EnglishWhen selecting a fan, I prefer to do so in a deductive fashion. In other words, try to understand everything you possibly can about the nature of the application and the details about what the fan is going to be doing. From there, you can actually use a process of elimination to back right into the appropriate types of fans.
1. Ventilation vs. Process or Ducted
You have several types of fans to choose from—such as axial, centrifugal, or mixed flow—but I think the first and best way to approach the task is to pay attention to the two general types of applications for industrial/commercial applications: ventilation or process/ducted. With general ventilation, the fan accelerates air and moves it from one side of an enclosure to another (like through a wall or roof).
With process or ducted applications, the fans are typically mounted in ducts or have other pertinences in the system that provide back pressure against the fan. These pertinences could be fume scrubbers, mist eliminators, sound attenuators, energy transfer devices, etc. As the air is accelerated through those systems, there is a wide range of pressure that the fan has to overcome. These fans work in contained environments and develop higher pressures than general ventilation fans.
2. Mounting
Once you determine the nature of the application (general vs. process or ducted), you need to consider how the fan will be mounted. In a general ventilation application, it is usually mounted to the roof or the wall. In a process or ducted application, it is typically mounted on a roof or pad with the duct coming into or discharging from the fan (or ducted both inlet and outlet).
Both ventilation fans and process/ducted fans can be mounted in either horizontal airflow or vertical airflow orientations.
3. Performance & Accessibility Requirements
The initial trait to determine in terms of fan performance is how much flow and pressure development the fan must be capable of generating. On the process or ducted type, there will typically be a broader range of pressure development requirements, depending on the nature of the system.
In terms of accessibility, where are you going to mount the fan, and how are you going to be able to access it for inspection, periodic maintenance, or replacement (if that ever becomes required)? What is the temperature and density of the air? These factors, along with the performance requirements, will affect the fan construction and fan material, as well as help you to determine whether it is best to have a direct or belt drive fan.
4. Noise Level, Efficiency, & Redundancy Requirements
Noise levels generated by the fan and efficiency are often considerations for selecting an appropriate fan. If low noise and high efficiency are required, it will have a significant impact on the size and type of fan that you will select.
You also need to think about whether the system is constant flow constant volume or variable volume and if you have a critical service system where redundancy is required in the fan equipment.
These traits need to be known in order to help optimize fan selection to satisfy your requirements. If you would like assistance with the selection process, feel free to contact M.K Plastics today.
MKPlastics005-021 Transcription
Shayla: Thanks for joining us today for the MK Plastics Podcast. I'm talking with Keith Lins who is the Vice President of US Sales and Marketing, and Keith, what types of things should we consider when we're selecting fans for different applications?
Keith: When you're selecting a fan, I prefer to do it in a deductive fashion. In other words, try to understand everything you can about the nature of the application and the details about what the fan is going to be doing and then you can actually by process of elimination, back into the appropriate types of fan. You have several fan types to choose from, like axial, centrifugal, mixed flow, but I think the first and best way to approach it is essentially in industrial commercial applications, fans are used in one of two general types of application: either as a ventilation fan where the fan just accelerates air and moves it from one side of an enclosure to another like through a wall or a roof, and that can be either supply or exhaust. So general ventilation is one type of application. Another broad type of application would be process or ducted and in these types of application, the fans are typically mounted in duct or have other components in the system or pertinences that provide back pressure against the fan. These pertinences could be fume scrubbers, mist eliminators, sound attenuators, energy transfer devices, things like that. So as the air is accelerated through those systems, there's significant, well, a wide range of pressure that the fan has to overcome. So these fans work in contained environments and develop higher pressures than general ventilation fans. So once you determine the nature of the application, general versus process or ducted, then you need to consider, well, how's the fan going to be mounted? In a general ventilation application, it's usually mounted to the roof or the wall. In a process or ducted application, it's typically mounted on a roof or a pad with duct coming into or discharging from the fan or ducted both inlet and outlet. Both of these types of application, whether it's a ventilation fan or a process or ducted fan, can be mounted in horizontal airflow or vertical airflow orientations. The initial thing that must be determined in terms of the performance of the fan is how much flow and pressure development the fan must be capable of generating. On the process or ducted type, typically there will be a broader range of pressure development requirements depending on the nature of the system. You want to think about accessibility. Where am I going to mount the fan? How am I going to be able to access the fan for inspection, periodic maintenance, or replacement if that ever becomes required? What is the temperature of the air? What is the density of the air? These factors along with the performance requirements will affect the fan construction, the fan material, and help you determine whether it is best to have a direct or belt drive fan. Noise level generated by the fan and efficiency often are considerations in selecting the fan. The noise requirements and the power consumption of the fan will have broad impact or significant impact on the size and type of fan that you will select if low noise and high efficiency are considerations. You need to think about the system and whether the system is constant flow constant volume or variable volume and if redundancy is required in the fan equipment if you have a critical service system. Whether it's constant or variable volume and whether redundancy is required either within the fan range itself or with a separate fan, these items need to be known in able to help optimize the selection of the fan to satisfy the requirements. You can feel free to contact MK Plastics for assistance with your fan selections.
Shayla: If you have any questions about anything Keith has talked about today, you can reach out to MK Plastics at 888-278-9988.