from l.t.r Les Fish, Craig Wasson, John Murphy and Nicola Fielding
London, 3 May 2007. In March 2007, it was announced that Ziehl-Abegg would be a participant in the final round for the „‘Air Movement Product of the Year’ Award during the 2007 h&v news Awards contest. Ziehl-Abegg participated in this competition with the EC variant of the FE2owlet axial fan (EC = electronically commutated motor). On 3 May 2007 during a ceremony held in the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London, in the presence of 1,000 guests from the heating and ventilation industry, the „FE2owlet-ETAvent“ was named as the winner of the prestigious „Air Movement Product of the Year“ Award. According to the jury, "the manner in which this product takes advantage of the forces of nature should move us to rethink the accepted ways of designing all impeller geometries". The h&v news Award event occurs annually in the United Kingdom.
Manufacturers and service providers for air conditioning products are challenged to face the competition with new and innovative products and services in a total of 18 categories. The judges choose the three finalists in each category and the winners are announced during the h&v news Award Ceremony.
Naturally, Ziehl-Abegg UK, the English marketing subsidiary of Ziehl-Abegg AG Künzelsau (Germany), participated in this contest. The FE2owlet axial fan with the ETAvent EC drive was chosen as the Ziehl-Abegg entrant in the ‘Air Movement Product of the Year’ category. h&v news confronts the candidates with tough criteria for the ‘Air Movement Product of the Year’: along with aesthetic aspects, the energy efficiency in particular is put under the microscope, and has to be verified with empirically obtained test data.
The information submitted by Ziehl-Abegg UK in the FE2owlet-ETAvent application emphasised the influence of bionic and aeronautical principles during the development stage. Ralf Neumeier, chief of axial fan development at Ziehl-Abegg commented: „Learning from nature means careful observation, discernment and comprehension. Over the course of time, birds’ flying behaviour has evolved perfectly. They use a minimum of energy to create enough thrust to generate sufficient lift. It is especially the owl, compared to other birds, that is distinguished by its quiet flight behaviour. The fibrous feather structure of the trailing edges of their wings was technically copied in the new development. On top of that, so-called winglets were used that can be found in a multitude of aeronautical applications and which enable the fan to achieve even more highly-efficient flow characteristics“. The judges were informed that these characteristics, combined with the use of the most efficient EC motor in the market, resulted in a package which is unsurpassed by any other competitor in terms of noise behaviour and efficiency.
Ziehl-Abegg has been active as an EC pioneer since 1985 with EC external-rotor motors as fan drives. Today, by using special permanent magnets (NdFeB), Ziehl-Abegg EC motors are manufactured with the highest efficiency available in the market. By using multifunctional integrated electronics, even complex problems can be given simple solutions. The ETAvent fan is also a great communicator; for example, the existing RTU modbus interface in the fan can be easily integrated into the overall control system. Ziehl-Abegg considers itself a complete system provider that supplies motors and fans with matching control technology.
From an environmental perspective, the judges scored highly the inherent corrosion resistance offered by the aluminium construction, which usually requires no environmentally unfriendly special coating. In addition to this, the judges were very impressed by the high degree of efficiency of the AC as well as the EC versions.
Developing innovative products at a high technical level is only possible if all the team players give their best in every position. A team comprised of highly educated engineers has been formed during recent years and they will continue to develop additional interesting products in the future. To accomplish that, Ziehl-Abegg is currently building its own Technology Centre: spread over an area of more than 5,000 square meters, a 97 metre long, 45 metre wide and 10 metre high development centre is being built in which more than 100 engineers and technicians will work together under one roof. Chairman of the board Peter Fenkl quantifies the costs of the three-section complex at „over 10 million Euros“.
The ‘Air Movement Product of the Year’ was the most fiercely contested category. Naturally, that made Les Fish, Managing Director of Ziehl-Abegg UK, even happier to accept the h&v news Award 2007.
Naturally, Ziehl-Abegg UK, the English marketing subsidiary of Ziehl-Abegg AG Künzelsau (Germany), participated in this contest. The 
