Aerotech Fans
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Engineering answers to the most common questions about industrial ventilation, air handling, and pollution control systems.
Aerodynamic surge occurs when system resistance pushes the blower beyond its stall point, causing violent, oscillating airflow reversals. It is prevented by ensuring the system operates to the right of the surge curve, or by installing an automated bleed-off bypass damper to artificially maintain minimum flow.
Bridging occurs when hygroscopic or interlocking dust forms an arch over the rotary airlock, blocking discharge. It is prevented by designing the hopper with a steep 60-degree angle of repose, and installing pneumatic fluidizers or mechanical vibrators to continuously agitate the dust cake.
Because the Venturi throat accelerates gas to extreme velocities, the throat walls are subject to severe abrasive erosion. Maintenance involves periodic ultrasonic thickness testing of the throat walls and replacing the internal silicon carbide or ceramic wear liners before structural failure occurs.
For highly abrasive airstreams containing cement clinker or boiler fly ash, impellers must be fabricated from abrasion-resistant alloys like Hardox 400/500 steel, or heavily coated with tungsten carbide, to prevent rapid blade erosion and fatal fan imbalance.
Water pooling around an AHU is almost always caused by a blocked condensate drain line or an improperly trapped drain pan. Because the blower creates negative pressure inside the cabinet, the drain must feature a P-trap with sufficient depth to overcome the static pressure and allow water to exit.
PVC eliminator plates in an Air Washer should be pressure-washed quarterly. If biological slime (algae) or mineral scaling builds up on the zig-zag profiles, it drastically increases static pressure drop and allows nuisance water droplets to carry over into the supply ductwork.
Certified commercial smoke spill fans are engineered with Class H motor insulation to operate continuously for either 2 hours at 250°C, or 2 hours at 400°C, depending on the specific local fire-code compliance and building life-safety requirements.
Standard polyester bags will melt at 250°C, so high-temperature clinker cooler baghouses must utilize woven fiberglass filter bags laminated with an ePTFE (Teflon) membrane, providing thermal stability up to 260°C and excellent release of abrasive dust.
The aluminum collector cells in a kitchen ESP must be removed and soaked in a highly alkaline degreasing bath every 1 to 4 weeks depending on the cooking volume. If the collector plates become heavily insulated with grease, they cannot generate the magnetic field required to capture smoke.
Grease leakage on the roof indicates a failure of the fan's integrated grease trap, or the use of a standard ventilator instead of a UL-762 rated upblast exhaust fan. Upblast fans feature a fully welded, leak-proof base and a discharge spout designed to safely route grease into a collection box.
For extracting highly corrosive acids like hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) offers superior chemical resistance and lifecycle longevity compared to 316L Stainless Steel, which can still succumb to chloride pitting under extreme concentrations.
Yes, VFDs are highly recommended for direct-drive centrifugal blowers. However, you must ensure the motor is Inverter-Duty Rated (typically Class F or H insulation) to withstand the voltage spikes and harmonic heating caused by the VFD's pulse-width modulation.
