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Friction losses
Quantity
Airpower
Motor input efficiency =
Motor input power
As the impeller rotates it draws air in through the eye and throws it out in a
radial direction through the blades.
Can be direct drive (impeller attached to the motor shaft) or indirectly driven by
belts, gear box or friction clutch
Blades can be either flat or aerofoil, straight or curved, forward or
backward
Performance control is achieved by altering the speed, adjusting VIV’s, or
adding blade extensions
When rotated in the wrong direction air will continue to flow into the eye and
out through the blades
Can be either single or a double inlet
Generally considered to be the most compact, quietest with the most competitive first
cost.
Duty point
Shaft power
re
Pressu
Pressure
er
Pow
Bulkier casing
Non overloading power characteristic. (i.e. power input does not peak at either
free flow or no flow)
Press
ure
Shaft power
Duty point
Pressure
r
Powe
Good self cleaning properties make them exceptional for handling air with
high concentrations of dusts or other larger airborne particles (backward and
forward incline blades tend to clog up more quickly)
Pressu
re
Duty point
Shaft power
Pressure Pow
er
d
ve
c ur
Pressu
re
a rd
r w
Fo
Duty point
Shaft power
Pressure
l
a dia
R
Backward curved
Fo
rw
er
Ba
Pow
ar
ck
d
wa
cu
Ra
r
rd
ve
di
cu
d
al
rv
ed
Quantity
AMC - The Business of Mining
6.0 (a) Centrifugal fans
Tip clearance (distance between the tip of the impeller blades and the fan casing) is
typically 0.25% of the impeller diameter.
Blades can be either flat (generally steel plate) or aerofoil (generally cast alloy).
Aerofoil sections can apply greater force to the air, increasing pressure and
maintaining better efficiency over a wider range. Increasing the thickness and
curvature, increases stiffness allowing operation at higher speeds.
When rotated in the backward direction they will reverse the direction of flow through
the fan and deliver 60% to 70% of the forward quantity of air. (A true reversible fan
will have alternate blades rotated through 1800 and deliver 85% of the normal setting
in either direction)
Performance is enhanced by installation of inlet cone, inlet or outlet guide vanes, tail
fairings, and diffusers (evase).
Typical arrangement
for secondary fans in
metal mines
Dampers
Airflow
Adjustment using a protractor
Direction
Impellers without markings require the
use of a protractor to set the Underside or
appropriate angle. blade root
angle
Some manufacturers specify the the
blade pitch angle in terms of the “tip
chord”. Those who refurbish fans
often incorrectly set these angles as Impeller Blade
Hub root
the at the blade root rather than the tip
of the blade. Depending upon the twist Boss
of the blade this could be as much as
30 resulting with the fan performance Tip chord angle Blade tip
less than expectations.
Rotation Direction
Variable speed
Each change of speed
develops a new fan
performance characteristic
(see fan laws)
Fans in series
Fans in parallel
Note:
the quantity is NOT doubled
simply by adding an extra fan.
Parallel Fans
Static pressutre (Pa)
Apparent operating
points
Quantity (m 3/s)
1 Fan 2 Fans 3 Fans System
Apparent operating
points
Q u a n tity (m 3 /s)
1 Fan 2 Fans 3 Fans Sy s tem
In this case it is highly likely that the third fan would become unstable on
start-up, to the point that it would not recover. To start fans with this
particular type of characteristic requires the use of variable speed drives,
VIV’s or adjustable pitch in motion blades.
Friction losses
Quantity
1000 P-Q c
u rve
Pressure (Pa)
Operating point
e 12.0 m3/s 700 Pa
urv
500 c
nce
is ta
s
re
stem
Sy
0
0 5 10 15 20
Quantity (m3/s)
AMC - The Business of Mining
MULGA HILL FAN COMPANY
QWER 1250-2300-12 990 rpm 1.2kg/m3
Reference P'nW 2345
3500
Manufacturers Code for
the fan type usually Manufacturers
3000 provides, fan type, hub reference
diameter, impeller diameter, number
number of blades, fan
2500 Speed & air density
1000 60
Pressure sometimes
given as Fan Total
Pressure 50
500
40
10 20 30
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
700
600
Fan Shaft Power (kW)
500 70
325 kW
System Resistance
Q (m3/s) P (Pa)
0 0
20 40
40 160 Efficiency 77%??
60 360
80 640
100 1000
120 1440
140 1960
160 2560
180 3240
200 4000
220 4840
240 5760
260 6760
180 kW
350 kW motor
80 1000
System Resistance
Q (m3/s) P (Pa)
0 0
20 63
40 250
60 563
80 1000
100 1563
120 2250
140 3063
160 4000
180 5063
200 6250
Axial fans offer better efficiency over a wider range of duties whereas the
centrifugal fans can have a higher efficiency, albeit over a smaller range,
on a single performance curve.
The performance of a single speed axial fan can be altered simply by
adjustment to the impeller blade pitch angle
The performance of a single speed centrifugal fan requires the installation
of variable inlet vanes.
Axial fans are generally considered to be more easily accessible for
maintenance
Axial fans generally run faster than centrifugal as a consequence are much
noisier.
Axial fan impellers are generally manufactured from aluminium in an effort
to keep weight to a minimum. As a consequence the potential for erosion is
greater, particularly if there is water in the shaft
The light material used in the blades along with the high rotational speed of
axial fans make them prone to erosion, and even in good (dry) conditions it
is reasonably expected that this erosion will have significantly reduced the
fan performance within five years.
Centrifugal fan impellers are fabricated from plate and are generally hollow.
As a consequence when there is water in the shaft the nose of the blade is
prone to pitting allowing water to enter the hollow section. Sufficient water
in this section will cause the impeller to become unbalanced, and if allowed
to continue it will result in high vibration and eventual failure of the impeller
shaft.
Single fan installations are generally less expensive than multiple fan
installations.
Single fan options do not provide any capacity for redundancy airflow. The
purchase of spares (motor, impeller, shafts, bearings, blades etc) is good
management and should be included as upfront capital expenditure.