The new Radi­Flow 630

The radial fan for limited instal­la­tion space, low oper­ating costs, and greater system effi­ciency.

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Air exchange is the foun­da­tion for an optimal indoor climate for people and for cooling elec­tronics. It replaces stale air in build­ings open to the public and removes large amounts of waste heat from data centers or produc­tion facil­i­ties. In both cases, large airflows must be moved as effi­ciently as possible. The fan special­ists at ebm-papst have devel­oped a new fan design for such tasks that moves large volumes of air at high effi­ciency in compact spaces, offering many advan­tages for manu­fac­turers of modern HVAC and venti­lation equip­ment. The fan enables high power density and low-turbu­lence oper­a­tion in FanGrids, even in tight air ducts.

Opti­mized composite impeller geom­etry

Air condi­tioning is a major cost factor when consid­ering the oper­ating costs of large build­ings, data centers or produc­tion facil­i­ties. Since fans in these build­ings operate 24/7, invest­ments in more effi­cient compo­nents quickly pay off. Such appli­ca­tions typi­cally operate at low to medium back pres­sure and need to be as compact as possible (Figure 1). The new Radi­Flow fan with a 630 mm diam­eter is there­fore equipped with a flow-opti­mized impeller (Figure 2) that toler­ates high periph­eral speeds.

A high-strength, glass-fiber-rein­forced composite mate­rial was used, with the complex shaping made possible through an injec­tion molding process. This blade geom­etry dras­ti­cally reduces flow losses. Based on modern manu­fac­turing processes, the impeller has been signif­i­cantly improved, and a diag­onal 6-blade design has been devel­oped that ensures axial flow. At its optimal oper­ating point, the Radi­Flow 630 achieves up to 10% higher effi­ciency in the appli­ca­tion compared to the market stan­dard (Figure 3).

Compact and quiet

The Radi­Flow truly shines in compact venti­lation units. When comparing the perfor­mance of the Radi­Flow in an installed state with that of conven­tional centrifugal fans, it delivers the full air volume without any loss of perfor­mance when installed in a 910×910 mm venti­lation box, whereas other centrifugal fans require perfor­mance adjust­ments in this confined instal­la­tion space. For a 2×2 FanGrid with four fans, this trans­lates to a space saving of up to 40% (Figure 4). The overall length is also signif­i­cantly shorter. The highly effi­cient EC motor is inte­grated into the impeller in such a way that 30 to 100 mm less space is required. To ensure quiet oper­a­tion, the motor suspen­sion was designed as a spider-like struc­ture.

Figure 4a: Thanks to this unique design, the Radi­Flow is extremely compact, allowing 2×2 FanGrids to be up to 40% smaller, for example. (Image | ebm-papst)

Figure 4b: The new Radi­Flow fans are suit­able for tight instal­la­tion spaces. The correc­tion factors are based on internal measure­ment series conducted with various outlet cross-sections. (Image | ebm-papst)

The eight struts were precisely adapted to the impeller geom­etry and distribute force across four mounting points (Figure 5). An inte­grated reso­nance detec­tion system in the motor elec­tronics iden­ti­fies instal­la­tion-specific reso­nance ranges during the ramp-up to rated speed. These speeds can be specif­i­cally avoided or quickly by-passed during subse­quent oper­a­tion. This protects the bear­ings, increases oper­a­tional reli­a­bility and prevents prema­ture failure of the fan.

Active “power factor correc­tion” mini­mizes grid distur­bances

Speed control is essen­tial for demand-based air condi­tioning. However, speed-controlled drives inher­ently generate elec­trical harmonics during oper­a­tion. When combined with an under­sized power supply, these can cause prob­lems in crit­ical infra­struc­ture. The resulting harmonics place a greater load on the power grid and cause losses due to reac­tive power. Addi­tion­ally, other devices in the system network can be nega­tively affected. For the oper­ator, this means the neces­sity of installing external filters, ensuring adequate reac­tive power compen­sa­tion and possibly using larger cable cross-sections.

Power quality under control – no extra effort required!

Discover in the white paper how inte­grated active recti­fi­ca­tion makes EC fans ready for the toughest require­ments.

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To mini­mize disrup­tive harmonics during parallel oper­a­tion of EC fans, ebm-papst has spent several years now devel­oping a solution—the Active PFC (Power Factor Correction)—in which the harmonic filter is already inte­grated, rendering such external measures unnec­es­sary (Figure 6). Active PFC takes the approach of preventing current harmonics from arising in the first place, rather than labo­ri­ously filtering them out after­ward with addi­tional compo­nents. As a result, infra­struc­ture compo­nents for power and emer­gency power supply—such as trans­formers and emer­gency power generators—can be designed to be smaller and thus more cost-effec­tive. The values achiev­able with Active PFC are impres­sive: The power factor is over 0.99, the THD(I) is typi­cally around 2% at rated power and remains below 5% even when reduced to 10% of rated power. THD(I) stands for Total Harmonic Distor­tion of Current and indi­cates the extent of current distor­tion.

Effi­cient, networked and future-proof

Radi­Flow fans are avail­able with rated power outputs of 4 and 8 kW with passive PFC, as well as 4 and 7 kW with active PFC. They can be controlled via either 0-10 VDC or MODBUS RTU and are equipped with inte­grated EMC filters. They comply with rele­vant EU direc­tives as well as inter­na­tional certi­fi­ca­tions such as UL. Addi­tion­ally, external sensors can be inte­grated into the fan control system and used for remote moni­toring func­tions. By avoiding the use of crit­ical mate­rials such as rare-earth magnets, the fans conserve resources and offer not only reli­able oper­a­tion but also envi­ron­mental friend­li­ness throughout their entire life­cycle.