Industrial Air Curtains

 

Industrial Air Curtains: Factories, warehouses, cold rooms, and retail premises are all subject to the problems caused by frequently opened doors. The open door not only causes discomfort but also greatly increases energy loss and, therefore, the running costs of the building. An air curtain, sometimes referred to as an air door, from Flexiheat UK offers an energy-efficient invisible air barrier which is a cost-effective solution to these problems by reducing heat loss by up to 80%, and helping with energy savings and reduced energy bills with our industrial door air curtains.

Sometimes people refer to an air curtain for industrial use as industrial air doors.

Air curtains are often used instead of plastic strip curtains on industrial doors, ensuring that forklift drivers and staff are given total visibility, providing the added convenience of unhindered access, and most importantly, improving safety for all parties concerned and preventing heat loss as well from the indoor environment as air curtains maintain a protective air barrier between two areas of indoor environment or at the building’s entrance with different temperatures and provide a comfortable environment with an invisible and efficient air jet stream whilst reducing energy costs.

Faster logistics and easier access with logistic centres and warehouse door air curtains – No waiting for a door to be opened or going through plastic slat curtains, which you must do slowly to ensure good safety standards, making them perfect air curtains for loading dock doors as you can have open doors all the time.

Industrial doorway curtains

In winter periods, these air curtains protect against heat loss in areas by producing a suitably directed air stream that protects the entrance from the ingress of cold air into the heated indoor environment. In the summer, these air curtains work as “cooling devices” by preventing the incoming air or entry of warm air from the outside as well as air pollutants entering your industrial building, when using air conditioning.

These industrial air curtains are ideal for use on loading bays, warehouses, hangars, retail outlets, cold stores, buildings, logistic centres or factories, saving forklift drivers time as they don’t have to get out of their cabs to close and open doors , and making moving from one area to another safer and more convenient.

An industrial air curtain works by delivering a powerful invisible barrier of ambient or warm air across the opening whilst providing total visibility and access for industrial doors, keeping the internal air inside (the conditioned air)and external air outside which reduces heat loss and improves the energy efficiency of a building via a powerful barrier of air, making these the perfect air curtains for warehouse doors by keeping the internal air, which is normally heated air from escaping to the external environment.

Unlike plastic slat curtains, which quickly become opaque with use, an air door or industrial door air curtains always provide 100% visibility and keep the conditioned air (warm air or air-conditioned cold air) within the indoor environment.

 

Environmental separation

It is important to note that air curtains work by producing an air stream, which must cover the entire door width or the entire door height to work properly; otherwise, you will not get the benefits of heat energy savings or energy efficiency from the installation of your industrial air curtain units, and keep the warm air (as heat is lost rapidly through open doors, disrupting the temperature inside) or cold air within your building.

Industrial Air Curtains: Our air door or industrial air barrier uses the air of the room to create a barrier at the opening of the door. The air curtains are constructed with high performance axial fans and have an efficient air diffuser that ensure a strong and powerful air barrier, or air stream to separate the environments.

The range consists of 3 models: a 1.5 metre, a 2 metre and a 2.5 metre long unit or module that can be coupled together to make up your desired width being suitable for long periods of operation with minimal running costs.

Industrial Air Door or Curtain

An industrial range air curtain are specifically designed to provide an invisible air barrier, that provides a clear doorway and a welcoming environment, which separates two environments of different temperatures, whilst reducing energy costs and with minimal maintenance requirements.

Product advantages                            

• Strong and powerful air stream / wind velocities– that helps save energy/energy efficient.These are powerful air curtains and ideal for industrial premises with frequently opened doors.

• Industrial air curtains – An energy efficient and energy saving solution by retaining warm air (i.e. the internal air) and stopping cold air from entering or chilled air from escaping (in the case of air-conditioned spaces) and keeping the internal temperatures of industrial premises such as a warehouse etc stable.
• Ambient ( non-heated ) or heated air /warm air industrial air curtain options 

• Compact size: The 1.5, 2, or 2.5 metre industrial air curtain modules are easy to move and install in series (they must be assembled side by side to create an uninterrupted stream of air), and they are much easier to install than a single or one-piece air curtain due to their lighter weight.

• Installation is universal: they can be mounted horizontally across the door or vertically at the side of the industrial doorway.

• The fan motors are equipped with internal thermal protection against overheating.

Customer benefits

• Industrial air curtains protect your industrial door way against cold air, pollution, dust, fumes, smoke, insects or even summer heat
• Energy efficient solution
• Reducing energy costs by preventing heat loss or keeping in cooled air provided by cooling solutions such as air conditioning systems
• Easy and simple installation
• Horizontal or vertical mounting – to suit your specific site conditions and requirements.

Below is a handy guide to air curtain installation requirements and factors to consider by Eurovent – an association of European HVACR industry companies and this guide is for mechanical consultants, specifiers, engineers, legislators, and everyone else dealing with air curtain technologies.

Eurovent air curtain installation guidebook

Air curtain for industrial use

 

Our  industrial air curtains range are used to protect doors up to 8 metres in height vertically or 14 metres horizontally (when installed on both sides of any industrial openings) and can be installed horizontally or vertically to suit your site requirements. The Flexiheat “Elis G” range of industrial use air curtains protects against uncontrolled incoming airflow. They save energy by creating a strong air barrier across the entire width of the entrance of any industrial doorway, such as distribution centres, warehousing or any industrial building and an energy efficient solution to incoming air or heat losses via an invisible barrier of air covering the open doors.

Warm air or ambient air curtain units

Heating or heated units

You have the option of heating the incoming airflow so that anyone entering the building feels the benefit of warmth from the air curtain. There are two air heating system options.

Electrically heating

Our full range of industrial electric air curtains require a three-phase electric supply to power the electrical heating elements of the units.

Water heating

These industrial water heated air curtains can be powered by hot water up to 120 Degrees C , and can be used to supplementing existing heating systems.

Non-heated or ambient

The definition of “ambient” with regards to an air curtain is ambient temperatures  – ambient temperature is the air temperature of any environment where the unit is installed and located. The adjective “ambient” means “relating to the immediate surroundings.” Thus, these are not heated air curtains; they just use the air within the building to cause a high pressure air curtain to prevent the interior of the building from the ingress of air from the outside, and thus losses of additional heat and saving energy and reducing energy bills.

We have heard people refer to ambient or fan-only units as unheated, non-heated or even neutral air curtains.

There are additional benefits that an industrial air curtain provides protection against pollution, dust, fumes, undesirable odours and insects.

Industrial air curtain range – technical data

Following is technical data for our industrial air curtain models:

“E” donates electrically powered version – 3 Phase supply is required for the heating element

“N” donates – non heated or ambient air version

“W” donates the water fed heating version – We do the water heated version , with either a single row or a two row heat exchanger designated as the (2R)  – the two row obviously having a larger heat and temperatures output.

 

 

Download the Industrial air curtains ambient air or heated by water or electric brochure from Flexiheat UK

Download the Flexiheat UK Elis G Industrial air curtain range manual

EC Fan air curtains for Industrial use

In the HVAC industry, there has been a significant trend towards the use of EC motor technology in all types of building applications. The justification is straightforward:

EC motors consume 40 to 70% less energy than traditional AC fan motors ( see below)

EC motors have minimal slippage losses as compared to AC motors, which reduces losses and enhances efficiency.

EC motors consume at least 40% less energy than AC motors and can be directly connected to a BMS.

The Benefits of EC Fan Technology

• Energy saving – Extremely high efficiency
• Controller integrated (continuous control)
• A straightforward and simple connection to BMS systems
• Additional functionality   – variable airflow and variable air speed
• A smaller motor with the same degree of performance.
• Power usage is reduced.
• Low motor temperature: for longer motor lifetime than an AC equivalent

The other benefit is that you can adjust the airflow stages easily with EC fans

Thus, you can adjust the air flow to suit the site conditions – this can save an additional 30% on energy usage – thus the up to 70% ( 40% + 30% )  quoted above when compared to AC motor units.

The Airstream Pro “EC” Fan product range consists of three basic types: Airstream Pro “C,” an ambient air curtain without heating function with a range of up to 8 m; and Airstream Pro “W R1” and “W R2,” with a single or double-row water heating coil with a maximum range of 7.5 m and 7 m, respectively, to provide additional heat. There is currently no option for electrically heated units in this range.

These energy saving “EC fan” motor air curtains can be horizontally or vertically mounted and are detailed in the following brochure.

Download the Airstream Pro EC fan Air Curtains for industrial use brochure – Flexiheat UK

Download the Airstream Pro Industrial air curtains with EC fans manual from Flexiheat

Industrial Air Curtain for overhead doors / roller shutter

With a maximum horizontal installed length of 10 metres, we can cover most up and over doorways and loading bays in industrial premises.

Please note the heated versions can only be used up to 7.5 metres in height mounted horizontally as recommended by the ISO 27327-1 standard, the non-heated versions can be used to 8 metres in height mounted horizontally.

Vertical mounted air curtains for industrial applications

As sometimes there is no installation room above the overhead industrial door, these industrial door air curtains can be installed in a vertical orientation. When installed vertically on one side of the doorway, the maximum width of the doorway should be 8 metres.

Vertically installed installation picture in a warehouse for a factory – Vertically installed  industrial door air curtains – from Flexiheat UK 

When put up vertically on both sides of the door, we can cover a maximum width of 14 meters.

We can cover doors up to 8 metres high mounting height in a vertical air curtain configuration.

Industrial Door Air Curtains for Sale UK & Ireland

These air curtains allow large entrances to remain open, with the powerful barrier of air preventing heat losses and cold air (in the winter) or warm in in the summer dust and insects from entering in industrial applications such as factories, warehouses, or other buildings.

Should you require anymore assistance or information on our comprehensive range of Industrial Air Curtains for either vertical or horizontal mounted applications , please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team on 01202 822221 or click here for our email contact form.