Mr. Stern, how did the devel­op­ment of the AxiEco come about?

Patrick Stern, Product & Market Manager at ebm-papst (Photo | ebm-papst)

During devel­op­ment, we essen­tially had two aims in sight: improving pres­sure stability and the pending tough­ening of the EU’s Energy-related Prod­ucts Direc­tive. This will mean that many of the axial fans used in evap­o­ra­tors in the commer­cial refrig­er­a­tion sector will no longer meet the more strin­gent effi­ciency level — above all, if they are equipped with AC motors.

And the AxiEco will meet this level?

Yes, the new axial fan series is so effi­cient that it will easily meet the next ErP level, even with this motor version.

What is the higher pres­sure stability all about?

With evap­o­rator appli­ca­tions in the refrig­er­a­tion sector, ice forma­tion on the heat exchanger is an impor­tant topic. With increasing ice forma­tion, the oper­ating point of the fan shifts upward due to the increasing back pres­sure.

The new AxiEco: most effi­cient under pres­sure (Photo | Gernot Walter)

Typical axial fans with their flat char­ac­ter­istic curve quickly come up against their limits here — and the heat exchanger has to be de-iced. The flow machine of the AxiEco has a much steeper char­ac­ter­istic curve. The heat exchanger has to be de-iced less frequently. In this way, the service life of the evap­o­rator is extended and we thereby improve the effi­ciency of the entire system.

What should equip­ment manu­fac­turers pay atten­tion to during replace­ment?

Not much, really. When it comes to the design and mechan­ical inter­faces, we have made sure that only minimal changes need to be made on the customer’s unit. And so the AxiEco is a real plug & play solu­tion.