A fan is a powered machine used to create a flow of air.

A fan consists of a rotating

arrangement of vanes or blades, which act on the air. The rotating assembly of blades and hub
is known as an impeller, rotor, or runner. Usually, it is contained within some form of
housing, or case.[1] This may direct the airflow, or increase safety by preventing objects from
contacting the fan blades. Most fans are powered by electric motors, but other sources of
power may be used, including hydraulic motors, handcranks, and internal combustion
engines.

Mechanically, a fan can be any revolving vane, or vanes used for producing currents of air.
Fans produce air flows with high volume and low pressure (although higher than ambient
pressure), as opposed to compressors which produce high pressures at a comparatively low
volume. A fan blade will often rotate when exposed to an air-fluid stream, and devices that
take advantage of this, such as anemometers and wind turbines, often have designs similar to
that of a fan.

Further information: centrifugal compressor

Typical applications include climate control and personal thermal comfort (e.g., an electric
table or floor fan), vehicle engine cooling systems (e.g., in front of a radiator), machinery
cooling systems (e.g., inside computers and audio power amplifiers), ventilation, fume
extraction, winnowing (e.g., separating chaff of cereal grains), removing dust (e.g. sucking as
in a vacuum cleaner), drying (usually in combination with a heat source) and providing draft
for a fire.

While fans are often used to cool people, they do not cool air (electric fans may warm it
slightly due to the warming of their motors), but work by evaporative cooling of sweat and
increased heat convection into the surrounding air, due to the airflow from the fans. Thus,
fans may become ineffective at cooling the body if the surrounding air is near body
temperature and contains high humidity. A fan blade is generally made of wood, plastic, or
metal.

Fans have several applications in the industries. Some fans directly cool the machine and
process, and may be indirectly used for cooling in the case of industrial heat exchangers.

These are critical machines and responsible for operating the entire plant, which may shut
down without the proper fan. In mine and tunnel, it also used as safety equipment.

Contents
 1 History
o 1.1 Steam
o 1.2 Electrical
 2 Types
o 2.1 Axial-flow
o 2.2 Centrifugal
o 2.3 Cross-flow fan
 3 Uncommon types
 o 3.1 Bellows
o 3.2 Coandă effect
o 3.3 Convective
o 3.4 Electrostatic
 4 Noise
 5 Fan motor drive methods
 6 Solar powered fan
 7 See also
 8 References
 9 External links

History

Patent drawing for a Fan Moved by Mechanism, November 27, 1830

The punkah fan was used in India about 500 BCE. It was a handheld fan made from bamboo
strips or other plant fiber, that could be rotated or fanned to move air. During British rule, the
word came to be used by Anglo-Indians to mean a large swinging flat fan, fixed to the ceiling
and pulled by a servant called the punkawallah.

For purposes of air conditioning, the Han Dynasty craftsman and engineer Ding Huan (fl. 180
CE) invented a manually operated rotary fan with seven wheels that measured 3 m (10 ft) in
diameter; in the 8th century, during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the Chinese applied
hydraulic power to rotate the fan wheels for air conditioning, while the rotary fan became
even more common during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).[2][3]

In the 17th century, the experiments of scientists including Otto von Guericke, Robert Hooke
and Robert Boyle, established the basic principles of vacuum and airflow. The English
architect Sir Christopher Wren applied an early ventilation system in the Houses of
Parliament that used bellows to circulate air. Wren's design would be the catalyst for much
later improvement and innovation. The first rotary fan used in Europe was for mine
ventilation during the 16th century, as illustrated by Georg Agricola (1494–1555).[4]

John Theophilus Desaguliers, a British engineer, demonstrated the successful use of a fan
system to draw out stagnant air from coal mines in 1727 and soon afterward he installed a
similar apparatus in Parliament.[5] Good ventilation was particularly important in coal mines
to reduce casualties from asphyxiation. The civil engineer John Smeaton, and later John
Buddle installed reciprocating air pumps in the mines in the North of England. However, this
arrangement was not as ideal as the machinery was liable to breaking down.
Steam

In 1849 a 6m radius steam-driven fan, designed by William Brunton, was made operational in
the Gelly Gaer Colliery of South Wales. The model was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of
1851. Also in 1851 David Boswell Reid, a Scottish doctor, installed four steam-powered fans
in the ceiling of St George's Hospital in Liverpool, so that the pressure produced by the fans
would force the incoming air upward and through vents in the ceiling.[6][7] Improvements in
the technology were made by James Nasmyth, Frenchman Theophile Guibal and J. R.
Waddle.[8]

Electrical

Two c. 1980 box fans

Between 1882 and 1886 Schuyler Wheeler invented a fan powered by electricity.[9] It was
commercially marketed by the American firm Crocker & Curtis electric motor company. In
1885 a desktop electric fan was commercially available by Stout, Meadowcraft & Co. in New
York.[10]

In 1882, Philip Diehl developed the world's first electric ceiling fan. During this intense
period of innovation, fans powered by alcohol, oil, or kerosene were common around the turn
of the 20th century. In 1909, KDK of Japan pioneered the invention of mass-produced
electric fans for home use. In the 1920s, industrial advances allowed steel fans to be mass-
produced in different shapes, bringing fan prices down and allowing more homeowners to
afford them. In the 1930s, the first art deco fan (the "Silver Swan") was designed by
Emerson.[11] By the 1940s, Crompton Greaves of India became the world's largest
manufacturer of electric ceiling fans mainly for sale in India, Asia, and the Middle East. By
the 1950s, table and stand fans were manufactured in bright colors and eye-catching.

Window and central air conditioning in the 1960s caused many companies to discontinue
production of fans,[12] but in the mid-1970s, with an increasing awareness of the cost of
electricity and the amount of energy used to heat and cool homes, turn-of-the-century styled
ceiling fans became immensely popular again as both decorative and energy-efficient units.

In 1998 William Fairbank and Walter K. Boyd invented the high-volume low-speed (HVLS)
ceiling fan, designed to reduce energy consumption by using long fan blades rotating at low
speed to move a relatively large volume of air.[13]

Types
Ceiling fan with a lamp

Mechanical revolving blade fans are made in a wide range of designs. They are used on the
floor, table, desk, or hung from the ceiling (ceiling fan). They can also be built into a
window, wall, roof, chimney, etc. Most electronic systems such as computers include fans to
cool the circuits inside, and in appliances such as hair dryers and portable space heaters and
mounted/installed wall heaters. They are also used for moving air in air-conditioning systems,
and in automotive engines, where they are driven by belts or by a direct motor. Fans used for
comfort create a wind chill by increasing the heat transfer coefficient but do not lower
temperatures directly. Fans used to cool electrical equipment or in engines or other machines
do cool the equipment directly by forcing hot air into the cooler environment outside of the
machine.

There are three main types of fans used for moving air, axial, centrifugal (also called radial)
and cross flow (also called tangential). The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Performance Testing Code 11 (PTC)[14] provides standard procedures for conducting and
reporting tests on fans, including those of the centrifugal, axial, and mixed flows.

Axial-flow

An axial box fan for cooling electrical equipment

Axial-flow fans have blades that force air to move parallel to the shaft about which the blades
rotate. This type of fan is used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from small cooling
fans for electronics to the giant fans used in cooling towers. Axial flow fans are applied in air
conditioning and industrial process applications. Standard axial flow fans have diameters of
300–400 mm or 1,800–2,000 mm and work under pressures up to 800 Pa. Special types of
fans are used as low-pressure compressor stages in aircraft engines. Examples of axial fans
are:
 Table fan: Basic elements of a typical table fan include the fan blade, base, armature,
and lead wires, motor, blade guard, motor housing, oscillator gearbox, and oscillator
shaft. The oscillator is a mechanism that motions the fan from side to side. The
armature axle shaft comes out on both ends of the motor, one end of the shaft is
attached to the blade and the other is attached to the oscillator gearbox. The motor
case joins to the gearbox to contain the rotor and stator. The oscillator shaft combines
the weighted base and the gearbox. A motor housing covers the oscillator mechanism.
The blade guard joins to the motor case for safety.
 Domestic Extractor Fan: Wall or ceiling mounted, the domestic extractor fan is
employed to remove moisture and stale air from domestic dwellings. Bathroom
extractor fans typically utilize a four-inch (100 mm) impeller, whilst kitchen extractor
fans typically use a six-inch (150 mm) impeller as the room itself is often bigger.
Axial fans with five-inch (125 mm) impellers are also used in larger bathrooms
though are much less common. Domestic axial extractor fans are not suitable for duct
runs over 3 m or 4 m, depending on the number of bends in the run, as the increased
air pressure in longer pipework inhibits the performance of the fan.[15]
 Electro-mechanical fans: Among collectors, are rated according to their condition,
size, age, and several blades. Four-blade designs are the most common. Five-blade or
six-blade designs are rare. The materials from which the components are made, such
as brass, are important factors in fan desirability.
 Ceiling fan: A fan suspended from the ceiling of a room is a ceiling fan. Most ceiling
fans rotate at relatively low speeds and do not have blade guards. Ceiling fans can be
found in both residential and industrial/commercial settings.
 In automobiles, a mechanical fan provides engine cooling and prevents the engine
from overheating by blowing or drawing air through a coolant-filled radiator. The fan
may be driven with a belt and pulley off the engine's crankshaft or an electric motor
switched on or off by a thermostatic switch.
 Computer fan for cooling electrical components and in laptop coolers
 Fans inside audio power amplifiers help to draw heat away from the electrical
components.
 variable-pitch fan: A variable-pitch fan is used where precise control of static pressure
within supply ducts is required. The blades are arranged to rotate upon a control-pitch
hub. The fan wheel will spin at a constant speed. The blades follow the control pitch
hub. As the hub moves toward the rotor, the blades increase their angle of attack and
an increase in flow results.

Household electric "box" fan with a propeller-style blade

 Play media

A multi-directional ceiling fan in Yangon Circular Railway.

80 hp variable-pitch supply fan