{"id":15093,"date":"2021-04-20T08:26:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T06:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=15093"},"modified":"2025-11-13T10:31:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:31:59","slug":"cleanrooms-fast-commissioning-energy-efficient-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/cleanrooms-fast-commissioning-energy-efficient-operation_15093\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast commis\u00adsioning, energy-effi\u00adcient oper\u00ada\u00adtion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oper\u00adating clean\u00adrooms with FFUs is the most econom\u00adical option to ensure a clean air supply. At the core of these FFUs are compact, modular, built-in fans that are as flat as possible, meaning that they require little instal\u00adla\u00adtion space, and work with high energy effi\u00adciency. However, inte\u00adgrating the systems into a network is also becoming increas\u00adingly impor\u00adtant. The air supply in a clean\u00adroom is not usually a stand\u00adalone solu\u00adtion. Instead, it is inte\u00adgrated into the entire automa\u00adtion process and its PLC and SCADA systems. Just like all other sensor and actu\u00adator infor\u00adma\u00adtion, the fans of the FFUs have to be inte\u00adgrated into the system network, and their status infor\u00adma\u00adtion must be provided to the controls and visu\u00adal\u00adiza\u00adtion systems.<\/p>\n

Figure 2: Fans with a MODBUS daisy-chain inter\u00adface (DCI) can be addressed auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally by the master via a hard\u00adware signal. This makes commis\u00adsioning proceed much more quickly. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

The initial commis\u00adsioning of a clean\u00adroom system requires a signif\u00adi\u00adcant output of time and money. Based on user reports, the time required to manu\u00adally connect an FFU data point is around five to ten minutes. The more fans there are in use, the more poten\u00adtial there is to make savings. The fan and motor specialist ebm-papst has responded to this and offers EC centrifugal fans, which are specially designed for instal\u00adla\u00adtion in FFUs and have a digital MODBUS RTU inter\u00adface, with auto\u00admatic addressing, which can signif\u00adi\u00adcantly reduce commis\u00adsioning costs (Fig. 2).<\/p>\n

MODBUS RTU with auto\u00admatic addressing<\/h2>\n

A master\/slave-based bus always requires unique slave addresses. The fans are usually deliv\u00adered with an address that is preset in the factory, which is always the same (e.g. slave ID = 1). There\u00adfore, the addresses must be assigned a unique address during commis\u00adsioning for oper\u00ada\u00adtion in the network group, prefer\u00adably in the order of the MODBUS cabling. This time-inten\u00adsive process is now auto\u00admated using \u201cDCI\u201d (daisy-chain inter\u00adface) addressing.<\/p>\n

The master controller is able to manage the complete addressing proce\u00addure along with the local\u00adiza\u00adtion of the FFU devices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A fan equipped with a DCI is addressed by a hard\u00adware signal (15 V\/24 VDC) via the Init pin on the RJ45 network plug, and thus temporarily becomes slave address 247. Only the unit acti\u00advated in this manner \u201clistens\u201d to messages sent to this DCI address 247, and accepts a new MODBUS address sent by the master controller to this slave. Following successful re-addressing of this fan, its DCI relay is switched on and the hard\u00adware signal (15 V \/ 24 VDC) is switched on to the Init pin of the next fan module in the chain. This fan is now acti\u00advated via the hard\u00adware signal (Init pin) and the addressing continues as described above.<\/p>\n

If the cable diagram is known, the posi\u00adtion of the fan unit in the clean\u00adroom ceiling can be deter\u00admined using the order of the addresses or the cable route. The instal\u00adla\u00adtion loca\u00adtion can be iden\u00adti\u00adfied using the order in which the addresses are allo\u00adcated. Manual assign\u00adment is no longer neces\u00adsary; the master controller is able to manage the complete addressing proce\u00addure along with the local\u00adiza\u00adtion of the FFU devices which are installed in the clean\u00adroom ceiling. There is a signif\u00adi\u00adcant reduc\u00adtion in the time and costs for commis\u00adsioning.<\/p>\n

Energy-effi\u00adcient and quiet<\/h2>\n

Figure 3: The fans from the RadiCal product range are partic\u00adu\u00adlarly well-suited for use in filter-fan-units. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Once put into oper\u00ada\u00adtion, the energy effi\u00adciency of the fans becomes an impor\u00adtant matter. Nowa\u00addays, FFU manu\u00adfac\u00adturers have to guar\u00adantee overall effi\u00adciency levels of at least 50% in clean\u00adroom appli\u00adca\u00adtions at the design point. There\u00adfore, there is a great demand not only for fans that are as flat as possible, but also for fans that work energy-effi\u00adciently. EC tech\u00adnology there\u00adfore has a lot to offer clean\u00adroom tech\u00adnology, as FFUs equipped with it can achieve effi\u00adciency levels of well over 50%. EC fans can also be used to meet strict noise emis\u00adsion require\u00adments.<\/p>\n

RadiCal centrifugal fans lend them\u00adselves partic\u00adu\u00adlarly well for this purpose (Fig. 3), as their impellers have been opti\u00admized according to aero\u00addy\u00adnamic criteria. They there\u00adfore contribute to a signif\u00adi\u00adcant noise reduc\u00adtion of up to 7 dB(A) compared to the conven\u00adtional industry stan\u00addard, which human hearing perceives as half as loud. The quiet and energy-saving fans are avail\u00adable with diam\u00ade\u00adters of 250, 310, 355, and 400 mm, and cover air perfor\u00admance levels in the ranges of 580, 1,170, 1,750, and 2,330 m\u00b3\/h, with a back pres\u00adsure of up to 250 to 300\u2008Pa. Thanks to their external rotor design, they are very compact and above all extremely flat, at a height of 190 to 275 mm, meaning that they can be easily inte\u00adgrated into the equally compact FFUs.<\/p>\n

Impellers made of plastic composite mate\u00adrials have already been success\u00adfully intro\u00adduced for use in many clean\u00adroom envi\u00adron\u00adments, and have proven effec\u00adtive. Never\u00adthe\u00adless, ebm-papst has had the rele\u00advant mate\u00adrials tested for clean\u00adroom compat\u00adi\u00adbility in an external labo\u00adra\u00adtory. The fans in the RadiCal product range were exam\u00adined thor\u00adoughly for substances that are prohib\u00adited in clean\u00adroom oper\u00ada\u00adtion, and eval\u00adu\u00adated according to the stan\u00addards of the semi\u00adcon\u00adductor industry. They passed the corre\u00adsponding tests with flying colors, as the mate\u00adrials used are harm\u00adless, as is the outgassing process. This means that in clean\u00adroom tech\u00adnology too, users can benefit from the energy-saving, inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive design of the plastic impellers. After all, plastic offers a much wider range of design options compared to sheet metal mate\u00adrials. As a result, the design of the whole fan leads to improved air flow through the impeller, which signif\u00adi\u00adcantly increases aero\u00addy\u00adnamic effi\u00adciency.<\/p>\n

Figure 4: The EC fans can be easily inte\u00adgrated into the FFU. They are supplied as ready-to-connect systems, which have been tested at the factory. (Photo | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Wide voltage input with active PFC<\/h2>\n

The EC fans can easily be inte\u00adgrated into the FFUs (Fig. 4). They are supplied as ready-to-connect systems that have been tested at the factory, either as EC centrifugal fans with a cable and connector panel, or as fully assem\u00adbled fan instal\u00adla\u00adtion modules complete with nozzle plate, motor support plate, profile struts, and guard grill. Thanks to a wide voltage input, they are suit\u00adable for inter\u00adna\u00adtional use with a wide variety of line volt\u00adages and line frequen\u00adcies. The stan\u00addard active PFC (Power Factor Correc\u00adtion) prevents the permis\u00adsible harmonic limit values from being exceeded during the parallel oper\u00ada\u00adtion of many EC fans, which would other\u00adwise put a strain on the supply network.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a wide voltage input, the EC fans are suit\u00adable for inter\u00adna\u00adtional use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All energy distri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion compo\u00adnents such as network trans\u00adformers, fuses, switches, and cable cross-sections can be designed to be much smaller and more cost-effec\u00adtive due to the active PFC. Addi\u00adtional external harmonic filters are not required. But it is not only in large clean\u00adrooms where users are well-served by EC centrifugal fans. ebm-papst also offers suit\u00adable compo\u00adnents and system tech\u00adnology for FFU oper\u00ada\u00adtion and moni\u00adtoring for smaller clean\u00adroom cabins.<\/p>\n

\n

Clean\u00adroom tech\u00adnology for air-puri\u00adfiers<\/h3>\n

We are currently seeing an emer\u00adgence of entirely new fields of appli\u00adca\u00adtion for clean\u00adroom tech\u00adnology devices and suppliers that specialize in the preven\u00adtion and dilu\u00adtion of particle concen\u00adtra\u00adtions in rooms. After all, this is precisely what is required for preventing and diluting aerosol concen\u00adtra\u00adtions that cause, for example, virus loads in class\u00adrooms. This virus load can be reduced through air recir\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtion using the same filter tech\u00adnology as in clean\u00adrooms. The indoor aerosol concen\u00adtra\u00adtion is reduced by sepa\u00adrating aerosols in the HEPA filter during recir\u00adcu\u00adlating air oper\u00ada\u00adtion. Noise gener\u00ada\u00adtion is also impor\u00adtant to this field of appli\u00adca\u00adtion, as it deter\u00admines the accep\u00adtance of the air puri\u00adfiers. ebm-papst\u2019s quiet fans and the exper\u00adtise of clean\u00adroom device manu\u00adfac\u00adturers make prac\u00adtical solu\u00adtions possible here. After all, it is vital to clean the class\u00adrooms so that they are free of parti\u00adcles, thus mini\u00admizing the virus load.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oper\u00adating clean\u00adrooms with FFUs is the most econom\u00adical option to ensure a clean air supply. At the core of these FFUs are compact, modular, built-in fans that are as flat as possible, meaning that they require little instal\u00adla\u00adtion space, and work with high energy effi\u00adciency. However, inte\u00adgrating the systems into a network is also becoming [\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":[16,11,9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-medical","category-refrigeration-ventilation","category-telecommunication"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15093","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=15093"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22310,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15093\/revisions\/22310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}