Industrial fans are machines whose rotating blades are driven by an electrical motor (hence the name “electric fan”). The primary functions of these fans are to provide a continuous large flow of gas, such as clean air or dusty air, and to transport particulate floating in a gas flow, such as wood chips.
These fans may have fan wheels/impellers that range from a few tens of centimeters to several meters, and are typically used both inside of machines, industrial equipment and inside of plants for the industrial fans, for which they are essential parts of.
In terms of construction, most industrial fans can be categorized into one of two general types:
- axial industrial fans: the gas fluid is sucked and moved parallel to the fan wheel’s shaft;
- centrifugal or radial industrial fans: the gas fluid is sucked in the direction of the impeller’s axis and then moved perpendicular to the fan wheel’s shaft
The installers of industrial fan plants are used to categorizing the industrial fans according to their pressure range
In detail, industrial fans can be:
- low-pressure industrial fans (up to about 300 mmWC)
- medium-pressure industrial fans (up to about 600/700 mmWC)
- high-pressure industrial fans (up to about 2500 mmWC)
Finally, just note that there are 4 basic values defining an industrial fan: flow rate, pressure, performance and rotation speed. These four features are critical in selecting an industrial fan; for more details on this topic, see this article from industrial-fans-blowers.com.