A premium feature of the Audi A6 is active steering that uses a power steering motor from ebm-papst. In this system, an addi­tional shaft goes directly to the steering shaft, changing the steering gear ratio depending on the speed. Benno Kilzer, Head of Sales Auto­mo­tive at ebm-papst, says: “In urban traffic and when parking, the steering is very smooth and easy. At higher speeds, it gets very direct and gives the driver high agility and lots of driving fun.”

Since steering is safety-rele­vant, the reli­a­bility of its compo­nents has top priority, which is guar­an­teed by great rugged­ness and the hollow-shaft motor used by ebm-papst.“

As part of the AdBlue system in the Audi A6, an orbital pump from ebm-papst helps to consid­er­ably reduce nitrogen oxides in the exhaust. The pump delivers the urea-based fluid from the AdBlue tank to the exhaust system, where it is injected into the exhaust upstream of the catalytic converter. The orbital pump has a feature that makes it espe­cially valu­able in this appli­ca­tion: it can pump in two direc­tions without addi­tional valves.

That is impor­tant because AdBlue crys­tal­lizes at low subfreezing temper­a­tures. When the engine is switched off, the orbital pump returns the AdBlue from the hoses back to the AdBlue tank so that the liquid cannot freeze in the hoses. ebm-papst supplies the orbital pump as a module including the drive, pump and elec­tronics. Benno Kilzer says, “Besides pumping in two direc­tions, it also has another big advan­tage. Since it’s a diaphragm pump, it can’t freeze. A frozen medium can expand inside the pump without damaging it.”“

In the Audi A6’s seven-speed trans­mis­sion, a motor from ebm-papst provides faithful service. While oil pumps for the auto­matic trans­mis­sion used to be driven directly by the combus­tion engine, automakers today use elec­tric pumps. This switch is what makes modern features such as auto­matic start /stop systems and gliding possible, because the trans­mis­sion can shift even when the combus­tion engine is not running. And if the combus­tion engine is not running, that reduces CO₂ emis­sions — an impor­tant concept for modern cars.

The ebm-papst motor in the pump has to satisfy exacting require­ments. Benno Kilzer explains: “The oil pump runs in the oil sump, the part of the trans­mis­sion that is always submerged in oil. The motor has to with­stand this trans­mis­sion oil and also the high temper­a­tures of up to 160 degrees.” The motor can do that thanks to a combi­na­tion of mate­rials and design exactly tailored to Audi’s require­ments.