WHAT IS A FAN ?

A fan is a gas flow producing machine with two or more blades or vanes attached to a rotating shaft. Each of fan, including the impeller, converts rotational mechanical energy, applied to their shafts, to total pressure increase of the moving gas. This conversion is accomplished by changing the momentum of the fluid. The fan definition is machines which increase the density of the gas by no more than 7% as it travels from inlet to outlet. This is a rise of about 7620 Pa (30 inches of water pressure) based on standard air. For pressure higher than 7620 Pa (30 in. WG), the air-moving device is a compressor, or pressure blower.

 There are three main components in a fan: the impeller (sometimes referred to wheel or rotor), the driving the casing. To forecast with reasonable accuracy the installed performance of a fan a designer must know : How the fan was rated and tested. The effects the air distribution system will have on the fans performance. Fans of different types, or even fans of the same type supplied by different manufacturers, will not interact with the system in the same way.

FAN TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS

Standard Air (SI) Dry air at 20C and 101.325 kPa. Under these conditions dry air has a mass density of 1.204 kg/m3. Water Gauge (WG) The measure of pressure above atmospheric expressed as the height of a column of water in mm (inches) (atmospheric at sea level equals 10000 mm (407.1 inches) of water (Fig. 1)

Static Pressure

The difference between the absolute pressure at a point in an airstream or a plenum chamber and the absolute pressure of ambient atmosphere (being positive when the pressure at the point is above the ambient pressure and negative when below). It acts equally in all directions, is independent of velocity and is a measure of the potential energy available in an airstream.

Velocity Pressure /Dynamic Pressure Is the pressure require to accelerate air from zero velocity to some velocity and is proportional to the kinetic energy of the air stream. The velocity pressure will only be exerted in the direction of air flow and is always positive. (Fig. 2)

Total Pressure The algebraic sum of static and velocity pressure. It is a measure of the total energy available in an air stream. (Fig.3) TP = SP + VP Fan Total Pressure The algebraic difference between the mean total pressure at the fan outlet and the mean total pressure at the fan inlet. It is the measure of the total mechanical energy added to the air or gas by fan. How this is measured is show in Fig.4.

Fan Static Pressure The fan static pressure is a defined quantity used in rating fans and cannot be measured directly. It is the fan total pressure minus the velocity pressure corresponding to the mean air velocity at the fan outlet. Note that it is not the difference between the static pressure at the outlet and the static pressure at the inlet i.e : it is not the external system static pressure.

Air Flow (Q) The cubic meter per second (CMS) of air produced by a fan in a given system is independent of the air density. Air Horsepower (A kW) Assuming 100% efficiency, it is the horsepower required to move a given volume of air against a given pressure.

Brake Horsepower (B kW) It is the actual horsepower a fan requires. It is greater than air horsepower, because no fan is actually 100% efficient. It may include power absorbed by V-belt drives, accessories, and any other power requirements, in addition to power input to the fan.

Static Efficiency (S.E.) The static air horsepower (A kW) divided by the power input to the fan.

Mechanical Efficiency (M.E.) Also called total efficiency (T.E). Ratio of power output over power input.

Blocked Tight Static Pressure (BTSP) Operating condition when the fan outlet is completely closed, resulting in no air flow. (Fig. 5) Fully Open Air Flow (WOCMS) Also called wide open CMS (WOCMS). At this operating condition, static pressure across the fan is zero. (Fig. 6)

Wide Open Brake Horsepower (WOBkW) The horsepower (kW) consumed when the fan is operating at fully open CMS. Frequently, fan characteristics are referred to in terms of the percent of wide open CMS (percent WOCMS) which is for a given fan then fixes the corresponding percent blocked tight static pressure (percent BTSP) and percent wide open brake horsepower WOB kW.

Application Range The range of operating volumes and pressures, determined by the manufacturer, at which a fan will operate satisfactorily. (Fig. 7) Typical application range for forward curved centrifugal fan is from 30% to 80% WOCMS, backward inclined fans is from 40% to 85% WOCMS

Tip speed (TS) Also called peripheral velocity, equals the circumference of the fan wheel time the RPM of the fan and is expressed in m/s (ft/min). Fig. 8

FAN LAWS
It is not practicable to test the performance of every size of fan in a manufacturers range at all speeds at which it may be applied. Nor it is possible to simulate every inlet density which may be encountered. Fortunately, by use of the Fan Laws, it is possible to predict with good accuracy the performance of a fan at other speeds and densities than those of the original rating test. It is important to note, however, that these Laws apply to a given point of operation on the fan characteristic. They cannot be used to predict other points on this characteristic curve.

These Laws are most often used to calculate change in flow rate, pressure and power of a fan when the size, speed or gas density is changed. The fan Laws will be accurate for geometrically proportioned fans; however, because tolerances are usually not proportioned, slightly better performance is generally obtained when projecting from a given fan size to a larger one. Fan laws equations :

Change in Fan Speed First considered are the fan laws applying to a change only in speed (constant system) with a given fan and a given system handling air at a given density. (Fig.1)

Efficiency will not change.

Change in Fan Size Fan Laws 2 account for changes in performance due to proportioned changes in fan size, based on constant tip speed, with constant speed, air density, fan proportions and fixed operating point. (Fig. 2)

It is used mostly by fan designers and rarely has application in the field.

Fan Laws 3 also account for changes in performance due to proportioned changes in fan size but it based on constant fan speed, with air density, fan proportions and fixed operating point. (Fig. 3)

It is usually used by fan manufacturers to generate performance data for geometrically proportioned families of fans.

Change in Air Density Considered next is the effect of change in air density on fan performance, three fan laws apply in this situation. Fan Law 4 (Fig. 4) with constant volume, system, fan size, and speed. The fan volume, in Q will not change with density. A fan is a constant volume machine and will produce the same Q no matter what the air density may be.

Fan law 5 (Fig. 5) with constant pressure, system, and fan size. Variable speed.

Fan law 6 (Fig. 6) with constant mass flow rate, constant system and fixed fan size. Variable fan speed.

Fan laws 4 and 6 are the basis for selecting fans for other than standard air density using the catalogue fan tables which are based on standard air.

Example No. 1 An air-conditioning supply fan is operating at a speed of 600 rpm against static pressure 500 Pa and requiring power of 6.50 BkW. It is delivering 19,000 CMH at standard conditions. In order to handle an air-conditioning load heavier than originally planned, more air is desired. In order to increase the flow rate to 21,500 CMH, what are the new fan speed, static pressure and power ? Using Fan Law 1 (Fig. 7)

Example No.2 A fan is operating at a speed of 2715 rpm on 20C air against static pressure 300Pa. It is delivering 3,560 CMH and requires 2.84 BkW. A 5 kW motor is powering the fan. The system is short capacity but the owner doesnt want to spend any money to change the motor. What is the maximum capacity from his system with the existing 5 kW motor? What is the allowable speed increase? What will the flow rate and static pressure be under the new conditions? Using Fan Law 1 (Fig. 8)

Example No.3 A fan manufacturer wishes to project data obtained for a 400 mm-dia. fan to a 800mm-dia. fan. At one operating point the 400 mm fan delivers 7,750 CMH of 20C air against 100 Pa static pressure. This requires 694 rpm (tip speed = 14.53 m/s) and 1.77 BkW. What will the projected flow rate, static pressure, power and tip speed (TS) be for a 800 mm fan at the same speed. Using Fan Law 3 (Fig. 9)

This, plus Fan Law 1, are the fan laws used to project catalogue data for many diameters and speeds from a test on a single fan at one speed

Example No.4 A fan drawing air from an oven is delivering 18,620 CMH of 116C air against 250 Pa static pressure. It is operating at 796 rpm and requires 9.90 BkW. Assume the oven loses its heat and the air is at 20C. What happens to the static pressure and impeller power required ? Using Fan Law 4 (Fig. 10)

This example illustrates why the fan motor should always be selected on the power at the maximum density, which would be at the lowest air temperature expected.

Example No.5 An engineer specifies that he wants 15,200 CMH at 200 Pa static pressure, 49C and 300 m altitude. Determine the fan speed and power. (There are two ways to solve this problem, Using Fan Law 4 or Fan Law 6). Using Fan Law 4 (Fig. 11)

In order to enter in the manufacturers catalogue fan tables which are based on standard air, we must determine the static pressure that would be required with standard air. From a chart of air density ratios, we would find from the catalogue fan table, we find to deliver 15,200 CMH against 225 Pa will require 1120 rpm. The power required is 8.07 BkW. The speed is correct at 1120, but since the fan is handling less dense air, then :

Note also from this example that the static pressure resistance of the system varies directly with air density.

Using Fan Law 6 (Fig. 12)

In this case, assume that operating condition is standard to determine the speed and power in the catalogue. Then the catalogue power and static pressure will be corrected according to Fan Law 6.

The fan will deliver 13,400 CMH against 175 Pa when operating at 988 rpm. Required power 5.55BkW. Correcting the speed for density according to Fan Law 6, we obtain :

As would be expected, the answer comes out the same with either solution.

Example No.6 Assume that a fan is handling 41,280 CMH at static pressure of 300 Pa, running at 418 rpm and requiring 14.99 BkW. If the speed remains constant at 418 rpm, but an additional resistance of 100 Pa (based on existing velocities) is placed in the system, the static pressure would be 400 Pa if the capacity, 41,280 CMH, remains the same. From the fan manufacturers rating table, it is seen that the speed would have to be increased to 454 rpm and would require 18.7 BkW. This new fan rating must be reduced to the predetermined speed of 418 rpm along the new duct resistance curve by use of Fan Law 1.

This example, is useful in those cases where added resistance, such as absolute filters, is inserted in the fan system and thereby raises its static pressure beyond the fan manufacturers catalogued ratings.

FAN PERFORMANCE CURVES

Since each type and size of fan has different characteristics, fan performance curve must be developed by the fan manufacturers. A fan performance curve is a graphical presentation of the performance of a fan. Usually it covers the entire range from free delivery (no obstruction to flow) to no delivery (an air tight system with no air flowing). One, or more of the following characteristics may be plotted against volume flow rate (Q).

Gas density (), fan size, and speed (N) are usually constant for the entire curve and must be stated. A typical fan performance curve is shown in Fig. 1.

 Generally, these curves are determined by laboratory tests, conducted according to an appropriate industry test standard, e.g. Air Movement and Control Association International Inc. (AMCA). It is important to note that the test setup required by AMCA standards is nearly ideal. For this reason, the performance curves for static pressure and brake horsepower versus airflow, are those obtained under ideal conditions, which rarely exist in practice. The Fan Laws are used to determine the brake horsepower and performance characteristics at other speeds and fan sizes; normally, as mentioned before, only one fan size and speed must be tested to determine the capacity for a given family of fans.

SYSTEM RESISTANCE CURVE

System resistance is the sum total of all pressure losses through filters, coils, dampers, and duct work. The system resistance curve (Fig. I) is simply a plot of the pressure that is required to move air through the system. For fixed systems, that is, with no changes in damper settings, etc., system resistance varies as the square of the air volume (Q). The resistance curve for any system is represented by a single curve. For example., consider a system handling 1000 CMH with a total resistance of 100 Pa SP .

If the Q is doubled, the SP resistance will increase to 400 Pa, as shown by the squared value of the ratio given in Fig.1.This curve changes, however, as filters load with dirt, coils start condensing moisture, or when outlet dampers are changed in position.

The operating point (Fig. 2) at which the fan and system will perform is determined by the intersection of the system resistance curve and fan performance curve. Note that every fan operates only along its performance curve. If the system resistance designed is not the same as the resistance in the system installed, the operating point will change and the static pressure and volume delivers will not be as calculated.

Note in Fig.3 that the actual system has more pressure drop than predicted in the design. Thus, air volume is reduced and static pressure is increased.

The shape of the kW curve typically would result in a reduction in BkW. Typically, the RPM would then be increased and more BkW would be needed to achieve the desired Q. In many cases where there is a difference between actual and calculated fan output, it is due to a change in system resistance rather than any shortcomings of the fan or motor. Frequently the mistake is made of taking the static pressure reading across the fan and concluding that if it is at or above design requirements, the Q is also at or above design requirements. Fig. 3 shows why the assumption is completely invalid.

SYSTEM SURGE, FAN SURGE AND PARALLELING

The three main reasons for unstable airflow in a fan systems are (1) System surge, (2) Fan Surge and (3) Paralleling.

SYSTEM SURGE, FAN SURGE AND PARALLELING System Surge System surge occurs when the system resistance and fan performance curves do not intersect at a distinct point but rather over a range of volumes and pressures. This situation does not occur with backward inclined (BI), airfoil (AF), and radial fans. However, it can occur with a forward curve centrifugal fan when operating, as shown in Fig. 1.

In this situation, because the fan curve and system curve are almost parallel, the operating point can be over a range of airflow and static pressures. This will result in unstable operation known as system surge, pulsation, or pumping. System surge should not be confused with paralleling, which can only occur when two fans are installed in parallel.

Fan Surge

Fan surge is different from system surge, they may or may not occur at the same time. (Fig.2)

For any fan, the point of minimum pressure occurs at the center of rotation of the fan wheel and the maximum pressure occurs just at the discharge side of the wheel. If the wheel were not turning and this pressure differential existed, flow would be from the high pressure point to the low pressure point. This is opposite from the direction air normally flows through the fan. The only thing that keeps the air moving in the proper direction is the whirling of the blades. Stall occurs unless there is sufficient air entering the fan wheel to completely fill the space between the blades.

This shows up in Fig. 3 as fluctuation in air volume and pressure. This surge can both felt and heard and occurs in nearly all fan types, to varying degrees, as block-tight static pressure is approached. The radial blade is a notable exception. While the magnitude of surge varies for different type of fans, (being greatest for airfoil and least for forward curve), the pressure fluctuation close to block-tight may be on the order of 10%. For example, a fan in surge developing about 600 Pa of total static pressure might have pressure fluctuation of 600/10 of an Pa. This explains why a large fan in surge is in tolerable. Equipment room walls have been cracked from the vibration of ducts serving a fan in surge.

Selections should not be made to the left of the surge point on the fan curve. This point, which defines a system curve when all operating speeds of the fan are considered, varies for different fan installations. For instance, stable operation can be obtained much further to the left when the fan is installed in an ideal laboratory type situation. These conditions, of course are seldom encountered in field applications. Consequently, most manufacturers do not catalogue operating ranges all the way to the surge line. However, since the catalogue cut-off point is basically one of engineering judgment, conservative catalogue performance data will provide operating ranges, which will allow stable operation with any reasonable field ductwork design.

PARALLELING The third cause for unstable operation is paralleling, (Fig. 4), which can occur only in a multiple fan installation connected with either a common inlet or common discharge, or both in the same system, particularly when large volume of air must be removed

The combined air flow-pressure curve in this case is obtained by adding the airflow capacity of each fan at the same pressure. (Fig. 5)

The total performance of the multiple fans will be less than the theoretical sum it inlet condition are restricted or the flow into the inlets is not straight. Some fans have a positive slope in the pressure-air volume curve to the left of the peak pressure point. If fans operating in parallel are selected in the region of this positive slope, unstable operation may result.

The closed loop to the left of the peak pressure point is the result of plotting all the possible combinations of air volume at each pressure. If the system curve intersects the combined air volume-pressure curve in the area enclosed by the loop, more than one point of operation is possible. This may cause one of the fans to handle more of the air and could cause a motor overload if the fans are individually driven. This unbalanced flow condition tends to reverse readily the result that the fans will intermittently load and unload. This pulsing often generates noise and vibration and may cause damage to the fans, ductwork

This requires the installation of scroll volume (outlet volume) dampers (Fig. 6). It serves to change the shape of the fan scroll and thus, for each position of the damper, there is a corresponding different performance curve.

The fan curve resulting from various positions of the outlet volume dampers is shown in Fig. 7. The purpose is to change the fan curve sufficiently such that the sum of the difference curve will intersect the single fan curve at A and provide stable operation. The performance may be reduced slightly and a corresponding increase in RPM should be made to achieve the specified conditions. However, this is rarely done since difference is typically negligible.

The use of axial flow fans in parallel presents very real potential noise problems unless special measures are taken at the design stage; add-on noise control is not normally possible. A noise problem often encountered with fans operating in parallel is beating. This is caused by slight difference in speed of rotation of the two theoretically identical fans. The resulting low frequency beating noise can be very annoying and difficult to eliminate. The problem can be likened to the stroboscopic effect of a fluorescent light illuminating a rotating wheel with a slight difference between the frequencies of rotating of the wheel and the AC supply to the light.