{"id":14695,"date":"2020-12-01T09:14:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T08:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=14695"},"modified":"2026-05-15T13:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:38:58","slug":"more-efficient-quieter-smarter-the-history-of-ec-fans-from-ebm-papst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/insights\/more-efficient-quieter-smarter-the-history-of-ec-fans-from-ebm-papst_14695\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of time with the EC motor: More effi\u00adcient, quieter, smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than half a century ago, the success story of the fan and motor manu\u00adfac\u00adturer ebm-papst began in Mulfingen in Baden-W\u00fcrt\u00adtem\u00adberg. Since then, fan tech\u00adnology has expe\u00adri\u00adenced a trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion similar to that of the auto\u00admo\u00adtive industry. Whereas then the VW Beetle 1200 with its 38 hp required nine whole liters of gas to drive 100 kilo\u00adme\u00adters, a modern 90 hp Golf requires just 4 liters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And fans have expe\u00adri\u00adenced a similar increase in effi\u00adciency \u2013 by a factor of six \u2013 over the past 50 years. Further\u00admore, the industry has moved further and further away from selling the fan as an isolated product. Today, manu\u00adfac\u00adturers offer complete func\u00adtional and assembly modules that can be inte\u00adgrated into a wide range of customer appli\u00adca\u00adtions without great effort using plug & play. Three phases describe the most impor\u00adtant changes in fan tech\u00adnology in the last half century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small external rotors as initial igni\u00adtion<\/h2>\n\n\n
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The \u201cBehr fan\u201d \u2013 the first external rotor motor that ebm-papst produced and marketed in 1963, still as ebm. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With its estab\u00adlish\u00adment in October 1963, ebm-papst played a leading role in the devel\u00adop\u00adment of fan tech\u00adnology. Gerhard Sturm founded ebm at that time to produce small size 60 motors. This was a new product, as motors of this kind were only avail\u00adable in much larger versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to their design, external rotor motors can be completely lowered in the impeller hub, creating a compact func\u00adtional unit. The market had been waiting for these small motors: They were soon used in a wide range of appli\u00adca\u00adtions where space is tight. Appli\u00adca\u00adtions ranged from range hoods and other house\u00adhold appli\u00adances to Schwarzkopf hair dryers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the start did not go smoothly: Only three years after it was founded, this motor\u2019s initial prob\u00adlems threat\u00adened the company\u2019s very exis\u00adtence. Customers complained about fans that were rattling after just a short time. ebm-papst put all its eggs in one basket and, at the height of the crisis, offered a newly devel\u00adoped motor as a solu\u00adtion to these prob\u00adlems \u2013 including a four-year guar\u00adantee! How brave this step was is illus\u00adtrated by the fact that the team had not yet even tested the new product exhaus\u00adtively.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Workers producing centrifugal fans in Mulfingen in 1968. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But the coup was successful \u2013 and the new product became an absolute best\u00adseller: the size 68 external rotor asyn\u00adchro\u00adnous motor. In the years that followed, ebm-papst derived various other prod\u00aducts from this basic motor and continued to develop it. At the same time, the company modern\u00adized and auto\u00admated its produc\u00adtion step by step to meet the constantly increasing demand from home and abroad. The courage to keep devel\u00adoping the company was driven by company founder Gerhard Sturm. And his company has taken up the cause: Every product must be ecolog\u00adi\u00adcally and econom\u00adi\u00adcally supe\u00adrior to its prede\u00adcessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The areas of appli\u00adca\u00adtion have also expanded greatly since the early seven\u00adties: ebm-papst motors and fans are now turning in the computers, air condi\u00adtioners, oil burners and belt machines of sound studios and they drive agita\u00adtors in the beverage industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the curve with the EC motor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, since asyn\u00adchro\u00adnous motor tech\u00adnology had some short\u00adcom\u00adings, espe\u00adcially when it came to small motors, in the mid-1970s, ebm-papst started working increas\u00adingly on the devel\u00adop\u00adment of elec\u00adtron\u00adi\u00adcally commu\u00adtated perma\u00adnent-magnet synchro\u00adnous motors, so-called EC motors. A rotating magnetic field is gener\u00adated in these prod\u00aducts, which the external rotor fitted with perma\u00adnent magnets follows. The entire system is signif\u00adi\u00adcantly more effi\u00adcient and can be more precisely controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following its guiding prin\u00adciple, ebm-papst was committed to its new devel\u00adop\u00adment, even though the prices for the required semi\u00adcon\u00adduc\u00adtors remained high for a long time and elec\u00adtricity costs were rela\u00adtively low \u2013 and so the interest in this energy-saving solu\u00adtion was limited. But the convic\u00adtion that economic and ecolog\u00adical progress were mutu\u00adally depen\u00addent proved to be correct: At the end of 1990s, the break\u00adthrough for EC motors came in coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion with a German system manu\u00adfac\u00adturer. Many EC motors are used in its clean room facto\u00adries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produc\u00adtion at the Nieder\u00adstetten site began in 1981 with the company\u2019s own winding facility. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the turn of the 21st century, the EC motors made their final break\u00adthrough. At that time, society and poli\u00adtics were recog\u00adnizing that the climate can be protected by signif\u00adi\u00adcantly reduced energy consump\u00adtion, among other things. As a result, ebm-papst devel\u00adoped EC vari\u00adants for other and larger prod\u00aducts \u2013 the largest output today is 12 kilo\u00adwatts. Grad\u00adu\u00adally, it was possible to increase the effi\u00adciency of the EC motors to over 90% in some cases, to signif\u00adi\u00adcantly increase the power density and thus be easier on the envi\u00adron\u00adment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two pioneering projects in air condi\u00adtioning tech\u00adnology at the start of the new century exem\u00adpli\u00adfied this trend: A company used the new energy-saving motor in its new gener\u00ada\u00adtion of air condi\u00adtioners and a discount chain with loca\u00adtions across Germany used the so-called \u201cEC giants\u201d \u2013 EC axial fans with inte\u00adgrated elec\u00adtronics and diam\u00ade\u00adters of 800 to 990 millime\u00adters. This is how customers save not only a lot of energy but also a lot of money in their air condi\u00adtioners, data centers and house\u00adhold appli\u00adances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More effi\u00adcient and quieter<\/h2>\n\n\n
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A cutaway model thanks to an external rotor motor featuring EC tech\u00adnology: The rotor does not rotate in, but rather around the stator and works without rare-earth magnets. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The most impor\u00adtant devel\u00adop\u00adments in the past 15 years have been in the fields of aero\u00addy\u00adnamics and aeroa\u00adcoustics. Ten years ago, medium-sized impellers demon\u00adstrated effi\u00adciency levels between 25% and 45%. These are now in the 60 % range. At the same time, ebm-papst is working constantly to signif\u00adi\u00adcantly reduce the fans\u2019 noise level, as they are often used in noise-sensi\u00adtive envi\u00adron\u00adments such as hotel rooms or resi\u00adden\u00adtial venti\u00adlation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the RadiCal centrifugal fan in scroll housing devel\u00adoped in 2017, the company presented a super-quiet solu\u00adtion for home use. Its aero\u00addy\u00adnam\u00adi\u00adcally opti\u00admized housing reduces the noise level by 3.5 dB(A) as compared to a centrifugal blower. If needed, the RadiCal can be combined with the Flow\u00adGrid air inlet grille mounted on the intake side. This reduces the turbu\u00adlence caused by fittings in the unit and, in partic\u00adular, mini\u00admizes disturbing low-frequency sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting better and better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2010 the \u201cGreen\u00adTech\u201d philos\u00adophy became the outward mani\u00adfes\u00adta\u00adtion of opti\u00admizing prod\u00aducts, company processes and produc\u00adtion with regard to envi\u00adron\u00admental compat\u00adi\u00adbility. Forward-looking devel\u00adop\u00adment, envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtally friendly produc\u00adtion and maximum energy effi\u00adciency are combined with the greatest possible customer benefit. In terms of energy effi\u00adciency, this is not yet the end of the story. Even with motor effi\u00adciency of 90%, further improve\u00adments can be made, for example in terms of aero\u00addy\u00adnamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ebm-papst makes prod\u00aducts that are ready for Industry 4.0 and inter\u00adcon\u00adnects the produc\u00adtion processes. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, ebm-papst is contin\u00aduing to work to make the produc\u00adtion of its prod\u00aducts ever more energy and resource-effi\u00adcient<\/a>. From a phys\u00adical and tech\u00adnical point of view, there is still room for inno\u00adva\u00adtion here. One of the trends of which the fans are making use is increasing networking under the buzz\u00adword \u201cIndustry 4.0.\u201d For example, fans can already be inte\u00adgrated completely into system concepts via bus inter\u00adfaces. This not only trans\u00admits the desired speed to the fan, but allows the fan to commu\u00adni\u00adcate inde\u00adpen\u00addently. It there\u00adfore reports faults, and also other detailed para\u00adme\u00adters that can be used to control a building\u2019s air condi\u00adtioning system more effi\u00adciently, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Next Era of Air Tech\u00adnology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about NEXAIRA \u2013 the Digital Ecosystem for the Future of Air, Heating, and Cooling Tech\u00adnology by ebm-papst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discover NEXAIRA <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

ebm-papst was able to offer solu\u00adtions for the networked world early on since the elec\u00adtronics were already inte\u00adgrated into its EC fans. And the company is contin\u00aduing to advance the devel\u00adop\u00adment of digital solu\u00adtions: Network-capable air and drive solu\u00adtions that enable easy remote moni\u00adtoring and predic\u00adtive main\u00adte\u00adnance in addi\u00adtion to focusing on needs. Under\u00adlying such devices are intel\u00adli\u00adgent solu\u00adtions that can collect and transfer data, as well as soft\u00adware that eval\u00adu\u00adates this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With NEXAIRA, ebm-papst combines highly effi\u00adcient fan tech\u00adnology with intel\u00adli\u00adgent digital services\u2014ensuring trans\u00adparent, demand-driven, and consis\u00adtently effi\u00adcient oper\u00ada\u00adtion of HVAC systems and cooling systems. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not all: new busi\u00adness models are also required. To continue to inspire the future of fan tech\u00adnology, the company founded the ebm-papst neo start-up in Dort\u00admund in 2017; it is working on the next gener\u00ada\u00adtion of digital solutions.Today, ebm\u2011papst consis\u00adtently comple\u00adments its fan exper\u00adtise with digital solu\u00adtions. With the digital ecosystem NEXAIRA, the family\u2011owned company combines highly effi\u00adcient fan tech\u00adnology with intel\u00adli\u00adgent digital services on a unified plat\u00adform. The goal is to make the oper\u00ada\u00adtion of fans, air handling units and complete cooling systems trans\u00adparent, demand\u2011driven and sustain\u00adably effi\u00adcient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEXAIRA enables contin\u00aduous opti\u00admiza\u00adtion in both retrofit projects and new instal\u00adla\u00adtions \u2013 for example through moni\u00adtoring, data\u2011based control strate\u00adgies and AI\u2011based system opti\u00admiza\u00adtion. This helps reduce energy consump\u00adtion, increase oper\u00ada\u00adtional reli\u00ada\u00adbility and ensure econom\u00adical oper\u00ada\u00adtion of systems throughout their entire life\u00adcycle. In doing so, ebm\u2011papst under\u00adlines its ambi\u00adtion to drive tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical inno\u00adva\u00adtion not only at compo\u00adnent level, but increas\u00adingly at system and service level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Special: Customer stories with added digital value!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We open doors for our customers to a world of added value through digital services. Sensors, gate\u00adways and AI enable real bene\u00adfits for existing and new systems. Energy savings are just the begin\u00adning \u2013 auto\u00admated data provi\u00adsion for ESG report\u00adings, Predic\u00adtive Main\u00adte\u00adnance or filter clog\u00adging detec\u00adtion. Not just dreams of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To the special page<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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