The Basics

The most basic answer to the question, “What does a centrifugal fan do?”, is that it moves gas (air), drawing it into the inlet, turning it 90 degrees, and blowing it through the outlet to exit the fan. It moves a higher static pressure than an axial fan, which moves air and gas straight, in one direction. Without air movement inside buildings – whether a room (like in Chet’s example in the video), a house, or an industrial manufacturing facility – things would get dicey. If you were to be trapped in a small room with no ventilation, only breathing in your own exhaled air, you could only survive for so long. Imagine what would happen in a manufacturing facility where there are many other gases and particles at play! If that is all the information on centrifugal fans you were looking for, feel free to stop reading now. For a little more on how they work, carry on.

Functions

A centrifugal fan functions in two different ways within a system – to push or to pull gas/particles.  To push the air into a facility, you would use a Forced Draft (FD) Fan. It focuses the pressure and volume at the outlet of the fan to push gas through a system, creating positive air pressure.

If it’s pull you need, an Induced Draft (ID) fan is the answer, as it focuses the volume and pressure at the inlet of the fan to pull gas and other materials through the system efficiently.

Centrifugal fans and blowers are used across many industrial operations. Without their ability to pull gas or particles out of a facility and push clean air in, processes involving anything from ventilation and conveyance to material handling and exhaust would be at a standstill.

Common Applications

If you’re interested in how centrifugal fans are regularly used in industry, please check out the following applications:

In Conclusion

Centrifugal fans move gas/particles.

If you watched the video from our Senior Application Engineer / Sales & Marketing Manager, Chet White, you’ve gotten the basic answer to the question we started with. And if you read all the way to this point, you have a bit of knowledge on how centrifugal fans operate.

If you are looking for information on fans and how to use them within your system, we invite you to reach out to one of our knowledgeable application engineers!

Related Content

Here are some additional posts that might interest you as you think about the function and role of your centrifugal fan:

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