Belt driven fans offer greater flexibility in terms of rpm speed.
Difference between belt drive and direct drive fans.
The second pulley is connected to a shaft that drives the fan propeller.
It s a motor connected to your fan in one of only two ways.
On a direct drive fan as implied by the name the fan propeller is connected directly to the shaft of the motor.
Direct drive fans have no power transmission loss since the propeller is directly connected to the motor shaft.
This is because of the fact that the amount of friction is greatly reduced in case of this fan when the fan is operating.
Where on a belt drive fan the fan motor shaft has a pulley connected by a belt to a second pulley.
Direct drive or belt drive.
Direct drive fans should be designed for acceptable bearing life.
More often than not the maintenance cost of this kind of fan is also comparatively lower.
The two bearings on direct drive fan motors which are 7 horsepower and larger are typically regreaseable.
Deciding between a direct drive fan and a belt drive fan is fairly straightforward once you know all of your other variables like fan size application space fan speed needs and likely wear and tear in your application.
Unlike the belt driven fans in case of a direct drive fan there is lesser energy loss.
While belt drive turntables are incredibly popular they have a lower torque than direct drive turntables.
In a belt driven configuration the motor exists independently of the fan blades and at least one belt sometimes more connects the motor to the fan s moving parts.
On both direct drive and belt drive fans the motor has two bearings.
Belt drive fans have two additional bearings.
Belt drive turntables also have a slightly less accurate playback speed than direct drive turntables.
Direct drive tables also will give you a speed control so as a dj if you want to change the tempo to blend one song into another with two turntables it is pretty easy to do so with the range of speed adjustment available on a direct drive table.
Over time a belt drive may need to be replaced.
In the later there is a belt sometimes more than one connecting the motor to move the fan.
In the former the motor connects to the fan wheel with nothing in between.
While torque isn t necessarily a critical quality it can be a deal breaker for some.
Generally such fans are cheaper than direct drive fans of comparable size.