Retrofitting using EC FanGrid Retrofit systems has established itself as one of the most efficient alternatives for extending the service life of an AHU without the need to completely replace the unit. In addition to improving energy performance, this technology increases the installation's reliability and significantly reduces maintenance operations.

A recent project developed by Rosenberg France, a Rosenberg Group company and Airtècnics partner in the French market, demonstrates the potential of this type of intervention.

A retrofitting project for a commercial building

The project discussed here involved the refurbishment of a dual-flow air handling unit intended for a building in the commercial/tertiary sector.

There was a dual objective:

• Reduce the installation's energy consumption.
• Incorporate redundancy to ensure service continuity.

To achieve this, the ventilation system was replaced with an EC FanGrid configuration, consisting of aluminum impellers and EC motors.

The installation reaches an approximate airflow rate of:

• 19,000 m³/h supply air
• 19,000 m³/h return air

This configuration allows the airflow to be distributed across several fans operating in parallel, rather than relying on a single large fan.

Benefit achieved: energy savings of over 40%

The incorporation of high-efficiency EC motors allows the speed of each fan to be continuously adapted to the actual demand of the installation.

This considerably reduces electricity consumption compared to traditional belt-driven systems. In this project, the client achieved a 40% saving in energy consumption.

These types of improvements also contribute to reducing the building's carbon footprint and facilitate compliance with energy efficiency targets established by European regulations.

Differences between a conventional AHU and the EC FanGrid system