What are the Different Types of Blowers and Associated Uses?
Blowers play a pivotal role in numerous applications across countless industries, from enhancing air quality to supporting complex machinery.
Whether you're involved in ventilation, cooling, or exhaust systems, understanding the differences among blower types can help you choose the right equipment for your requirements. In this guide, our specialists at BCB Sales & Service delve into the various types of blowers, such as centrifugal, regenerative, and positive displacement blowers, and their unique functions and uses.
Understanding Blowers: Their Functions and Uses
A blower is an essential tool for a myriad of applications like ventilation, cooling, and expelling exhaust, significantly boosting air velocity by transitioning gas and air from low to high-pressure settings. Blowers are exceptionally versatile, too, with different designs tailored for precise operations in terms of flow capacities and pressure levels where the required pressure is an intermediary to that offered by compressors and fans.
The primary function of a blower, however, is to amplify airflow, which in turn facilitates the expulsion of airborne pollutants such as dust and debris. This all occurs with the elevation of air or gas pressure through the centrifugal action of a rotor. Air or gas enters through an inlet, prompting the impellers (or rotors) to spin.
The action generates a centrifugal force, pushing the air or gas outward while progressively increasing its pressure, ensuring a steady compression and escalation of pressure throughout the operation.
Centrifugal Blowers
Centrifugal blowers utilise rotating impellers that accelerate the air or gas as it flows through them.
As the air enters the blower's fan wheel, it is redirected by 90 degrees and exits at an increased velocity compared to its entry. This dynamic makes centrifugal blowers ideal for continuous gas transfer and scenarios requiring high pressure and adjustable flow rates, enhancing kinetic energy as the gas circulates through the system. This balances the pressure as gas is expelled and new gas enters.
A notable variant is the multistage centrifugal blower, which consists of multiple rotating mechanisms driven, typically, by an electric motor. These blowers can elevate air or gas pressure through centrifugal force. They are characterised by their ability to handle high pressures and voluminous flow rates, making them particularly effective in applications requiring the generation of significant pressure from relatively modest air volumes.
Multistage centrifugal blowers are instrumental in various sectors, including aeration processes in wastewater treatment, boosting landfill gas, and operating artificial respiratory systems in medical applications.
Regenerative Blowers
Regenerative blowers are tailored for scenarios where moving a substantial air volume at low pressure is crucial. These blowers are often constructed with oil-free components, making them low maintenance and particularly safe for use in sensitive environments such as the food and beverage industry and medical settings. The mechanism behind regenerative blowers involves the displacement of air molecules to generate pressure. The process starts when the impeller spins, drawing air into the space between its blades.
As the impeller rotates, it propels the air forward, cycling it back to the impeller's base. This method, known as non-positive displacement, effectively traps and moves air, ensuring efficient air circulation and pressure stabilisation suitable for various industrial applications.
Positive Displacement Blower
Positive displacement blowers are adept at handling air or neutral gases in applications requiring consistent air movement. These blowers allow air or gas to enter through an inlet that expands and exits through a contracting outlet. This size disparity between the entry and exit points causes a positive air displacement, thus increasing air pressure. A distinctive attribute of these blowers is their ability to maintain a constant airflow speed despite varying pressure levels.
Rotary Lobe Blowers
Rotary lobe blowers, a specific type of positive displacement blower, utilise two counter-rotating rotors. These rotors draw in air and then expel it, generating substantial air volumes optimal for vacuum systems. Although rotary lobe blowers are low maintenance, they are known for being relatively noisy and have low air pressure output, which restricts their use to specific applications.
Helical Screw Blowers
Another variant within the positive displacement blower category is the helical screw blower, which features a primary rotor that interlocks with a secondary rotor's flute. The design ensures that the rotors never touch each other. In contrast to rotary lobe blowers, helical screw blowers can generate higher air pressures and operate more quietly. They are also more energy-efficient and typically come in a sealed configuration to minimise air leakage, enhancing their operational efficiency and suitability for various applications.
High Pressure Blower
High-pressure blowers are renowned for their ability to provide both high pressure and high flow rates, making them ideal for a wide range of applications requiring dual suction capabilities. These blowers are typically equipped with a motor and feature impellers on both sides. The direct coupling of these impellers to a permanent magnet motor allows for seamless integration with a variable frequency drive (VFD).
Designed to meet the rigorous requirements of up to 25 psi in pressure and up to 15,000 m3 per hour in flow, high-speed blowers parallel the functionality of centrifugal blowers but with enhanced capabilities. The dual impellers enable efficient dual suction, and when connected to a permanent magnet synchronous motor controlled by a VFD, these blowers achieve optimal speeds while maintaining precise flow control, suitable for demanding industrial environments.
Discuss Your Needs for Air Blower Fan Equipment with Our Team at BCB Sales & Service Today
Not sure if you need centrifugal blowers or a more industrial air blower? Still can’t tell the difference between a regenerative blower and a positive displacement blower? Looking for expert advice on selecting the right blower for your industrial needs?