Inline Centrifugal and Mixed Flow Fan Parts¶

Run the Inline Centrifugal and Mixed Flow Fan Parts MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim¶

This MicroSim puts twelve numbered markers on FanPedia's exploded views of inline centrifugal and mixed flow fans (page 17). Both fans are built in a tubular housing. The left column shows a direct drive inline centrifugal fan, exploded at the top and assembled at the bottom with its motor inside the tube. The right column shows a belt driven mixed flow fan: exploded at the top, and assembled at the bottom with its belt guard, belt tube and discharge cone.

The twelve parts are the tubular housing, straightening vanes, shaft, impeller (inline centrifugal), inlet funnel, motor, impeller (mixed flow), bearing housing, belt guard, belt tube, sheave and discharge cone. Some parts appear on both fans; each has one marker. On a wide screen the labels sit in two columns with leader lines, the left half of the markers on the left; on a narrower screen (including the chapter page) the labels move below the drawing as a numbered list. Where a part is small or crowded (the shaft, the belt tube and the sheave), its marker sits in nearby white space with a short pointer to the part.

The quiz describes each part by its job or its look ("Select the passage that shields the belts from the airstream.") instead of naming it, in a shuffled order. You get two attempts per prompt. The first wrong answer shows a hint about where to look; the second reveals the part and counts as missed. Mastery is 10 of 12 correct on the first attempt. Explore mode is never scored.

How to Use¶

Explore mode (the starting mode). Point at a numbered marker, or Tab to it, to see the part's name and description in the panel below the drawing. Click it (or press Enter) to open it; opened parts get a ✓ in the label list and the counter shows how many of the 12 you have visited. Clicking a name in the label list opens that part too.
Quiz mode. Press Quiz. The labels and leader lines disappear and a prompt describes one part:
- Correct: "✓ Correct:" with the part name and its description; the marker turns green with a ✓ badge and its label comes back.
- Wrong on the first attempt: "✗ Not quite.", the name of the part you picked, and a hint. The hint never names the answer.
- Wrong on the second attempt: the answer is marked "Answer" and named, and the prompt counts as missed.
Press Next prompt after each answer. The toolbar shows "Parts correct: n of 12".
After the twelfth prompt, the summary shows your first-attempt score, whether you reached mastery (10 of 12), and each missed prompt with its answer. Retry missed practises only the misses (not scored), Start over reshuffles and resets the score, and Back to explore returns to the labels.

Keyboard: Tab moves through the markers in number order and then the buttons; Enter or Space selects a marker. After an answer, focus moves to Next prompt, so Enter goes on.

Data label: "Drawing: FanPedia, Twin City Fan, p. 17", shown under 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/ch07-inline-centrifugal-mixed-flow-overlay/main.html"
        height="886px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan¶

Learning Objective¶

The learner will identify the twelve labeled parts of a direct drive inline centrifugal fan and a belt driven mixed flow fan on FanPedia's exploded views, given each part's function or appearance (Bloom: Remember, verb: identify).

Audience¶

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

Duration¶

10-15 minutes

Prerequisites¶

Chapter 4, sections "Tubular Housings", "Guide Vanes", "Inline Centrifugal Fans" and "Mixed Flow Fans".
Chapter 3, section "The Drive Train" (sheaves, V-belts and the belt guard).
Chapter 7, sections "Reading an Exploded View" and "Tubular Housings: Straightening Vanes, Discharge Cone and Belt Tube".

Activities¶

Explore (4 min): Open all twelve parts. Sort them aloud into the air path (inlet funnel, the two impellers, straightening vanes, tubular housing, discharge cone) and the drive (motor, shaft, bearing housing, sheave, belt tube, belt guard).
Compare (2 min): The left fan is direct drive and the right one is belt driven. Which parts on the right fan exist only because the motor sits outside the tube?
Quiz (5 min): Switch to quiz mode and find all twelve parts from their jobs without going back to explore mode.
Review (3 min): Read the missed list, open those parts in explore mode, then press Start over for a new order. Then try Which Exploded View Shows This Part.

Common Misconceptions Addressed¶

The belt tube and the belt guard do the same job: the belt tube shields the belts where they cross the airstream inside the tube, and the belt guard encloses the belts and sheaves outside the housing where people could reach them. A belt driven inline fan has both.
A fan in a round tube must be an axial fan: these tubes carry a centrifugal impeller (left) and a mixed flow impeller (right), told apart by the impeller, not the housing.
Straightening vanes move the air: they are fixed, and they only turn the swirling air leaving the impeller back into straight-through flow.

Assessment¶

First-attempt score shown in the summary as "First-attempt score: n of 12"; mastery is 10 of 12 on the first attempt.
Pointing at markers and opening infoboxes in explore mode is exploration, not evidence.
Follow-up question: on the direct drive fan, where is the motor, and why does that fan need no belt tube?

References¶

FanPedia: The Fan & Blower Encyclopedia (PDF) - Twin City Fan; p. 17 is the inline centrifugal and mixed flow exploded view used here (straightening vanes, discharge cone, belt tube and belt guard), pp. 15-16 the axial exploded views, p. 64 the straightening vanes on the housing detail.
FanPedia online - Twin City Fan's online version of the encyclopedia.
Chapter 7: Housing Construction and Exploded Views - the section "Tubular Housings: Straightening Vanes, Discharge Cone and Belt Tube", where this MicroSim is embedded, and "Guards and Covers".
Which Exploded View Shows This Part - sorts the same parts into the fan family whose exploded view shows them.