How Centrifugal Fans Work

06-28-2019

This article is about how centrifugal fans work. Centrifugal fans use the force of spinning objects to move air around. It uses two spinning discs, the small blades in between them and those blades will catch air as it is spinning in it in a certain direction and throw the air of this housing. There are three main components to a centrifugal fan. There is a motor, the fan wheel and the housing.

Centrifugal fans are similar to turbochargers in the fact that they take gas in the side and throw it out in a 90 degree angle to the fan wheel. The electrical motor is connected to the wheel by the direct drive which is directly onto the armature of the motor. Or the belt drive which is the belt that goes on that disc using belt.

There are three different types of fan blades on the fan wheel. There is the forward curved, which is used for relatively low pressure, high volume applications, for like hot air dispersion.  Backward curved type of fan blades are higher pressure and lower volume, turbochargers and compressors. And the radial is the basic and gives you a kind of balance of both.

Centrifugal fans are different from axial or bladed fans in that the airflow is going to be at a 90 degree or perpendicular to the armature. And for an axial fan, it is going to be coming in parallel to the shaft about which the blades rotate.