DC-83-13-3 -- A High-Efficiency Indoor Air Mover ✓ Most Recent

A high-efficiency indoor air mover has been developed for the advanced electric heat pump. Preprototype air mover overall efficiency is approximately 46%, more than twice that of the conventionally applied squirrel-cage blower. The air mover consists of a 16.25 in. (413 mm) diameter single-entry blower wheel carried in a volute sheet steel scroll and driven by a 1/3 hp (250 W) high-efficiency motor. The blower wheel uses ten backward curved, uniformly spaced, cambered plate blades. As installed in the advanced heat pump, the air mover consumes 390 W of electrical power and delivers 1405 scfm (663 L/s) at 1092 rpm into an estimated overall static-flow resistance of 1.09 in. of water (271 Pa). Although this air mover will cost about twice as much as the conventional squirrel-cage blower and motor of comparable flow performance, the incremental premium cost at the retail level can be recovered in less than one year through energy savings with electricity at $0.05/kWh in Minneapolis, where the blower would run approximately 4900 hours per year.