Direct Drive And Belt Driven Fans

Greater efficiency is the biggest pro of direct drive fan configurations.

Direct drive and belt driven fans.

Unlike the belt driven fans in case of a direct drive fan there is lesser energy loss. You have a fan a motor and maybe a coupling. Belt drive fans have two additional bearings. Direct drive fans should be designed for acceptable bearing life.

With the growing acceptance and affordability of vfd motor controllers direct drive fans are increasingly finding their way into mainstream industrial fan applications. The two bearings on direct drive fan motors which are 7 horsepower and larger are typically regreaseable. More often than not the maintenance cost of this kind of fan is also comparatively lower. In a direct drive configuration the fan motor that controls the movement of the fan blades is connected either to a shaft or fan axle.

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. Unlike belt driven fans there s less energy loss because there s a reduced amount of friction as the fan operates. 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.

This is because of the fact that the amount of friction is greatly reduced in case of this fan when the fan is operating. Direct drive fans require fewer parts and thus usually less maintenance. On both direct drive and belt drive fans the motor has two bearings. On a direct drive fan as implied by the name the fan propeller is connected directly to the shaft of the motor.