatic condi­tions throughout the year, they provide the ideal envi­ron­ment for endurance testing. In addi­tion to long-term endurance tests and high speeds up to well over triple their maximum oper­ating points, the hybrid blades are also exposed to water, salt spray and chem­i­cals. And even severe vibra­tion and shocks cannot shake the mate­rial struc­ture.

ebm-papst ensures reli­a­bility in its customers’ appli­ca­tions in a variety of ways. For example, in contrast to belt-driven fans, effi­cient EC fans are main­te­nance-free and produce no annoying debris from wear. That increases reli­a­bility and reduces oper­ating costs. When designing air condi­tioning systems, oper­a­tors build in redun­dan­cies to ensure that enough air can still be moved even if indi­vidual fans fail. So-called FanGrids are a prime example of this approach. In a FanGrid, multiple small fans operate along­side one another in place of a single large fan to provide improved air flow, lower energy consump­tion and greater reli­a­bility thanks to built-in redun­dancy.

“We have a culture of constantly looking for even the smallest chance to make improve­ments.”

James Allison, Tech­nical Director of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport

James Allison explains how impor­tant processes within the team are in addi­tion to the tech­nical para­me­ters: “We have a culture of constantly looking for even the smallest chance to make improve­ments. Fail­ures, near-acci­dents and even minor worries are picked up on and this feed­back is used as a spring­board to a better product.” And at ebm-papst, inter­dis­ci­pli­nary teams monitor this from the product devel­op­ment stage to uncover poten­tial chal­lenges at an early stage and take appro­priate coun­ter­mea­sures.

Cool in the pit

So as soon as a vehicle comes into the garage, the mechanics posi­tion add-on cooling units with ebm-papst high-perfor­mance axial fans at its air intakes to keep it alive until its next turn on the track. (Photo | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport)

The two part­ners’ shared pursuit of reli­a­bility is visible in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motor­sport race garage. James Allison says, “Our use of ebm-papst prod­ucts at the race track is an expres­sion of our quest for contin­uous improve­ment. A car is a bit like a shark; it has to move to stay alive. The rules don’t allow cooling fans on board, so a vehicle has to depend on its forward move­ment to supply air for cooling. A stationary car in the garage over­heats in seconds if we don’t provide an alter­nate source of cool air. So as soon as a vehicle comes into the garage, the mechanics posi­tion add-on cooling units with ebm-papst high-perfor­mance axial fans at its air intakes to keep it alive until its next turn on the track.”

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