FANS AND BLOWERS

Fans and blowers are turbomachines which deliver air at a desired high velocity (and accordingly at a high mass
flow rate) but at a relatively low static pressure. The pressure rise across a fan is extremely low and is of the order of a
few millimeters of water gauge. The upper limit of pressure rise is of the order of 250mm of water gauge. The rise in
static pressure across a blower is relatively higher and is more than 1000 mm of water gauge that is required to
overcome the pressure losses of the gas during its flow through various passages. A blower may be constructed in multi-
stages for still higher discharge pressure.

A large number of fans and blowers for relatively high pressure applications are of centrifugal type. The main
components of a centrifugal blower are in the figure. A blower consists of an impeller which has blades fixed between
the inner and outer diameters. The impeller can be mounted either directly on the shaft extension of the prime mover
or separately on a shaft supported between two additional bearings. Air or gas enters the impeller axially through the
inlet nozzle which provides slight acceleration to the air before its entry to the impeller. The action of the impeller
swings the gas from a smaller to a larger radius and delivers the gas at a high pressure and velocity to the casing. The
flow from the impeller blades is collected by a spiral-shaped casing known as volute casing or spiral casing . The casing
can further increase the static pressure of the air and it finally delivers the air to the exit of the blower.
Velocity triangles at inlet and outlet of different types of blades of an impeller of a centrifugal blower

It is reasonable to assume zero whirl at the entry. This condition gives

For any of the exit velocity triangles

 Head developed in meters of air

Equivalent head in meters of water

Assuming that the flow fully obeys the geometry of the impeller blades, the specific work done in an
isentropic process is

The power required to drive the fan is

The static pressure rise through the impeller is due to the change in centrifugal energy and the diffusion
of relative velocity component.

The stagnation pressure rise through the stage can also be obtained as:

The stage efficiency is defined by

Number of Blades
Too few blades are unable to fully impose their geometry on the flow, whereas too many of them restrict the flow
passage and lead to higher losses. Most of the efforts to determine the optimum number of blades have resulted in
only empirical relations given below

Impeller Size
The diameter ratio of the impeller determines the length of the blade passages. The smaller the ratio the longer is
the blade passage. The following value for the diameter ratio is often used by the designers

The following relation for the blade width to diameter ratio is recommended:

The typical performance curves describing the variation of head, power and efficiency with discharge of
a centrifugal blower or fan are
Fan Laws
The relationships of discharge Q , head H and Power P with the diameter D and rotational speed N of a
centrifugal fan can easily be expressed from the dimensionless performance parameters determined from the
principle of similarity of rotodynamic machines as described before . These relationships are known as Fan
Laws described as follows:

For the same fan, the dimensions get fixed and the laws are

For the different size and other conditions remaining same, the laws are

EXAMPLE
A small blower handles 43.33 m3/min of air whose density 1.169kg/m3. The static and velocity heads are 16.38 cmH2O
and 1.22 cmH2O gage (at 15.56°C), respectively. Local gravity acceleration is 9.741 m/s2.

a.) Find the power input to the air from the blower.
b.) If the initial velocity is negligible, find the final velocity.
SOLUTION:

𝑘𝑔
𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 1.169 3
𝑚
𝑚
𝑔 = 9.741 2
𝑠
ℎ𝑣 = 1.22 𝑐𝑚𝐻2 𝑂
ℎ𝑤𝑠 = 16.38 𝑐𝑚
𝑚3
𝑄 = 33
𝑚𝑖𝑛

𝑎. ) 𝑃𝑖𝑛,𝑎𝑖𝑟 = ?

𝑏. ) 𝑣 = ? Where velocity is negligible

a.) solving first the ,

where : , = g ℎ

from air to water relationship

thus,

gℎ = gℎ

ℎ =

where,
.
for a standard density of water, =1

Then,
.
) 6.38 )
ℎ = .
.69

ℎ = 140.12 m

thus,

, = g ℎ

, = g ℎ +ℎ )

.
, = 1.69 )(9.741 ) (43.33 ) 14 .12 1.22 )] X ( )
6 .

.
, = 1,152.37

, = 1,152.37 W or 1.15 kw

b.)solving first the = ? ,Where velocity is negligeble

where :

2
ℎ = : = 2g ℎ
2

2
= 2(9.741 )(1.22 )

2
= 0.2378

V = √ .2378

V = 0.488
EXAMPLE

A fan is driven by a belt and pulley so that it’s speed can changed by changing the pulley diameter. The fan is rated at 4
m3/s of air and 125 mmH2O gage static pressure for 1700 rpm and 15.56°C. The static efficiency is 73%. What is the
maximum speed at which the fan should operate without overloading a 7.46 KW motor if the air temperature were
95°C.

SOLUTION

𝑃𝑖𝑛,𝑎𝑖𝑟 = ?

solving the , first

By ideal gas equation of state

Where,

PV = mRT

. .
29.92 ) )
=
( .287 ) 93:273. 5)
.

Note: by unit conversion

1 kPa =

1 Kj = 1kN.m

Thus,

= 0.9642

from air to water relationship

thus,

gℎ = gℎ

ℎ =

where,
.
for a standard density of water, =1

Then,
 .
) 25 )
ℎ = .
.9642

ℎ = 129.64 m

Solving for ,

.
, = g ℎ = g ℎ )= .9642 )(9.81 ) (4 ) 129.64 )X ( ) = 4905
.

= 4905 W x

, = 4.905 Kw

Solving for =?

, ,
= : =

4.9 5
0.73 =

= 6.719 kW

From power coefficient equation

2
=( )

2
6.7 9 7
7.46
=( )

2 = 1791.29 rpm