rotation of fan and cooling effect

by DAN SMITH
(BUTTE MONTANA)

should the fan be blowing air over the compressor head, or pulling hot air off the heads?

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Bill says...

Dan, there is an engineer out there somewhere that can provide scientific type responses to questions like this.

Me, I'm pretty simple. If a fan provides a fixed air flow, and that air flow is used to blow over cooling fins of an air compressor, how do the cooling fins know if the air is being pulled or blown?

As long as the flow of air was the same, then to me, it wouldn't matter.

Anyone else?

Cheers,

Bill




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rotation of fan and cooling effect

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Jun 13, 2011
 Cooling compressor fins
by: MikeT

Dan,

It depends on the design of the compressors' cooling fins. Let me explain:

Fans produce turbulence (which is why you can feel the air moving in front of a fan and not behind it). Turbulence is good for heat transfer but causes pressure losses which reduce air velocity for a given fan size. If the fins are widely spaced or non-existent then pressure loss is probably not an issue, i.e. using the fan to push air over the compressor is best. However if the fan has tightly-spaced fins then the laminar air flow on the suction side of the fan is probably better - i.e. use the fan to pull the air over the compressor. With the suction approach it is best to duct the air over the fins for optimum air flow and thus heat transfer.

Hope this helps

Mike

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