Industrial ventilation Roof Fan loads

[StrP88]

My I ask if anyone has dealt with effect of these fans on roof structure?
Loads exerting to roof and things I am supposed to check?
Any references or books or information will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[JStephen]

Check with the manufacturers to see if they have any requirements.
On some unrelated equipment I've seen, they specified equivalent static loads and maximum deflection, which was their way of avoiding vibration and fatigue problems.

 

[StrP88]

JStephen (Mechanical),
Fan manufacturer is very unhelpful and I cant get information from them.
I am trying to understand and learn basics from someone Structural that has dealt and can tell me what to look and check or any practical guidance.
However, I agree with your comment and appreciate your suggestion.

 

[WARose]

If you are worried about dynamic effects.....the biggest thing will be: what RPM is it running at? If it's high enough, it may be well outside of the range of (the natural frequency of) most structural members/frames.

Another approach is to bolt it down to something with (at minimum) 5 times the mass of the fan (or moving parts of the fan). I'm not a fan [no pun intended] of that approach.....but with lightweight equipment, sometimes it's the best option.

 

[dhengr]

StrP88:
Somehow we are doing this all wrong. They are selling ventilating fans to the world, and if they don’t know the loads and forces, the vibration characteristics, etc. of their own equip., who the hell does? You are talking to the wrong people, and I mean by phone, not by e-mail. Ask to talk to the Pres. or the V.P. of engineering, not some sales rep., they ought to care that you are getting the info. you need to apply their product correctly, it is their reputation which is on the line. We have so many people these days, be they Structural Engineers, product reps., etc. etc. who just want to get the question off their desk, they don’t give a crap that they give you the info. you need, the correct info., the helpful info., they just want to say anything to make you go away, so they can get back to their twitter or their e-mail, or whatever, and no one seems to give a damn. Start going up the ladder until you get the answers you need. We can give you some general advice, but we don’t know their equip. or your structure, so whatever we say is pretty loose advice. It can’t fail due to overload and it can’t vibrate too much.

 

[dik]

Biggest problem I've encountered with these units is snow accumulation... might not be a problem down south...

Dik