Fans So Big You’ll Freak! Just 2 fans Coolly Cover the Entire Hall
Mangaluru: Never seen such indoor mega fans before, until couple of days ago while attending a wedding reception at St Joseph the Worker Church Hall-Vamanjoor, Mangaluru. With just these two fans the entire hall which can accommodate a crowd capacity of nearly 1000-1200 people can have the coolest experience that they have never experienced in their lives before. You don’t need a bunch of fans nor air-conditioning when you have these mega fans installed. Such kind of mega fan was first installed at Mount Rosary Church-Kallianpur, followed close on its heels, with the second such fans installed at the newly built Vamanjoor Church Hall. Other such fans installed in Udupi and DK districts are at Church halls at Udyavar, Thallur, Gangoli, Shakthinagar, Madanthyar, Pakshikere and Talapady.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Fr Cyprian Pinto-the Parish Priest of St Joseph the Worker Church -Vamanjoor said, “Ever since we installed these two fans at our newly constructed hall, we have been receiving quite a few inquiries about these fans. Each of these fans cost around Rs 6 lakhs, and additional around Rs 30,000 towards installation charges which was undertaken by Nutech Engineering Technologies Ltd-Mumbai. The major benefit of these fans is that they don’t consume much electricity, but provide an expansive comfort zone with its cooling effect. Ever since we had these fans installed, we have never got any complaints about being hot and sweaty inside the hall, instead, we have received various compliments.”
Now let’s get into the details about these fans- named as Altra-Air HVLS fans, they blanket a very large area with constantly moving air to create an expansive comfort zone. As a result, the big ceiling fan can create an evaporative cooling effect of three to four degrees Celsius throughout the facility. During the heating season, the Altra-Air HVLS fan technology can de-stratify uneven temperatures that can be in excess of fifteen degrees Celsius from ceiling to floor. This results in significant energy savings since the heating system cycles less frequently. Even though the fans don’t turn at a extreme speed, but even at a medium speed you can feel the cool effect.
The Altra-Air Advantage: The unique blade design outperforms all conventional airfoils. They accomplish this by; Offering stall angles as high as 22°; Always stalling gradually; Eliminating span-wise pumping; the primary cause of efficiency loss in all rotating systems; Eliminating tip stalling; the primary cause of blade noise and damaging vibration; and Lowering noise by offering our unique blade designs hyper-stability which also lowers vibrations which cause wear and tear on the blades and drive train.
Benefits of Altra-Air HVLS Fans: Quiet, efficient operation, no annoying high speed circulating or exhaust fans; Virtually maintenance free (recommended inspection every 20,000 hours); Inexpensive to operate. Costs approximately 6 cents per hour for one fan at 0.75 kW (1 HP); Greatly reduce the “recovery” time when overhead doors are open with a constant flow of air throughout the space; Provide a constant even temperature from floor to ceiling and wall to wall; Will minimize the need for expensive ductwork in new construction for both heating and air conditioning systems; and A comfortable workplace environment increases productivity and decreases absenteeism.
Technical Specifications : Fans range from 3.7 to 7.3 m (12 ft to 24 ft) in diameter; Capable of moving nearly 188,000 l/s (397,701 CFM); Operates on 0.75 to 1.5 kw (1 HP to 2 HP); Variable frequency drive provides soft start and fully variable speed operation; Creates a non-disruptive airflow; and The largest 7.3 m (24 ft) Altra-Air fan consumes less power than the average hairdryer.
Altra-Air fans come with a lifetime warranty on the blades and hub. The motor, gear reducer and VFD control panel come with a three-year limited warranty. Envira-North’s blade toppers prevent a rotor from falling or a blade from coming off even in the unlikely event of a catastrophic failure of the hub or drive system. The collet-type friction drive bushing connecting the hub to the reducer shaft allows controlled slippage in the event of a seizure of the reducer mechanism, or a failure of the soft start feature in the control panel.
How did this technology start: While looking at a model of a whale, the appropriately named biology professor Dr. Frank Fish noticed that whale flippers have strange bumps on their leading edges. Scientists followed up on this and determined that “bumps on the leading edge of model humpback whale flippers cause them to “stall” (i.e., lose lift dramatically) more gradually and at a higher angle of attack.” The idea, known as tubercle technology, is being considered for airplanes, submarines and wind turbines, but the first product on the market is the Altra Air ceiling fan from Envira-North Technologies. Collin called it a great example of bio-mimicry.
Stephen Dewar, a co-founder of Whale Power, says: “For a long time, scientists ‘knew’ that the leading edges of turbine and fan blades, airfoils, hydrofoils and like had be smooth and streamlined, but we now know that’s not the case,” Dewar says. “In fact, the bumps or tubercles along the leading edge of their flippers dramatically increase their aerodynamic efficiency and account for whales’ amazing agility under water.” It is expected that the fans will use 20% less electricity than conventional fans, with less vibration and longer life.
Pics by Astel Pereira, Team Mangalorean
Good reporting with technical details. Glad to see that they save electricity while doing a better job of cooling.