Matching blower to cyclone

[AlanWS]

The site, and the cyclones, look great. I notice you have right and left handed cyclones, both fitted with the same handedness of blower. Bill Pentz suggests that matching the direction the air swirls in the cyclone to the blower rotation direction should be a bit more efficient than a mismatch. Since you have both types, it might be interesting to measure the airflow to see if there is a measureable difference.

 

[imported_admin]

Alan,
At this point we don't have the measuring equipment or the setup to make these measurements accurately enough to be meaningful. I can tell you this however.....Matt's setup has the intake comming in on the right with a cloclwise blower....in other words, the air is going counterclockwise in the cyclone and clockwise in the blower. That was the first one we built, and the amount of air it moves is truly amazing. With a 6" line mounted about 8" off the floor, it will pick up anything that gets near.....including computer boards, tape measures etc.

Ed

 

[Bill Pentz]

I've done exactly the measurements requested. My own shop has space concerns that require me to use a cyclone and blower that leave the air spinning opposite the impeller. In using both Dwyer digital and Magnehelic gauges, I measured zero difference in overall airflow in going "correct" versus incorrect. What I did find was a 0.2 increase in amperage apparently because the motor has to work a little harder to reverse the spin on the air.

Remember the air spins down the inside of the cyclone based upon the inlet direction. At the bottom of the cone there is a reversal point where the air changes direction heading up and out. If that point is too high then the cyclone will not drop dust and shavings so clogs. If too low then the cyclonic action simply vacuums the dust bin clean. The air at the reversal point also reverses rotational direction spinning opposite the air on the outside of the cone wall. Although the reason is simple once you you figure it out, this is one of those puzzles that can be fun to solve on your own.

bill