Gold medal for development feats by Ziehl-Abegg

The company Ziehl-Abegg located in Künzelsau was honoured for surface development and technology during the international Materialica Design + Technology Award. A panel of experts gave the gold award in this category to the Cpro fan impeller, which is made of an innovative composite material. Jury chairman Christian Labonte, Head of Design Strategy at Audi, calls it an aesthetic synergy of engineering and design.

"The award underscores that Ziehl-Abegg is a frontrunner in world technology" declares Peter Fenkl, Chairman of the Board of Ziehl-Abegg. Just a few days ago the ZAplus fan system from the south-German engineers received the Good Design Award in Japan. The Cpro fan impeller now awarded in Munich is used for applications with high volume rates and high pressure. For instance: in precision air-conditioners, for classic supply and exhaust air conveyance and even in cleanroom systems.

The fan impeller is comprised of the independently developed, high-performance ZAmid composite material. This material enables very high rotating speeds. Without this material it is impossible to implement the optimised shape of the new fan. The Cpro can be manufactured in one cast so it does not have any weld seams or critical connections. The new shape alone produces higher efficiency, enabling energy savings of up to 15% during operation. Moreover, the fan impeller is significantly quieter than metal impellers during operation. The enormous reduction in noise makes living and working in surrounding areas more pleasant. Furthermore, less acoustic insulating material is needed – that saves money and protects the environment at the same time.

Excellent environmental compatibility is another plus point. Conservation while manufacturing the Cpro saves energy already during production, which means less CO2. The reduced energy usage during manufacturing is followed by energy savings during use. Moreover, the material can be crushed after the end of the life cycle and can be recycled up to 100% for the same use. And that means no waste accrual.

For Dr. Walter Angelis, who has been heading the Development Department at Ziehl-Abegg since October, this award is incentive reward: "I am pleased to be able to lead a team which has provided proven top performance in many aspects for years.

This year, the Materialica Design + Technology Award was presented for the tenth time. According to the organiser the competition demonstrates that the lightweight approach is increasingly becoming a hot topic and is turning into a source of ideas for nearly all sectors. Also interesting is the fact that the innovative strength of lightweight competencies, which usually manifest their strengths in mobile applications, is meanwhile experiencing a transfer into completely new application areas – and that includes fan development. With this intensifying focus the Materialica Design and Technology Award is advancing a decisive unique selling proposition among the international design prizes.

The jurors were the material and design experts Christian Labonte (Audi), Nina Saller (designaffairs), Prof. Peter Naumann (Munich University), Prof. Dr. eng. Karl Reiling (Landshut University) and Dr. eng. Christoph Konetschny (Materialsgate - Material and Technology Consulting).

Ziehl-Abegg (Künzelsau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) is one of the internationally leading companies in the ventilation and drive technology sector with matching control technology. Examples of application areas are heating and refrigeration plants along with clean room and agricultural technology. Already back in the 50's, Ziehl-Abegg laid the basis for modern ventilation drives which are still the state of the art worldwide (external rotor motors). Another sector is electric motors, which provide the drive in elevators and medical applications (computer tomography), in deep-sea underwater vehicles and in modern motor buses.

The high-tech company impresses with its high degree of vertical integration. Ziehl-Abegg provides 1,700 employees with jobs in Southern-German production plants. Globally more than 3,100 employees work for the company. They are distributed globally among 8 production facilities and 7 assembly sites along with 29 sales locations. Approximately 30,000 different products are sold in more than 100 countries. The sales amount to 358 million euros. Two-thirds of the sales were achieved in the export market.

Emil Ziehl founded the company in 1910 in Berlin as a manufacturer of electric motors. After the Second World War, the company headquarters was relocated to Southern Germany. Ziehl-Abegg AG is not quoted on the stock market and is family owned. Please visit www.ziehl-abegg.com for more information.

Rainer Grill
Heinz-Ziehl-Straße
74653 Künzelsau / Germany
phone +49 7940 16-0
info@ziehl-abegg.de

This release was published on openPR.