For Industrial Air-Moving, Fan Isolation Joints Take Care of Fans

Fan Expansion Joints

You need to take care of the fans with fan isolation joints.

It’s true in any line of work — you need to take care of the most enthusiastic customers and colleagues. Yet nowhere is taking care of fans more important than in the business of heavy-duty industrial blowers, industrial air-moving equipment, and industrial fans.

Industrial fan manufacturers who want to provide customers the greatest durability, performance, and safety for industrial-air moving installations can provide installations that include fan isolation joints from an experienced custom manufacturer.

Whether fabric expansion joints, metal bellows expansion joints, or composite expansion joints, fan isolation joints are critical for the lifetime value of heavy-duty air-moving equipment.

Centrifugal, Axial, Radial — You Have All Kinds of Fans.

Whether the air-moving installation includes centrifugal fans, axial fans, radial fans, or custom-engineered fans, custom fan isolation joints are essential to the efficiency and longevity of heavy-duty industrial fans, blowers, and ductwork.

Heavy-duty air-moving equipment installations require custom fabric expansion joints or metal bellows expansion joints – fan isolation joints that provide the structural flexibility to withstand vibration, and movement day after day, month after month, year after year.

Heavy-duty air-moving installations with poorly designed fan isolation joints, or lacking fan isolation joints, are inherently rigid and more prone to damage from vibration. Particularly in the case of industrial air-moving equipment, rigid structures are prone to damage from vibration.

Fan isolation joints are the solution. Expansion joints for fans and blowers help isolate heavy-duty fans from the fixed portions of the industrial air-moving installation such as rigid ductwork, the parts most prone to vibration or movement damage.

Heavy-Duty Air-Moving Equipment Needs a Heavy-Duty Solution

Heavy-duty air-moving equipment is just that: heavy-duty. And that causes heavy-duty vibration. 

Expansion joints for fans and blowers compensate by deflecting axial movement, lateral movement, bi-directional movement, angular movement, torsional movement, and combinations of these movements. The movements otherwise cause damage to fixed portions of air-moving equipment, such as piping and ducts. 

Fan isolation joints from FlexCom are accustomed to heavy-duty. For example, FlexCom expansion joints are used in the dynamometer cells where Indianapolis 500-winning IndyCar engines are tested.

The “dyno” cells feature exhaust systems that included power-ducted fans and ductwork that expel air and fumes at more than 1 million cubic feet per minute. (The heat is extreme as well with the racecar engines generating more than 1 million BTUs per hour. FlexCom fan isolation joints can withstand temperatures of 600 degrees Fahrenheit.

Flexibility is the key to avoiding vibration damage. Heavy-duty systems require expansion joints proven to hold up to heavy-duty vibration.

Fan Isolation Joints with Sound Attenuation Leaves the Noisy Fans Behind

Aside from movement and damage, vibration caused by high-powered fans creates another problem for industrial air-moving installations: noise.

Custom fan isolation joints combined with sound attenuation pillows help reduce noise from industrial air-moving equipment and other industrial installations.

When sound attenuation was needed at a more than 60-year-old power plant outside of Las Vegas, for example, FlexCom expansion joints were installed with sound pillows to reduce noise caused by high-vibration plant operations.

Isolate Industrial Fans and Blowers

Heavy duty air-moving equipment is used in hundreds of industries across thousands of applications, from simple industrial ventilation to heavy duty pollution control.

In ducted-air systems, flue systems, damper systems, and almost any system that incorporates industrial fans and blowers, high-quality fan isolation joints are essential. Fan isolation joints from an experienced custom manufacturer mitigate vibration damage and are critical for the durability, performance, and safety of industrial air-moving systems. 

Expansion joints isolate industrial fans and blowers from rigid ductwork and piping so that heavy-duty air-moving system avoid can deflect vibration that otherwise would lead to reduced efficiency, downtime, increased maintenance costs and liability.

  • Efficiency: Even the slightest gap or misalignment caused by movement represents reduced efficiency. For example, in a system such as a Heat Recovery Steam Generator that leverages heat for steam, for example, heat that escapes through even minor misalignment ultimately represents a loss of output. 
  • Downtime: Beyond vibration damage that reduces efficiency is vibration damage that causes downtime – the ultimate loss of efficiency.
  • Liability: Particularly for industrial air-moving installations that exhaust dangerous gases or fumes, vibration damage is a liability that can cause serious injury or death. In the IndyCar dynamometer cells, for example, FlexCom custom expansion joints are part of an exhaust system responsible removing high-levels of carbon monoxide from an enclosed working environment.

Giving the Fans What They Need

Fan isolation joints from an experienced custom manufacturer perform an indispensable role in the durability, performance, and safety of not just heavy-duty industrial fans and blowers but also the industrial air-moving system in which they reside. 

The team at FlexCom has honed its expertise in fan isolation joints since 1991, providing custom metal bellows expansion joints and custom fabric expansion joints that are tested and proven to perform in heavy-duty environments.

FlexCom is here to care for the fans.