Air curtains or air doors are devices that help create an invisible blockage between the air outside your premises and the air inside your workplace without the need for bulky doors.
There are three prime mechanisms through which conditioned air contained inside is lost via an opening in a building;
- Natural Convection
- Natural Ventilation
- Mechanical Ventilation
Let’s discuss what they are and how to combat the issues with the help of air curtains.
Natural Convection
Cold air is denser than warm air, which allows cold air to settle down. Across an unimpeded boundary, a heated and cool area conditioned cool air will escape from the bottom of the opening. This process will naturally allow Hot Air to enter the conditioned space, from the top of the opening, which is known as natural convection.
This process happens due to the thermal properties present i.e. the tendency of hotter and hence, less dense air to rise and colder air to sink under the influence of gravity resulting in the transfer of heat into the surroundings.
Under these conditions, an air curtain can limit the exchange of air between the two zones by creating a barrier to impede airflow.
The turbulent flow of air curtain creates a secondary layer that makes Air Curtains work effectively and also affect the natural airflow pattern in thermal convection.
Natural Ventilation
An airtight building is never possible. There is invariably some openings and service, such as doors, windows, and cracks that prove to be the facilitator of cold air passing as well as hot air entering the building in order to replace it through the mechanism as very well explained in the previous process.
The prevailing wind conditions and directions can exacerbate this natural ventilation mechanism, relative to the openings.
In this type of situation, the use of an air curtain can reduce the ill effects of air loss as a natural consequence of wind-driven natural ventilation, through the doorways. Air Curtains have got the ability to work wonderfully well on Doorways and can reduce the losses sign can on conditioned Air and prevent the entrance of mosquitoes, flies, and dust.
Mechanical Ventilation
Mechanical ventilation, also referred to as artificial ventilation, uses artificial fans, such as Ventilation systems, Exhaust Fans, Gravity Ventilators, and several more.
A region within a building, or the interior of a building, can be very well pressurized under three separate conditions:
- Pressurized positively, where the Air is moving out of the area in consideration
- Pressurized negatively, where the Air is moving in the area in consideration.
- Non- pressurized (with no pressure differential between zones).
All these variations in pressure difference across an opening between zones can be the natural consequence of a poorly balanced ventilation system, ineffective controls, or in a few cases a well- thought design decision.
Air curtain solutions have the ability to work in almost all of these scenarios (controlled conditions). The Flow of Air Curtains is hugely affected if there is a properly ventilated building. Nonetheless, they are most effective if the pressure differential across the air stream is minimum.
Are Air Curtains Effective?
No doubt they are!
Various studies and research conducted show that Air Curtains are effective in creating a barrier to keep the inside air well conditioned.
WHO Needs Air Curtains?
Look at the checklist below and see if you face similar problems:
Checklist:
- Does Dust affect you/your business?
- Do you have Air Conditioned premises?
- Do mosquitoes/Flies affect your comfort/product quality?
- Does closing the door affect your inflow of customers?
- Do you have a conveyorized hot oven?
- Do you want to reduce energy bills?
- Do you have a Cold Room/Freezer/Chiller?
If the answer to any of the above is YES, then it is a must for you to have Air Curtains.
Air curtains are effective in isolating weather conditions and are now a necessity in a variety of commercial and residential sectors.
It protects the air inside, and wards off insects and dust, eliminating the need to buy products solely for the aforementioned purposes. In addition, as an easy-care product, it is cost-effective in the long term, while also meeting certain hygiene standards.
So in simple language, if you are a Business owner, Managing Director, Project manager, or Consultant of a Hotel, Restaurant, Pharma unit, Cold Room, food factory, warehousing unit, or anywhere else, when comfort and hygiene are critical to you and your business, you need an air curtain.
You can increase your business profitability and enhance your customer experience, by getting rid of mosquitoes, flies, and dust and can save conditioned air from losing.
In general, people put a lot of effort and energy into the planning and execution of the design and construction of the project and forget about the last spring in the cap, which becomes the leak of the building.
So if you are amongst them, don’t make the same mistake. Become wiser and consider Air curtains now!!