Rising energy costs, regulatory requirements, and climate targets are increasing the pressure on commercial building operators to modernize. HVAC systems in particular offer significant potential for savings. A retrofit project at the Pankow Town Hall Center in Berlin demonstrates how existing systems can be optimized without costly new construction.

With NEXAIRA, ebm‑papst offers a digital ecosystem for ventilation and refrigeration systems. The solution combines highly efficient EC fans with data-driven analysis and control methods. In ventilation systems, savings of up to 70% of fan-related energy costs are possible.

NEXAIRA primarily relies on existing operational and fan data, supplementing it with additional sensors only when necessary. Features such as demand-based airflow control, condition monitoring, vibration analysis, and the detection of contamination in filters and heat exchangers provide a clear overview of the system’s condition. This allows maintenance measures to be planned as needed and helps prevent unplanned downtime. Unlike conventional monitoring solutions, which typically trigger an alarm only when a defined differential pressure threshold is reached, this approach enables operators to predict how much time remains before a threshold is reached.

At the Pankow Town Hall Center, ventilation systems dating from the late 1990s were modernized. A total of 61 RadiPac EC fans in nine systems replaced the previous belt-driven blowers. The fans are arranged in redundant FanGrid structures and ensure a high level of supply reliability. The integrated EC technology enables demand-based, stepless speed control with high efficiency stability even in the partial-load range, which is the most common operating condition in real-world system operation.

In addition to the hardware modernization, NEXAIRA.Fit allowed for a digital expansion. Operational data such as power consumption, speed, and operating hours are recorded via a gateway, supplemented with temperature, CO₂, and VOC values, and transmitted to the cloud in encrypted form. A central dashboard provides transparency into plant operations. Since implementation in 2021, the town center has achieved energy savings of 46% through 2025. In addition, 130.41 metric tons of CO₂ and approximately 76,000 euros were saved. The payback period is less than three years. Based on these results, the operator is already planning further modernization steps.