What is EC Technology?
EC motors consume on average about 30% less electricity than conventional AC motors – but what is an EC fan and what makes it more efficient? EC stands for ‘Electronically Commutated’, which means it is a fan with a Permanent Magnet Motor (PMM). EC motors are more efficient than AC motors because they use permanent magnets rather than inducing a secondary magnetic field in the rotor. ebm-papst has pioneered the development of EC motors and fans, which can be connected directly to an AC mains supply rather than a separate DC power supply, making them easy to retrofit as replacement for inefficient AC fans. EC fans with integrated commutation electronics offer a high efficiency across the entire speed range, optimum noise characteristics with minimum installation complexity and overall unmatched cost-effectiveness.

AC vs EC
AC motors are designed to operate at a certain point on their performance curve which coincides with their peak efficiency. At either side of this operating point, the efficiency can drop considerably. EC motors, on the other hand, have an almost flat efficiency curve, which varies relatively little across the speed range. Unlike AC motors, this range is not limited by synchronous speeds and is not as susceptible to voltage fluctuations. This makes the EC fan much more flexible and able to match the performance requirements of different applications while still benefitting from increased efficiency.