History of Aquafan

1950's

Early developments

A modified water turbine, as used in hydroelectric plants, was set up to drive a fan. The aim of this idea was to test the idea of driving the fan by using the kinetic energy in the water. The fan was engineered to provide sufficient air flow as used in wet cooling towers. Credits for the invention go to Sir Edward B. Talbot, who is still today on board with the group as a consultant for further developments.

The designs were filed for the patent in 1962.

1970's - 1980's

Initial commercialization

The first units went in operation back in the 1960s in the USA as AQUAFAN. It has become popular since the late 1970s. Firstly as Kidde in Germany, and then after the take-over of Kidde GmbH by Wacon as AQUAVEN. Thousands of units were sold and a lot of them are still operational in Europe and the USA, some of them even 30+ years later.

Late last century

Growth in EU & US

The later decades were a period of steady growth. In the USA the concept was used for water aeration in lead removal procedures in the state of California. In the European markets, the concept became popular for application in industrial areas.

21st century

Come-back in Asia

On the initiative of WATCO Group PTE from Singapore, the concept was re-engineered to be applied in larger cells for launch in Asia market. In 2016, the group proceeded to engineer the hybrid version to meet the market’s expectation to be able to apply the concept of low energy demand cooling in architectural friendly designs in comfort cooling applications.

As from 2014, the first new AQUAFAN cooling towers were built in the Middle East and South East Asia.

Industrial: AQUAFAN (cooling approach tolerance set to Wet Bulb + 5 Celcius)

HVAC: AQUAFAN+ (Hybrid)