Industrial Grade Dampers¶

Run the Industrial Grade Dampers MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim¶

This MicroSim marks five numbered zones on FanPedia's industrial grade damper drawings (page 137). On the left, the parallel blade outlet damper (top) and the opposed blade outlet damper (bottom) each sit on a fan outlet, with two close-ups of their blades: Type 1 flat blades and Type 2 airfoil blades. On the right are the parallel blade inlet box damper, with red arrows showing the air turning through the blades and into the fan, the manual outlet damper and the outlet damper with actuator. The names sit in a numbered list under the drawing.

The quiz describes one damper at a time ("Which damper suits modulation over the entire range?") in a shuffled order, and you select the matching zone. You get two attempts per prompt. The first wrong answer shows a hint about where to look; the second reveals the drawing and counts as missed. Mastery is 4 of 5 correct on the first attempt. Explore mode is never scored.

How to Use¶

Explore mode (the starting mode). Point at a numbered zone, or Tab to it, to see its name, a one-line summary and the key facts in the panel below. Click it (or press Enter) to open it; opened drawings get a ✓ in the name list and the counter shows how many of the 5 you have visited.
Quiz mode. Press Quiz. The names disappear and a prompt describes one damper:
- Correct: "✓ Correct:" with the name and summary; the zone gets a green solid border and a ✓ badge.
- Wrong on the first attempt: "✗ Not quite.", the name of the drawing you picked, and a hint that 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 "Drawings correct: n of 5".
After the fifth prompt, the summary shows your first-attempt score, whether you reached mastery (4 of 5), and each missed prompt with its answer. Retry missed practises the misses (not scored), Start over reshuffles and resets the score, and Back to explore returns to the names.

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

Data label: "Drawing: FanPedia, Twin City Fan, p. 137", 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/ch18-industrial-damper-overlay/main.html"
        height="796px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan¶

Learning Objective¶

The learner will identify the parallel blade and opposed blade outlet dampers, the parallel blade inlet box damper, the manual outlet damper and the outlet damper with actuator on FanPedia's drawings, given a description of each (Bloom: Remember, verb: identify).

Audience¶

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

Duration¶

10 minutes

Prerequisites¶

Chapter 18, sections "Damper", "Outlet Damper", "Parallel Blade Damper", "Opposed Blade Damper", "Inlet Box Damper", "Manual Damper" and "Motorized Damper".

Activities¶

Explore (3 min): Open all five drawings. Sort them aloud by where the damper sits (on the fan outlet or in an inlet box) and by how its blades are moved (by hand, by an actuator, or not shown).
Quiz (4 min): Switch to quiz mode and match all five descriptions without going back to explore mode.
Review (3 min): Read the missed list, open those drawings in explore mode, then press Start over for a new order. For field situations that call for a gravity damper or a slide gate instead, try Flow Control Device Sorter.

Common Misconceptions Addressed¶

Parallel and opposed blade dampers do the same job: FanPedia recommends parallel blades for modulation from full open to about 75% open and opposed blades for modulation over the entire range, at about 10% more cost.
An inlet box damper is an outlet damper moved to the inlet: partly closed, its parallel blades pre-spin the air in the direction of impeller rotation, which saves horsepower at reduced loads, and it needs an inlet box.
A manual damper is for day-to-day flow control: FanPedia says manual dampers are typically used to balance a system, set once and left in place; a control loop needs an actuator.

Assessment¶

First-attempt score shown in the summary as "First-attempt score: n of 5"; mastery is 4 of 5 on the first attempt.
Pointing at zones and opening infoboxes in explore mode is exploration, not evidence.
Follow-up question: a temperature controller must vary airflow continuously over nearly the whole range on a constant-speed fan. Which two drawings together describe the damper to quote, and why?

References¶

FanPedia: The Fan & Blower Encyclopedia (PDF) - Twin City Fan; p. 137 holds the industrial grade damper drawings used here, p. 136 the commercial grade dampers and pp. 182-183 the damper descriptions.
FanPedia online - Twin City Fan's online version of the encyclopedia.
Chapter 18: Inlets, Outlets and Flow Control - the damper sections from "Damper" to "Motorized Damper"; this MicroSim is embedded after "Motorized Damper".
Flow Control Device Sorter - sorts field situations into damper and vane types.