Since April 2022, we have been using the facility in Hollen­bach to test fans, drive modules and other ebm-papst prod­ucts in large climate cham­bers, salt-fog cham­bers, and other test envi­ron­ments to ensure that they meet all our envi­ron­mental require­ments. These include the effects of temper­a­ture, mois­ture, and corro­sion on the prod­ucts, as well as risk of pene­tra­tion by foreign substances and wheel strength. In 2023 alone, over 430 tests were carried out at our Hollen­bach site – which is now our fourth test center along­side Land­shut, St. Georgen and Shanghai.

Energy consump­tion signif­i­cantly reduced in 2023

“With the new test center, we have finally united under one roof the labo­ra­to­ries that were previ­ously spread across different areas of the Hollen­bach plant. This deci­sion was defi­nitely the right move,” says Markus Stein­mann, Director Test Depart­ment at ebm-papst, on his initial impres­sion of the change. “Firstly, it has allowed us to signif­i­cantly improve the effi­ciency of our daily processes thanks to shorter distances between stations and leaner struc­tures. Secondly, it means we are now making more sustain­able use of our resources.” One of the ways this is reflected is in the sites’ energy consump­tion over time. In 2021, the total energy consump­tion across the different test loca­tions came out at over 4,000 megawatt hours; this figure had halved to 2,160 MWh by the end of 2023.

430

This progress is also thanks to our intro­duc­tion of smarter test strate­gies, as Erich Kemmer, Team Lead Vali­da­tion, explains: “We now carry out our tests under controlled condi­tions, at the right time, as early as possible in the process, and in a way that requires as little effort and energy as possible. The resulting opti­miza­tions are directly reflected in the results. Take the service life test, for example: We used to run the fans and venti­la­tors at ambient temper­a­ture until they failed (end-of-life test). Now, we test the devices at their maximum permis­sible ambient temper­a­ture and maximum load over a period of six months. This not only increases the accu­racy of the results; it also reduces testing time, and thus energy consump­tion.”

Reducing resource wastage even further

Our constant efforts to opti­mize our processes are reflected in almost all areas of work at the test center, albeit to varying degrees. “We have already fully exploited the opti­miza­tion poten­tial when it comes to water. We now feed almost all of the resources from our IP tests and irri­ga­tion cham­bers back into the water cycle. Unfor­tu­nately, the mixture prepared as an aerosol for the salt spray tests cannot be reused due to the corro­sion residue and impu­ri­ties that arise during the test. This wouldn’t comply with the applic­able stan­dard, either.”

The situ­a­tion is different when it comes to heat recovery and utilizing the resulting waste heat poten­tial: For example, the site’s heating system is connected to a cooling circuit that not only cools, but can also recycle the gener­ated heat. This ambiva­lent and flex­ible solu­tion shows how impor­tant the test center’s work is for the entire company, explains Markus Stein­mann: “In terms of sustain­ability, we want to mini­mize resource wastage of any kind. And we are getting one step closer to this goal every day.”

Exclu­sive insights into all test fields

Learn more about how ebm-papst puts fans to the test in the indi­vidual test fields. Each article with exciting insights, videos and pictures!