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Airstream Classifier

Run the Airstream Classifier MicroSim Fullscreen

To run this sketch in the p5.js editor, first add the kit files it uses (fanpedia-sim.css, fanpedia-core.js and fanpedia-p5.js from ../shared-libs/, or their published URLs under https://moroshek.github.io/FanTASTIC-textbook/sims/shared-libs/) to the editor's index.html, then paste ch01-airstream-classifier.js as the sketch.

About This MicroSim

A fan's impeller and housing sit in the airstream, so what the air carries decides the impeller, the arrangement, the accessories and the construction. This sorter gives you ten airstreams and five bins, each with its definition on screen:

  • A. Clean air: no significant solids, moisture, corrosives, flammables or hazardous fumes, at any temperature.
  • B. Solids: contaminated with solids that wear or build up on the impeller.
  • C. Corrosive or moisture: contaminated with corrosive gases or heavy moisture that attack materials.
  • D. Flammable: contaminated with flammable vapors, gases or dusts that make a spark dangerous.
  • E. Hazardous fumes: contaminated with fumes hazardous to people, which must be diluted and discharged away from the building.

The ten cards range from office supply air and outdoor make-up air to paper trim, a foundry shakeout, a plating tank, a dishwasher room, a paint booth, lab fume hoods, a battery charging room and a 400°F drying oven. They appear one at a time in a shuffled order that is fixed for the session.

Your first placement of each card is scored. A correct placement shows "✓ Correct: ." with the reason. A wrong one shows "✗ Not quite." with the reason, and the card stays on screen until you place it in the correct bin; those retries are marked "Practice (not scored)". After a second wrong placement the sim reveals the correct bin (→ on its button and an orange outline on the bin). Placed cards collect in the bin you first chose, as ✓ (solid border) or ✗ (dashed border) chips. The running score reads "First-attempt correct: n of 10". Mastery is 8 of 10 correct on the first attempt.

After the tenth card a summary lists every card with your first choice and the correct bin. Sort again starts a new round in a new order.

How to Use

  1. Read the five bin definitions.
  2. Read the airstream card and decide what in the air matters to the fan or to people. Press the bin's button below the drawing (or a key, A to E or 1 to 5).
  3. Read the reason. If the card was wrong, place it again until it lands in the correct bin.
  4. Press Next card (or Enter). After the tenth card, read the summary and press Sort again to practice in a new order.

Keyboard: A to E or 1 to 5 place the card; Enter goes to the next card. Tab reaches every button.

Data label: "Bins from the chapter section "Contaminated Airstreams"; FanPedia pp. 4, 6, 32, 110-116", shown at the bottom left of the drawing.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://moroshek.github.io/FanTASTIC-textbook/sims/ch01-airstream-classifier/main.html"
        height="652px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Learning Objective

The learner will distinguish clean airstreams from contaminated ones and assign each contaminated airstream to its main threat category, with at least 8 of 10 correct on the first attempt (Bloom: Analyze, verb: distinguish).

Audience

Adult professional development: new application engineers, sales staff, representatives and facilities staff.

Duration

10 minutes

Prerequisites

  • Airstream, and "in the airstream" versus "out of the airstream"
  • Air temperature
  • Contaminated airstream

All are covered in the Chapter 1 sections "The Airstream", "Air Temperature" and "Contaminated Airstreams".

Activities

  1. Sort (6 min): Place all ten cards, committing to a bin before you read the reason.
  2. Summary (2 min): For each miss, name the word in the card that should have decided it.
  3. Discussion (2 min): The 400°F oven air is clean, yet the fan still needs special construction. What question does that answer, and what question does the bin answer?

Common Misconceptions Addressed

  • Hot air is contaminated air: the 400°F drying oven card belongs in Clean air, and its reason points to high-temperature construction instead.
  • Any airstream from a factory is contaminated: the outdoor make-up air card for a warehouse is clean.
  • If the fan survives the airstream, it is not a concern: the lab fume hood card belongs in Hazardous fumes, because the threat is to people, not the fan.

Assessment

  • First-attempt score shown as "First-attempt correct: n of 10"; mastery is 8 of 10 on the first attempt. The summary shows "Mastery reached (8 of 10 needed)." or what is still needed.
  • Retries after a miss are practice and are not evidence of mastery. Follow up: a request form lists only CFM and static pressure. Which three questions about the airstream do you ask before quoting?

References

  1. Chapter 1: Air, Pressure and the Fan - The sections "The Airstream", "Air Temperature" and "Contaminated Airstreams".
  2. FanPedia online, Twin City Fan - Radial bladed paper handling impellers (p. 32), lab exhaust dilution (pp. 4, 6) and high-temperature construction (pp. 110-116).
  3. FanPedia: The Fan & Blower Encyclopedia (PDF) - The printed encyclopedia the page numbers refer to.
  4. Fume hood, Wikipedia - Why laboratory exhaust is diluted and discharged away from buildings.