Commercial Refrigeration Vending Machine Motor

Challenge

EC Fans & Drives was approached by a major Commercial Refrigeration OEM to see if we could assist them with a problem they were encountering in a beverage vending machine application.

When the refrigeration unit was switched on, it experienced a large and sudden in-rush current, and this was causing the electrical relays within the machine to weld together and shutting the system down. They needed to find an urgent solution to the problem, while maintaining an EC, energy efficient motor package.

Solution

Working closely with the Customer's engineering team; we developed a solution based on our ECplus motor. We configured the motor to the specific speed settings and fan blade combination that delivered the airflow requirement that the Customer needed in their application.

Our engineering team analyzed the electrical current in-rush problem that the Customer was experiencing with their previous motor supplier and identified the root cause of the problem.

The ECplus has a "soft-start" feature that allows the motor to smoothly and quickly ramp up to the required operating speed after being switched on, instead of going straight to operating speed. This soft start feature completely eliminated the in-rush problem when the refrigeration unit was switched on.

Result

We identified the cause of the serious problem that the Customer was encountering with their former motor supplier and tailored an ECplus motor. The fan blade and fan ring configuration provided the airflow that the Customer required, with best in class energy efficiency.

The soft start feature of the ECplus motor eliminated the current in-rush problem and EC Fans & Drives have been the sole supplier to the Customer since the solution was provided.