{"id":14776,"date":"2021-02-01T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T09:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=14776"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:53:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:53:43","slug":"breath-of-fresh-air-for-a-shopping-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/breath-of-fresh-air-for-a-shopping-center_14776\/","title":{"rendered":"Breath of fresh air for a shop\u00adping center"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the drive belts suddenly stopped working, Peter Halblaub knew he was in for a real chal\u00adlenge. It was a warm day in October 2019, and he was standing in front of the venti\u00adlation system that had provided the Neckar\u00adsulm shop\u00adping center with fresh air for almost 30 years. At least, that was what it was supposed to do. But at this moment, every\u00adthing had stopped working. \u201cWe had replaced the drive belts not long before, but now the system had stopped again,\u201d recalls Peter. He is the facility manager at Sauter FM GmbH, and is respon\u00adsible for the shop\u00adping center building and its tech\u00adnical systems. \u201cIt was clear to us that the system would break at some point, but it surprised us that it went so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He contacted building tech\u00adnology specialist Wolf\u00adgang Stickel, who confirmed his worst fears: \u201cThe axle bearing was completely faulty. As a result, the fan wheel had dropped and eaten into the housing.\u201d He ruled out the possi\u00adbility of reassem\u00adbling the axle layer-by-layer due to the enor\u00admous mate\u00adrial abra\u00adsion. What was more, the entire system simply no longer met modern-day require\u00adments. \u201cWhen our venti\u00adlation was installed, energy effi\u00adciency wasn\u2019t a major concern. That\u2019s different now,\u201d says Wolf\u00adgang. That made it clear that a new system was needed.<\/p>\n

The FanGrid ensures effi\u00adcient air perfor\u00admance and is so quiet that the shop\u00adping expe\u00adri\u00adence remains undis\u00adturbed. (Foto: Tobias Gerber, Fotogloria)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

A race against time<\/h2>\n

\u201cBut it was also clear that we had to act quickly,\u201d Peter recalls. \u201cA shop\u00adping center without working venti\u00adlation is unthink\u00adable!\u201d So he started looking for solu\u00adtions and suppliers, checked whether they were able to deliver, and whether they met the criteria on which Sauter FM\u2019s projects are based: the devices had to be modern and energy-effi\u00adcient, cost-effi\u00adcient to main\u00adtain, and avail\u00adable quickly. The price of the system also had to be right. \u201cWe can\u2019t just install some\u00adthing, hope for the best, then find out we\u2019ve made a mistake and expect our customers to put up with it.\u201d During his research, he came across ebm-papst and found that every\u00adthing there was suit\u00adable \u2013 the prod\u00aducts, the delivery time, the service, the price. Wolf\u00adgang Stickel was awarded the contract and contacted the venti\u00adlation specialist company from Hohen\u00adlohe with an initial idea. \u201cI knew exactly what I wanted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe noise level is very low, even though there\u2019s so much power behind it. The RadiPac fans run very quietly and highly effi\u00adciently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Halblaub, Facility Manager at Sauter FM GmbH<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI described the problem with our venti\u00adlation system to Rudi Wein\u00admann from ebm-papst\u2019s sales depart\u00adment, and told him what I needed from the new devices.\u201d In an on-site appoint\u00adment with Wolf\u00adgang, Rudi was able to get an overview of the situ\u00ada\u00adtion and discuss the best solu\u00adtion. They quickly found one using the ebm-papst design program FanScout: a FanGrid, i.e. a fan wall consisting of several RadiPac centrifugal fans with EC tech\u00adnology, was to be the solu\u00adtion. \u201cI checked the offer, checked the measure\u00adments again, and then we imple\u00admented it,\u201d says Wolf\u00adgang.<\/p>\n

Plasma cutters tackle colossal steel machine<\/h2>\n

What was a straight\u00adfor\u00adward solu\u00adtion, was in fact anything but straight\u00adfor\u00adward to imple\u00adment. When the old system was installed 30 years ago, the fan wheel, a steel colossus that weighed several metric tons, was installed via the roof using a crane, and then bricked in. With a diam\u00adeter of 2.5 meters and a length of 2 meters, it did not fit through the existing door. So to get the huge steel struc\u00adture out of the room, a bigger piece of equip\u00adment was needed. A demo\u00adli\u00adtion company got to work with plasma cutters, and trans\u00adported the parts \u2013 once cut down to size \u2013 through the door to the outside indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adally. That was a really weighty chal\u00adlenge.<\/p>\n

Peter Halblaub and Wolf\u00adgang Stickel are impressed by the power of the sixteen Radi\u00adPacs. (Foto: Tobias Gerber, Fotoloria)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Fan on fan<\/h2>\n

Another chal\u00adlenge was posed by the instal\u00adla\u00adtion area that was avail\u00adable for the design and construc\u00adtion of the new system, as this was just 5 x 10 meters in area, and did not offer a lot of space. \u201cPipes and cables made it even trickier to get every\u00adthing to fit,\u201d says Wolf\u00adgang Stickel. But the project team had decided on a modular design for the FanGrid. Instead of a huge fan, Wolf\u00adgang and his team installed 16 Radi\u00adPacs, each one in size 400, into a large FanGrid. He simply carried the small fans through the door. \u201cA solu\u00adtion with nine fans would have been just about enough, but only just. We wanted to be on the safe side, so we decided on a higher number of fans,\u201d says the certi\u00adfied elec\u00adtri\u00adcian. \u201cThere were some skep\u00adtics who doubted that we could actu\u00adally install 16 fans in the room, but I knew we would manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vibra\u00adtions don\u2019t stand a chance<\/h2>\n

Bit by bit, Wolf\u00adgang and his co-workers installed the Radi\u00adPacs and connected them. They paid partic\u00adular atten\u00adtion to the rigidity and stability of the mechan\u00adical connec\u00adtions. \u201cWhen this many indi\u00advidual fans are assem\u00adbled into a large fan wall, reso\u00adnance vibra\u00adtions can occur. If the wall develops reso\u00adnance vibra\u00adtions, then in the worst-case scenario, it can collapse.\u201d In addi\u00adtion, each fan was cali\u00adbrated indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adally, and overall reso\u00adnance measure\u00adments were conducted. To keep the vibra\u00adtions low, the RadiPac centrifugal fans are equipped with reso\u00adnance detec\u00adtion. Vibra\u00adtion sensors detect the reso\u00adnances and make them inef\u00adfec\u00adtive. During the test start-up, the vibra\u00adtion level is analyzed over the entire speed curve.<\/p>\n

If exces\u00adsive vibra\u00adtion veloc\u00adi\u00adties occur, the control soft\u00adware auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally skips the crit\u00adical speed ranges during oper\u00ada\u00adtion. At the end, every\u00adthing was a perfect fit. The fans were sealed on the side facing the existing wall. A tiny door allows access to the rear. \u201cIt\u2019s very impres\u00adsive how all the elec\u00adtrical connec\u00adtions and cables inside are so precisely laid out,\u201d says Peter Halblaub in awe. \u201cWe have been waiting for the first big test run for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clean solu\u00adtion: even after ten months, the oper\u00ada\u00adtors could not find any signif\u00adi\u00adcant dirt parti\u00adcles in the system during the check. (Foto: Tobias Gerber, Fotogloria)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Test run at full power<\/h2>\n

The big day finally arrived at the begin\u00adning of January. The system was ready to run at full power. Along\u00adside Wolf\u00adgang Stickel and Peter Halblaub, the ebm-papst engi\u00adneers were also present. \u201cIt made a real whirring noise when all sixteen devices were running at full speed,\u201d recalls Peter Halblaub. His enthu\u00adsiasm is evident as he continues: \u201cThe noise level is very low, even though there\u2019s so much power behind it. Even when idle, the old machine was noisier. The Radi\u00adPacs run very quietly and highly effi\u00adciently.\u201d And what about the wall? It was perfect: no reso\u00adnance vibra\u00adtions. In the venti\u00adlation room, the project team was very satis\u00adfied.<\/p>\n

Another advan\u00adtage of the FanGrid is the oper\u00ada\u00adtional reli\u00ada\u00adbility that comes with it. With the 16 fans, the system oper\u00adates with redun\u00addancy. As the system is slightly larger than neces\u00adsary, even if one fan fails, the nominal oper\u00ada\u00adtion can be fully main\u00adtained by adjusting the remaining 15 fans. This is of great signif\u00adi\u00adcance to the oper\u00adator, as in the event of a failure of the venti\u00adlation system, there would be a risk of complaints, possibly even going as far as loss of rent.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWith the new solu\u00adtion, we can choose speeds from zero to one hundred, moving along the char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adistic curve as required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolf\u00adgang Stickel, Building tech\u00adni\u00adcian at Sauter FM GmbH<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ten months on from the big day, everyone is still satis\u00adfied. \u201cThe system is still working perfectly. We have not had a single failure yet,\u201d confirms Peter Halblaub. Control\u00adling the system using FanCon\u00adtrol has also proven a success. \u201cThe differ\u00adence is like night and day,\u201d says Wolf\u00adgang Stickel. \u201cThe old system only had two settings. With the new solu\u00adtion, we can choose speeds from zero to one hundred, moving along the char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adistic curve as required. The FanGrid achieves an air flow rate of just over 120,000 m\u00b3\/h at a static pres\u00adsure of 1,000 pascals. The system is oper\u00adated with pres\u00adsure regu\u00adla\u00adtion, which is a highly state-of-the-art func\u00adtion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huge energy savings<\/h2>\n

The cutting-edge tech\u00adnology of the system is also notice\u00adable when it comes to energy effi\u00adciency. \u201cWe\u2019re still making adjust\u00adments,\u201d explains Peter Halblaub. \u201cBut we already know that we consume signif\u00adi\u00adcantly less elec\u00adtricity. The savings come to almost 50 percent. We also check the system constantly for dirt parti\u00adcles, but so far we haven\u2019t found anything of note.\u201d He is now certain that his deci\u00adsion to install the FanGrid was the right one. So sure, in fact, that he is consid\u00adering a retrofit for another venti\u00adlation system in Neckar\u00adsulm. Investing in this kind of fan config\u00adu\u00adra\u00adtion in the shop\u00adping center has paid off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the drive belts suddenly stopped working, Peter Halblaub knew he was in for a real chal\u00adlenge. It was a warm day in October 2019, and he was standing in front of the venti\u00adlation system that had provided the Neckar\u00adsulm shop\u00adping center with fresh air for almost 30 years. At least, that was what it [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[138,180],"class_list":["post-14776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-retrofit","tag-ventilation-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14776"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14789,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14776\/revisions\/14789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}