The year 2024 is a milestone for what has become one of OJ Electronics’ core business areas: ventilation drives. We sold our first ones thirty years ago, in 1994. Like so many of our development projects, the decision to go into drives was prompted by a clear and direct need in the market. Essentially, our collaboration with an existing customer called our attention to the opportunity. Together, we developed a frequency converter created especially for ventilation applications, marking the beginning of our drives venture.
Since then, OJ Electronics has created five iterations of our drives design, each time building on what had previously been achieved while adding new features and design options made possible by new technology. Incidentally, our ongoing development work with the original customer has continued ever since – with many more customers joining since then.
Five Iterations over Thirty Years
Briefly put, the OJ Electronics range of drives for the ventilation industry has progressed in five stages. The development describes a curve of gradual evolution over time, incorporating new technologies along the way.
1994
The FC1 Drive
This was the first drive created by OJ Electronics. Made specifically for the ventilation industry – in fact for a specific customer – the FC1 was relatively large, as compactness was not required at that point. It derives its name from being based on a frequency converter motor.
2002
The FC2 Drive
By the time the new millennium arrived, technology had changed. Smaller parts were available, allowing the development team to create a more compact unit that reflected new needs in the industry. The FC2 drive also responded to market requirements by being available in wall-mounted and motor-mounted versions.
2008
The EC Drive
In 2008, OJ Electronics launched a drive based on an electronically commutated (EC) motor. Compact and designed for decentral mounting on the fan unit, this new version was created to benefit from the new, highly efficient permanent-magnet motors that let users save power – and it placed the client who commissioned it among the very first in the ventilation business to use EC/PM motors.
2015
DV GEN I
By this point, OJ Electronics had amassed plenty of experience with drives. Now, rather than create models developed for specific customers, the company developed drives for ventilation as such. The main market was still Scandinavia/Europe, resulting in a drive design perfectly suited to ventilation units aimed at that region.
2023
DV GEN II
The DV range proved a great success (as reflected in the sales figures below) and soon reached regions beyond Europe. Based on insights from applications in these new markets, the DV range has been updated to reflect an even wider range of application needs, including demands for even greater robustness.
Rising Sales Over Three Decades
The chart of OJ drives sales clearly shows a trend towards exponential growth. Over the last thirty years, more than a million units have been sold. Approximately three quarters of these were sold in the last ten years.
Clearly, while each of the five iterations of drives has been warmly welcomed by customers, the last five to eight years have seen the OJ Electronics DV range gain particular traction.
The curve demonstrates the ever-rising popularity of the OJ Electronics drive range. Its geographical reach is greater than ever, too: DV drives are now being sold in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia, essentially covering the whole world.
Recent Developments – and the Future of the DV Range
As the sales figures show, the DV drives range has won ever-greater acclaim in the ventilation industry over the course of the last ten years. Concurrently with this, customers have increasingly drawn on the application knowledge of the OJ Drives team – including collaborations on customized drives. For example, a major industry leader now benefits from a customized version of the DV drive that fits directly onto their motor. Now, supported by thirty years of experience and a comprehensive design platform that lets the R&D team respond quickly to new market developments and demands, the DV range is expected to reach even wider audiences in the years ahead.
Thirty Years of Drives: An Insider’s View
John Hansen has been with OJ Electronics throughout the company’s journey into ventilation drives. Here are his recollections of those days – and his thoughts on what lies ahead.
“I’ve been working for OJ Electronics right back from when we first turned our attention to drives. In those early days, our drives were dedicated to a particular client and a particular type of motor, but we soon began to look to more markets. As things progressed, we strove to become even more flexible, creating controllers that could handle more motor types – and now we’ve reached the point where our drives can handle virtually anything!”
John Hansen, Hardware Support Engineer, OJ Electronics
Plenty of Insight Gained Along the Way
Being part of this evolution has been hugely interesting! Looking back, so much has happened since those early beginnings: We’ve learnt a lot ourselves, technology has changed, and our design set-up has become much more elaborate and much more streamlined. We know exactly what to tinker with to resolve specific issues – noise being just one example – and we have in-house test facilities that let us check the impact of our adjustments straight away.
First Generation Still in Production
Over the years I’ve been in various departments at OJ Electronics, and these days I work mainly with support: Making sure the clients’ systems work well, getting the right spare parts for them, and so on. An interesting point in that regard is the fact that the very first generation of drives, the FC1 series, is still in production and still being sold. Because at OJ, we pick components and constructions that lasts. This means that people can still get spare parts for the system they bought thirty years ago – which has been a great relief for quite a few customers over the years: They don’t need to replace their entire system, just a couple of parts.
So what does the future hold for the OJ Electronics drives range? From my position, I expect us to branch out even more, entering new markets. In terms of geographical markets, yes, but business areas too.
