Fan Selection

If you need to cool a control cabinet, vent gases from a production process, or cool a product during a manufacturing process then your air movement requirements will be different. Your needs will also depend upon such factors as location, ambient conditions and the distance the air must travel.

There are many different types of fan available and each is designed to effect different flow patterns as regards volume and velocity and different permutations of them. The type of fan selected is only part of the equation. Designers must also take into consideration factors such as the density of air to be moved; air temperature; humidity and the pressure drop due to ducting. All ducting will have an effect on the air passing through a system and this will nearly always take the form of a restriction to flow and therefore have an influence on pressure requirements.

In reality, there are many factors that impact upon fan specification. Applications that demand particular air movement characteristics for vacuum, cooling, exhausting, extraction, aerating, ventilating and drying should undergo a system resistance assessment. Only by evaluating all the impacting factors (flow, resistance, power, size and space envelope) is it possible to ensure maximum efficiency and reliability of both the fan and the equipment involved.