SHRI VILE PARLE KELAVANI MANDAL’S

Institute of Technology, Dhule.

Dist. Dhule (M.S.).
www.svkm-iot.ac.in

CENTRIFUGAL AIR BLOWER TEST RIG

Aim: - To determine the overall efficiency of a centrifugal blower.

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Apparatus Required:-
 Stop watch
 Spanner

DESCRIPTION:-

Centrifugal blower is a non-positive displacement or a steady flow machine. It

discharges high volume air with a comparatively low pressure with respect to the positive
displacement type’s machines. Centrifugal blowers are widely used in industrial
applications where there is a requirement for constant flow of larger volumes of air such
as in ventilation, combustion, transporting materials, cooling and heating systems, dust
control, air conveyor systems, and industrial vacuum applications. The two most common
types of Centrifugal Blowers are Pressure Blowers and Volume Blowers. Pressure
Blowers are designed to draw or push air at high pressures, rated in static pressure water
gauge (SPWG). Volume Blowers are designed to draw or push larger volumes of air, rated
in cubic feet of air per minute (CFM), at lower static pressures than Pressure Blowers.
Centrifugal Blowers are typically made of fabricated steel, stainless steel or cast aluminum.
Blower consist of motor, impeller and its body. Three impellers are provided with
setup are forward curved, backward curved, radial curved vane. These are interchangeable
and may be one of them can be fixed on motor shaft. An electric motor is used to run the
blower. Blower vanes are directly mounted on the motor shaft. The rotating part of
centrifugal blower is called impeller. It consist of series of vanes. The impeller is mounted
on a shaft which is connected to shaft of electric motor. The casing of Centrifugal Blower

Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.

is vortex casing (increasing cross sectional area).It surrounds the impeller and is designed
in such a way that kinetic energy of impeller is transferred to air gets converted into
pressure energy before the air leaves the casing and enters the delivery pipe. Pitot tube is a
cylindrical tube used in the delivery pipe and its one end is connected to manometer to
measure the differential pressure and hence to measure the flow rate of air delivered. A
gate valve is used to control the flow rate of the delivered air in delivery pipe.

WORKING OF CENTRIFUGAL BLOWER:-

The centrifugal blower works on the principle of forced vortex flow, which means
that when an external torque rotates certain mass of fluid ,the rise in pressure head of the
rotating fluid takes place. The rise in pressure head any point of the rotating fluid is
proportional to the square of the tangential velocity (rise in pressure head is v2/2g) of the
liquid at that point. Thus at the out let of impeller where radius is more, the rise is pressure
head will be more, and fluid (air) will be discharged at outlet with a high pressure head.
The Centrifugal Blower Test Rig gives the study of a universal blower in which
different type of impeller’s can be interchanged in the casing one by one. The air pressure
is measured with the help of a manometer. Discharge is measured with the help of an orifice
meter. An energy meter is provided to measure the power input. Thus the overall efficiency
of the blower can be found out.

Fig. 2 Shapes of vanes of centrifugal blower

Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.

DIAGRAM OF CENTRIFUGAL BLOWER TEST RIG:-

SPECIFICATIONS :-

1. Motor – 2 H.P., 3 Ph., 2800 rpm Induction motor.

2. Impeller’s – Daimeter 370 mm a) Radial b) Forward & c) Backward.
3. Orificemeter -- to measure the flow rate of blower having Ø 70 mm.
4. Energymeter – to measure the power input (Energy meter constant = 1600
imp./Kw/hr.)
5. Valve – to control the flow rate of blower. ( at the end of the discharge pipe)
6. Pitot Tube : Pitot tube is used to measure fluid flow velocity

Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.

PROCEDURE : –

01. Fill up clean water in all the 2 manometers up to half of its length.
02. Mount any selected impeller in the casing properly. See that after clamping the
impeller, it rotates freely in the casing.
03. Initially, open the gate valve at the end of piping completely.
04. Switch ‘ON’ blower. See that the Impeller rotates in a proper direction.
Note.- If the motor rotates in opposite direction, interchange any two phases in
supply line. See that the blower is completely stopped before switching ‘ON’.
05. After starting the blower, wait for 2 to 3 minutes, till the impeller is set to a steady
speed. Note down the manometer difference of orifice meter, blower pressure, pitot
tube & time required for 10 impulse of the energy meter.
06. Change the gate valve position & take down all the readings.
07. Repeat the procedure for different impellers.

OBSERVATION TABLE :-

Sr. Impeller Impeller Position Blower Orificemeter Time for 10 imp. of

No. Type Head Manometer energymeter ‘t’ (sec)
’H’(mm) ‘hw’ (mm)
1 Radial Half opening
2 Radial 3/4 opening
3 Radial Full opening

Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.

 CALCULATIONS:

1. Blower Head 1000

H = ‘hw’ in mtr. X -------- = …. m. of air.
þa

where, þa = Density of air 1.17 kg/m3 at NTP.

2. Discharge of blower

Q = cd x /4 x d2 x  2g. [ hw. (1000/ þa )]

= 0.64 x /4 x (0.07)2 x  2 x 9.81. [ hw (1000/ 1.17 ) ]

Q = …….. m3 / sec

hw = Manometer head in mtr.

3. Input power

10 x 3600 10 x 3600
I.P. = ---------------- Kw. = -------------- = ------------- Kw.
t x 1600 ------ x 1600

4. Shaft power

S.P. = I.P. x 0.75 Watt. (Motor efficiency = 0.75)

= I.P. x 1000 x 0.75

= Watt.

Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.

5. Out put power

O.P. = P. Q . H (where, P= 11.477 N/m3 )

= 11.5 x ______ x _____

= Watt.

6. Overall efficiency-

Output power
 = ------------------ x 100
Shaft power

RESULT TABLE:

Sr. Impeller Impeller Position Discharge of Blower Overall Efficiency of Blower

No. Type
1 Radial Half opening
2 Radial 3/4 opening
3 Radial Full opening

CONCLUSION:

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Department of Mechanical Engineering SVKM’S Iot, Dhule.