FAN ENGINEERING

Information and Recommendations for the Engineer FE-3600

Turning Gear and Component

Selection Guidelines
Turning Gear Selection
The main purpose of a turning gear is to alleviate the A typical arrangement of a turning gear in a fan applica-
ill effects due to thermal stratification when a hot gas tion is given below:
fan is shut down. During a hot shutdown of the fan,
there will be a temperature gradient across the fan rotor
because of the migration of warmer gas to the top por-
tion of the fan housing and cooler gas to the bottom BRAKE
portion of the fan housing. This causes a temporary set MOTOR

in the fan shaft and on a re-start the fan will experience

higher vibration levels. The following fans are typically SPEED REDUCER

good candidates to have a turning gear:

COUPLING
OVER RUNNING
• Induced Draft fans over 120” in diameter and with CLUTCH
FAN OUTBOARD
large shafts and are subject to frequent start/ stops BEARING

and or hot shut downs.

SOLE PLATE
• All Gas Recirculation fans FOR SPEED
• Hot Gas fans with high system sensitivity or fans REDUCER

operating close to the installed resonant speed

• All high temperature process fans in Cement, Sintering
and Pelletizing etc.

There are basically three types of turning gears. The first

has the capability of being able to start the fan from CONCRETE FOUNDATION
a dead rest. The second type engages only on coast
down and the size of the turning gear unit is much
smaller as compared to the one that can start from a
dead rest. The third type of turning gear is employed
for fans with hydrodynamic bearings, which are fitted Components
with hydrostatic lift.
Motor
For starting from a dead rest, typically the turning gear To make the turning gear unit compact for units starting
size ranges from 5 HP to 150 HP for fan applications. from a dead rest, usually NEMA C motors are used.
A smaller turning gear is possible for smaller fans. High This is done to utilize the high starting torque charac-
starting torque motors, typically NEMA C, are used with teristics of a NEMA C motor to help overcome the high
units that start from a dead rest. Sometimes with a breakaway torque of the fan and drive motor. For units
marginal main drive motor, turning gear with the starting engaging during coast down and for units with hydro-
capability from a dead rest would be helpful to take static lift, standard NEMA B motors are adequate since
away some burden from the main motor. Instead of high breakaway torque is not involved. Most applica-
starting from a dead rest, the main motor will accelerate tions use 1800 rpm motors, but 1200 rpm motors are
from the turning gear speed. used in certain situations. With a certain speed reducer
combination, a brake motor or a separate brake may
For units engaging on coast down, the motor may range be required.
up to 100 HP and could utilize a standard NEMA B as
opposed to a NEMA C motor. Speed Reducer
Usually right-angled speed reducers or in line speed
Turning gear systems employed with fans that have reducers are used to rotate the fan at the required turn-
bearings fitted with hydrostatic lift provide more compact ing gear speed. A brake might be necessary depending
units. This is because these units can run at a very low on the type of speed reducer used and if the back drive
speed due to the fact that there is no minimum speed resistance of the reducer is not adequate to overcome
required for the bearings to develop the oil film since the the drag torque of the clutch. The brake is wired to
oil film is provided by the hydrostatic lift. The size of the disengage while the turning gear motor is energized and
unit with hydrostatic lift may range up to 25 HP. engage while the turning gear motor is de-energized.

©2006 Twin City Fan Companies, Ltd.

The speed reducer must have adequate torque carry- Selection and Sizing of Components
ing capability to handle the maximum torque and peak The first step is to calculate the breakaway torque of
torque of the turning gear system. Thermal rating of the the fan rotor as a dead load and the breakaway torque
speed reducer is important to handle the normal operat- of the drive motor. The next step is to determine the
ing torque without overheating the reducer for reliable turning gear speed, which is a function of the type of
operation. Output speed of the turning gear system is to bearing and whether or not the bearings are equipped
be determined based on the minimum speed required to with hydrostatic lift. All components have to be ade-
develop oil film when used with hydrodynamic bearings. quately sized for the duty requirements and the peak
This is usually dependent on the Sommerfeld number, load requirements of the turning gear system.
which again depends on the oil viscosity, radial load,
size of the bearing, bearing clearance etc. Fans with Controls
anti-friction bearings do not typically have a minimum When the fan motor is de-energized, the turning gear
speed requirement. motor is energized and when both speeds match, the
clutch automatically engages. If there is a brake in the
Clutch turning gear system, it should disengage on energizing
For turning gear applications, overrunning clutches are the turning gear motor. Bearings equipped with hydro-
required and are either shaft-mounted type or foot static lift and/or circulating oil must continue to operate
mounted type with input and output shafts. It must be while the turning gear is operating and rotating the fan
noted that the clutches are assembled either for clock- rotor and motor rotor.
wise rotation or counter-clockwise rotation. Clutch rota-
tion must match the normal fan rotation. Shaft mounted Turning Gear Motor Inertia Verification
type clutches are available with inner race over-running For turning gear units starting from a dead rest, it is
or outer race over-running. Clutches with inner race necessary to make sure that the turning gear motor has
over-running are mounted on the fan shaft and clutches adequate inertia capability to accelerate the load with-
with the outer race over-running are mounted on the out overheating. Inertia seen by the turning gear motor
output shaft of the reducer. Often times special out- must be lower than the inertia capability of the turning
put shafts for the speed reducer are required and this gear motor.
increases the cost and lead-time of the speed reducer.

Couplings
There are usually three couplings in a turning gear
assembly. One between the fan and the clutch, the sec-
ond between the clutch and the speed reducer and the
third between the speed reducer and the turning gear
motor. Typically all the couplings are gear couplings and
the one between the fan and the clutch has to accom-
modate thermal expansion of the shaft. For smaller
units and with different arrangements, the number of
couplings can be reduced to one or two.

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