© ebm-papst

Cutting costs for
concerts and such

32 compact fans instead of two big ones: After almost 30 years, the Bombardier Arena in Sweden was in need of a retrofit.


In the Swedish city of Västerås, you can sweat, sing, dance or enjoy elegant dining on 3,000 square meters of floor space, depending on the event you happen to be visiting in the Bombardier Arena there. The arena is nearly 30 years old, and its three halls are used for sports events, concerts, dinners and exhi­bi­tions. The require­ments for appro­priate air condi­tioning in the arena are just as great as the events there are diverse. Two large AC fans were previ­ously used in the arena, but they could not be controlled effi­ciently. For example, they had to run from Friday to Monday for weekend events. This waste of resources came to an end in November 2018.

FanGrid for the arena

Old and inef­fi­cient: the old venti­la­tion with two AC fans. (Photo: ebm-papst)

An energy appraisal by Mälaren­ergi Energy Services made it clear that there was plenty of poten­tial for savings at the arena. The company’s find­ings had to be taken seri­ously; it regu­larly finds ways for its customers to achieve signif­i­cant savings. So a new system was needed. Kadesjös Ingen­jörs­byrå was brought on board to plan the modern­iza­tion activ­i­ties; the company advises customers in construc­tion and plumbing design, from private homes and offices to complex processing facil­i­ties. In the case of the Bombardier Arena, Jonas Pettersson and his asso­ciates had a special trump card: They had designed the arena them­selves almost 30 years ago.

A brand Swedes trust

It was not long before the name of ebm-papst came up during selec­tion of the fans. ebm-papst had taken a pioneering role on the Swedish market in 2016 by intro­ducing a redun­dant and highly flex­ible fan solu­tion – the FanGrid. Today there are FanGrids installed in facil­i­ties such as a large office complex in Solna, the hospital in Skaraborg, and the Kemi­cen­trum in Lund. For the Bombardier Arena, such a solu­tion also offered the flex­i­bility required for meeting event-based air condi­tioning needs. “ebm-papst has invested a lot in flex­ible FanGrids with inte­grated control elec­tronics, and we’ve had good expe­ri­ence with the company’s prod­ucts,” says Pettersson from Kadesjös. “Since we also needed to move a lot of air, choosing a FanGrid was exactly the right deci­sion,” added Göran Ander­sson, Sales Manager for fans at ebm-papst in Stock­holm.

The new venti­la­tion system works more effi­ciently. (Photo: ebm-papst)

It uses 32 compact Radi­Pacs. (Photo: ebm-papst)

The FanGrid in the Bombardier Arena went to work in November 2018. It includes 32 RadiPac fans – 16 for intake air and 16 for exhaust air, each with 5.7 kW, that can be controlled via MODBUS or analog signals and are highly effi­cient thanks to their EC direct drives. They are equipped with Flow­Grid air inlet grills to ensure a low noise level, so the only sound in the arena comes from enthu­si­astic fans or good live music.

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