Direct Drive And Belt Driven Fans

More often than not the maintenance cost of this kind of fan is also comparatively lower.

Direct drive and belt driven fans.

On both direct drive and belt drive fans the motor has two bearings. When compared to belt drive fans which require belts sheaves and bushings direct drive is just plain simpler and maintenance folks tend to lean toward direct drive for daily maintenance. With the growing acceptance and affordability of vfd motor controllers direct drive fans are increasingly finding their way into mainstream industrial fan applications. Direct drive fans should be designed for acceptable bearing life.

You have a fan a motor and maybe a coupling. Direct drive fans have no power transmission loss since the propeller is directly connected to the motor shaft. The second pulley is connected to a shaft that drives the fan propeller. Greater efficiency is the biggest pro of direct drive fan configurations.

While both belt and direct drive fans have been around for a long time the mainstay fan for most industrial fan applications under 250 hp has been the belt drive fan. Direct drive fans require fewer parts and thus usually less maintenance. Where on a belt drive fan the fan motor shaft has a pulley connected by a belt to a second pulley. On a direct drive fan as implied by the name the fan propeller is connected directly to the shaft of the motor.

Belt drive fans have two additional bearings. The two bearings on direct drive fan motors which are 7 horsepower and larger are typically regreaseable. Thus the fan blades will rotate at the same speed as the motor rotates. Unlike belt driven fans there s less energy loss because there s a reduced amount of friction as the fan operates.