Fans
By : Omar Ali Eid Mokhtar
Reg# 07100364
Computer Engineering
For Doctor : Said Elsafy
and Eng. Sherif Zafer
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What is a fan ?
In the Wikipedia: It is a device used to produce an
airflow for the purpose of creature comfort, ventilation,
exhaust, or any other gaseous transport.
In the Oxford Dictionary: An apparatus with
rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or
ventilation.
In the Longman Dictionary: A machine with turning
blades that is used to cool the air in a room by moving it
around.
In the Wiktionary: An electrical device for moving
air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc.
What is the history of fans ?
The first recorded mechanical fan was the punkah fan
used in the Middle East in the 1500s. It had a canvas covered
frame that was suspended
from the ceiling. Servants,
pulled a rope connected to
the frame to move the fan
back and forth.
The Industrial
Revolution the late 1800s
introduced belt-driven
fans powered by factory
waterwheels. Attaching
wooden or metal blades to
shafts overhead that were
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used to drive the machinery, the first industrial fans were
developed. One of the first workable mechanical fans was
built by A.A. Sablukov in 1832. He called his invention, a kind
of a centrifugal fan, an Air Pump. Centrifugal fans were
successfully tested inside coal mines and factories in
1832-1834. When Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla introduced
electrical power in the late 1800s and early 1900s for the
public, the personal electrical fan was introduced. Between
1882 and 1886, Dr. Schuyler Skaats Wheeler developed the
two-bladed desk fan, a type of personal electric fan. It was
commercially marketed by the American firm Crocker &
Curtis electric motor company. In 1882, Philip H. Diehl
introduced the electric ceiling fan. Diehl is considered the
father of the modern electric fan. In the late 1800s, electric
fans were used only in commercial establishments or in
well-to-do households. Heat-convection fans fueled by
alcohol, oil, or kerosene were common around the turn of
the 20th century.
The first American made fans, made from around the
late 1890s to the early 1920s were very stylish. They had
brass blades, a lot of them also had brass cages, and though
they were built very well internally, they were far from
finger safe, as a lot of them had cage openings so big that
one could put an entire hand or arm right through it. Many
children had hands and fingers severely injured by those
fans.
In the 1920s, industrial advances allowed steel 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 was designed. Before
this fan, called the Silver Swan,
most household fans were fairly
plain. In the 1950s, fans were
manufactured in colors that were
bright and eye catching.
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What Are The Types Of Fans ?
The Ceiling Fan :
A ceiling fan is a device suspended
from the ceiling of a room, which
employs hub-mounted rotating paddles
to circulate air in order to produce a
cooling or destratification effect.
The Components:
An electric motor
Two to six paddles usually made of wood, MDF, metal, or
plastic; which mount under, on top of, or on the side of
the motor.
Metal arms, called blade irons (alternately blade
brackets, blade arms, blade holders, or flanges), which
connect the blades to the motor.
A mechanism for mounting the fan to the ceiling
Some fans mount using a "ball-and-socket" system.
With this system, there is a metal or plastic
hemisphere mounted on the end of the downrod;
this hemisphere rests in a ceiling-mounted metal
bracket and allows the fan to move freely (which
is very useful on vaulted ceilings).
Some fans mount using a J-hook system. In this
system, a metal hook (which comes in a variety of
configurations) secures to a ceiling-mounted
metal bolt (again, available in a variety of
configurations). Usually, there is a rubber bushing
inserted between the hook and the bolt as a noise-
reduction agent.
Some fans can be mounted using a Low-Ceiling
Adapter, a special kit which must be purchased
from the fan's manufacturer. This eliminates the
need for a downrod, and is therefore useful in
rooms with low ceiling clearance.
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The Centrifugal Fan :
is a mechanical device for moving air or other gases. It
has a fan wheel composed of
a number of fan blades
mounted around a hub. As
shown in Figure 1, the hub
turns on a driveshaft that
passes through the fan
housing. The gas enters from
the side of the fan wheel,
turns 90 degrees and
accelerates due to
centrifugal force as it flows over the fan blades and exits
the fan housing. Centrifugal fans can generate pessure
rises in the gas stream. Accordingly, they are well-suited
for industrial processes and air pollution control systems.
The Components:
Direct drive: The fan wheel can be linked directly to
the shaft of an electric motor. This means that the
fan wheel speed is identical to the motor's rotational
speed. With this type of fan drive mechanism, the fan
speed cannot be varied unless the motor speed is
adjustable.
Belt drive: Belt driven
fans use multiple belts
that rotate in a set of
sheaves mounted on
the motor shaft and
the fan wheel shaft.
The belts transmit the
mechanical energy
from the motor to the
fan.
Variable drive: Variable drive fans use hydraulic or
magnetic couplings (between the fan wheel shaft and
the motor shaft) that allow control of the fan wheel
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speed independent of the motor speed. The fan speed
controls are often integrated into automated systems
to maintain the desired fan wheel speed.
An alternate method of varying the fan speed is by
use of an electronic variable-speed drive which
controls the speed of the motor driving the fan. This
offers better overall energy efficiency at reduced
speeds than mechanical couplings.
Fan dampers: Fan dampers are used to control gas flow
into and out of the centrifugal fan. The may be
installed on the inlet side or on the outlet side of the
fan, or both. Dampers on the outlet side impose a flow
resistance that is used to control gas flow. Dampers on
the inlet side are designed to control gas flow and to
change how the gas enters the fan wheel.
Inlet dampers reduce fan energy usage due to their
ability to affect the airflow pattern into the fan.
Fan blades: The fan wheel consists of a hub on which a
number of fan blades are attached. The fan blades on
the hub can be arranged in three different ways:
forward-curved, backward-curved or radial.
Forward-curved blades: Forward-curved blades, as in
Figure 3(a), use blades that curve in the direction of
the fan wheel's rotation. These are especially sensitive
to particulates. Forward-curved blades are for high
flow, low pressure applications.
Backward-curved blades: Backward-curved blades, as in
Figure 3(b), use blades that curve against the direction
of the fan wheel's rotation. These types of fan wheels
are used in fans designed to handle gas streams with
relatively low particulate loadings because they are
prone to solids build-up. Backward-curved fans are
more energy efficient than radial blade fans.
Backward curved blades are used for high pressure,
low flow applications.
Straight radial blades:
Radial fan blades,
extend straight out
from the hub. A radial
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blade fan wheel is often used on particulate-laden gas
streams because it is the least sensitive to solids build-
up on the blades.
The Computer Fan :
A computer fan can be any fan inside a computer case
used for cooling purposes, and may
refer to fans that draw cooler air into
the case from the outside, expel warm
air from inside, or move air across a
heatsink to cool a particular
component. The use of fans and/or
other hardware to cool a computer is
sometimes referred to as active cooling.
What About the Fan Motor ?
A stand alone fan is typically powered with an electic
motor. An electric motor's poor low speed torque and
powerful high speed torque are a natural match for a fan's
load. Fans are often attached directly to the motor's
output, with no need for gears or belts. The electric motor
is either hidden in the fan's center hub or extends behind it.
For big industrial fans, 3-phase asynchronous motors are
commonly used, placed near the fan and driving it through
a belt and pulleys. Smaller fans are often powered by
shaded pole AC motor, or brushed or brushless DC motors.
AC-powered fans usually use mains voltage, while DC-
powered fans use low voltage, typically 24 V, 12 V or 5 V.
Cooling fans for computer equipment exclusively use
brushless DC motors, which produce much less
electromagnetic interference. In machines which already
have a motor, the fan is often connected to this rather
than being powered independently. This is commonly seen in
cars, boats, large cooling systems and winnowing machines,
where the fan is connected either directly to the
driveshaft or through a belt and pulleys. Another common
configuration is a dual-shaft motor, where one end of the
shaft drives a mechansim, while the other has a fan
mounted on it to cool the motor itself.
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Contents:
What is a fan ? ________________________________________________________________________ 2
What is the history of fans ? ________________________________________________ 2
What are the types of fans ? ________________________________________________ 4
Ceiling fan _______________________________________________________________________ 4
Centrifugal fan _______________________________________________________________ 6
Computer fan __________________________________________________________________ 7
What About the fan motor ? __________________________________________________ 7
Contents ___________________________________________________________________________________ 8
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References:
Wikipedia
Longman Dictionary
Oxford Dictionary
Wiktionary
fancollectors.org
