ACI blower inflates Pufferfish spherical displays
An
Air Control Industries product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 5, 2009
Air Control Industries (ACI) has supplied the MS8/DC blower to Putterfish to keep its digital spherical displays inflated.
Spherical displays are achieved via special projection techniques involving custom-engineered lenses that project media onto the inside of an inflated sphere that can be suspended from ceilings, hung from walls or just floor standing.
MS8/DC blower keeps Putterfish digital spherical displays inflated.
This projection technology has been developed over last few years by Pufferfish and is now being used worldwide for music events, business conferences and exhibitions.
At the same time as the core projection technology was being proven, the key factor of keeping the spheres inflated correctly was also being refined with the help of ACI.
The company was approached by Pufferfish after consultations with specialists in inflatables regarding appropriate blower manufacturers.
Initially, an off-the-shelf centrifugal fan was specified.
This was said to be a simple solution that both inflated the sphere and cooled the projection equipment as the excess air was ducted away.
Today's version of the Pufferfish digital spherical display is more sophisticated and larger in size, calling for a different blower solution.
The Pufferfish sphere is non-venting; air does not escape via the seams.
As a result, the blower must be able to maintain a consistent level of inflation in response to feedback from pressure sensors.
This calls for extreme opposites of performance, from the initial inflation of the sphere through to continuous 'tick-over' to maintain pressure without overheating.
In between, there are the pressure changes resulting from variations in ambient conditions that call for different blower outputs.
Will Cavendish, chief technology officer for Pufferfish, said: 'The latest blower satisfies all our inflation requirements while also helping us to achieve system design improvements.' The MS8/DC features a fan motor, which is a 24V external rotor unit that is controlled by varying the voltage.
This configuration is claimed to provide a simple, compact control solution that is quiet.
The compactness of the system facilitates transportation and installation; the latter is said to be essential for some applications, such as in television studios.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact Air Control Industries
Tel (UK) 0845 5000 501
Other Air Control Industries stories
-
ACI develops medium to high-pressure fans
Air Control Industries (ACI) has expanded its range of air movement products by introducing a range of medium to high-pressure fans. -
ACI supplies blower units for vacuum excavators
Air Control Industries (ACI) has supplied special blower units to Doncaster-based Vac-Ex for its mobile vacuum excavators. -
Bottle-drying system minimises contamination risks
Air Control Industries (ACI) has revealed how a bottle-drying system it supplied to Bitburger Braugruppe is helping the brewer minimise contamination risks on production-line machinery. -
ACI releases energy-efficient drying unit
Air Control Industries (ACI) has introduced the Dri-Line Powerpack, an energy-efficient drying unit for water-cooled extruded and coated products. -
Blowers separate light recyclable material
ACI recommended centrifugal blower units because they deliver the best air flow and pressure for their size, ideal for blasting "lights" from falling media.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,420)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (518)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,106)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (468)
- Production line blowers and fans (64)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (940)
- Consultancy and Services (909)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,064)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (807)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (187)
- Control and Instrumentation (2)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (295)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (202)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,183)
- Plantwide control (1,335)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (569)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (388)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,393)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (1)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,283)
- Industrial Motors (500)
- Linear Drives and Motors (115)
- Precision Motors and Gears (418)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,074)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,203)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (558)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (691)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (635)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (1)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (371)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (712)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (425)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (810)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,226)
- 2D CAD software (201)
- 3D CAD software (1,162)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (571)
- Data, document management software (313)
- Electrical design software (165)
- Engineering Design Software (15)
- FEA and structural analysis software (374)
- File conversion software, data capture (355)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (334)
- Materials design and moulding design software (152)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (318)
- PLM and collaboration software (652)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (260)
- Publishing and documentation software (230)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (200)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (924)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,125)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (278)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (430)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (844)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (566)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (353)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (402)
- Engineering Training Courses (440)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (175)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (278)
- Health and Safety Legislation (402)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (114)
- Machine Building (4,563)
-
Materials and Processing (2,986)
- Materials and components (2,233)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (288)
- Rapid Prototyping (460)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,524)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (479)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (497)
- Data loggers (421)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (635)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (729)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (444)
- Materials testing equipment (420)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (156)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (508)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,234)
-
Powertrain Design (3,646)
- Bearings (956)
- Chains and belts (329)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,455)
- Hydraulic Components (473)
- Lubricants (430)
- Powertrain Design (2)
-
Sensors (7,141)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (432)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (621)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (286)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (155)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (529)
- Linear Position Sensors (408)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (710)
- Pressure sensors (625)
- Proximity Sensors (708)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (551)
- Sensors (8)
- Temperature sensors (613)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,392)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (1,987)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,652)
