INTRODUCTION

Fans, blowers, and compressors are all devices that move fluids across an adverse pressure difference, i.e., from a region of lower pressure to a region of higher pressure. The fluid may require the higher pressure to overcome frictional losses in subsequent piping, to participate in a high-pressure operation such as a chemical reactor, or to serve as the drive medium in a hydraulic or pneumatic system. Or the objective may lie on the inlet side of the device where it is desired to maintain vacuum in some region, in which case the pressure on the outlet side may simply be atmospheric. In any of these cases there may or may not be a change in net velocity. The two broad categories of fluid to be moved are liquids and gases. Liquids are moved by pumps; gases are moved by fans, blowers, and compressors. The main differences between the moving of liquids and the moving of gases is that gases undergo significant changes in volume and temperature if the rise in pressure is appreciable. Fans, blowers and compressors are differentiated by the method used to move the air, and by the system pressure they must operate against. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) uses the specific ratio, which is the ratio of the discharge pressure over the suction pressure, to define fans, blowers and compressors. Difference between Fans, Blowers, and Compressors Equipment Fans Blowers Compressors Specific Ratio Up to 1.11 1.11 to 1.20 More than 1.20

FANS AND BLOWERS

Fans and blowers are widely used in industrial and commercial applications such as ventilation, material handling, boilers, refrigeration, dust collection, cooling applications and others. Gas handling equipment is used to transfer materials through pipe lines, during which just enough pressure or head is generated to

overcome line friction, or to raise or lower the pressure to some required operating level in connected process equipment. Fans accept gases at near atmospheric pressure and raise the pressure by approximately 3% (12 in. of water), usually on air for ventilating or circulating purposes. Blowers is a term applied to machines that raise the pressure to an intermediate level, usually to less than 40 psig, but more than accomplished by fans.

Some Applications
Fans and blowers are used for many types of ventilating work such as airconditioning systems. In large buildings, blowers are often used due to the high delivery pressures needed to overcome the pressure drop in the ventilation system. Most of these blowers are of the centrifugal type. Blowers are also used to supply draft air to boilers and furnaces. Fans are used to move large volumes of air or gas through ducts, supplying air for drying, conveying material suspended in the gas stream, removing fumes, condensing towers and other high-flow, low-pressure applications.