WindShift fans provide flexibility and expedites testing and prototyping

Horton has introduced its first modular fans—WindShift  Modular Fans for the off-highway, industrial and other specialty  markets. This line of fans provides significant versatility in  design and manufacturing for a myriad of applications and optimal  fan drive cooling. WindShift Modular Fans have innovative  clamshell knuckles that clamp the blades at precise pitch angles. This feature offers flexibility for customers' specifications and  speeds the testing and prototyping stages.  "The blade design is computer optimized to provide efficient  cooling," says Neal Shawaluk, director of sales for off-highway,  industrial and specialty markets at Horton. "If testing shows that  a different pitch angle or blade configuration provides more  optimized cooling for a specific application, the knuckle clamp  feature allows us to easily modify the fan design. This  flexibility ensures that significantly less time is spent on  testing, prototyping—and manufacturing, without sacrificing  performance."  WindShift Modular Fans' clamshell knuckles clamp each blade to a  0.25-inch (6 millimeters) steel center disk. Customers specify  blade configuration and pitch angle, center disk diameter and  rotation. Equally spaced blade configuration options are offered  with 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 or 13 blades. Staggered blade configurations,  which help to reduce noise, are available upon request. Pitch  width ranges from 3.08 inches (78 millimeters) to 6.32 inches (161  millimeters). Fan diameter ranges from 30 inches (762 millimeters)  to 48 inches (1219 millimeters). Fans are available in clockwise  and counterclockwise rotation. Standard pilots range from 1 inch  (25 millimeters) to 5 inches (127 millimeters). Maximum tip speed  is 18,000 feet per minute (91 meters per second).  WindShift Modular Fans are compatible with all Horton and  competitive viscous fan drives and are initially available for  first-fit applications.