Name: HVLS Fan Company 

Address: P.O. Box 11307   City: Lexington  State: Kentucky  

Employees: 75   Year Established: 1998 

Research Director: Nancy Smith    Product: Ceiling Fans

HVLS Fan Company

Summer is no day at the beach for millions of people who work in industrial plants. And it’s no secret that productivity falls, turnover increases, and accident rates go up when employees are stressed by the heat.

The most common response to this problem involves the purchase of small personal fans. It is not uncommon for larger industrial plants to have literally hundreds of these small fans blowing haphazardly.

Temperature differentials, which naturally exist between the floor and the ceiling of large buildings, can result in differences of moisture and humidity at various levels that can cause damage to sensitive packaging and products.

Slow and continual stirring of the air within the facility results in a more stable temperature and humidity throughout.

A single 20' diameter HVLS High Volume Low Speed Fan is designed to circulate air over an area of 15,000 to 20,000 square feet, and can be effectively utilized even in buildings with ceiling heights exceeding 45 feet. The low velocity, steady breeze produced by the HVLS ceiling fan provides an effective temperature reduction ranging from 6-8 degrees F.

Practically speaking, due to their size and unique airfoil blade design (patent pending), HVLS Fans simply provide more air movement for more space.

As an example, a single 20 foot diameter HVLS Fan can move a column of air over 25 times as large as that of a standard 48 inch ceiling fan moving at the same speed. The HVLS Fan eliminates the need to install multiple smaller fans, or have an array of personal fans throughout the facility.

Summer cooling

Conditions in the typical manufacturing plant are frequently miserable during the summer, while all facilities have some ventilation; air movement at floor level — the place it really counts — is seldom adequate.

During summer months, an HVLS Fan helps cool an area by increasing the amount of air circulation within a facility. The fan "cools," as does any fan, by increasing the rate at which perspiration is evaporated from the surface of the skin. This can be a powerful effect. For example, empirical studies over the past 80 years (including, most recently, those at the ASHRAE-sponsored lab at Kansas State University) show that in a space that is 80 degrees F, the operation of ceiling fans can make a person feel as though the workspace is as much as 8 degrees cooler.  The advantages of using HVLS fans to make workers feel cooler are: (1)  the low fan speed creates an air current that is not disruptive; and (2) the large size of the fans means that the workers on the floor can really feel the air; and (3) the air movement is felt over a large area, not just directly under the fans.

Using the fans during hot summer months can improve employees’ working conditions by alleviating the uncomfortable stuffy atmosphere and creating a cooling effect for the occupants.

Winter destratification

It is not uncommon on a cold winter day to have a temperature differential from ceiling to floor of more than 15 degrees F in a building with a ceiling height of 30 feet.

Rotating at 1/3 to 1/2 speed for winter operation, the HVLS Fan pushes heated air down from the ceiling of a building to recover and re-circulate heated air to the lower levels (destratification) which leads to lower heating costs. If, for instance, there is only a 10 degree F temperature difference in a building from ceiling to floor, the fans, installed at a height of 26 feet, can provide a potential savings of close to 20%. The higher the temperature difference, the greater the savings.