FMC/JBT Tempest AirFirst™ Compressors Service and repair services plus new replacement compressor units for FMC/JBT Tempest Deicers are now available directly from Vortron!

VT Gear Drive Compressor Provides unique air moving solutions for complex needs. Applications: Deicing, Blow-off, Sparging, Debris Removal, Shallow Vacuum, Air Cooling, Bulk Conveying Industries: Aircraft GSE, Military, Food Processing, Rubber/Plastics, Agriculture, Municipal WWT

Air Power® Centrifugal Blower - for All Industrial Blower Applications - up to 1600 CFM, 160" H20 (6 PSI) - Highest efficiency; Lowest Maintenance

Blower Air Knife System - for drying and cleaning in conveyor applications - Removes water, oil, and debris from products - Reduces compressed air energy costs

Vortron Industrial: Superior Centrifugal Blowers

Vortron Industrial specializes in the design and manufacture of high-performance, high-efficiency centrifugal blowers for air knife systems and other applications. The key to a high-efficiency air knife system is a high-efficiency centrifugal blower. Vortron understands this concept better than anyone. If you compare air knife systems from various manufacturers, you will always find that the system utilizing a Vortron blower is more energy efficient and more durable overall because of the exeptionally high quality of our blowers. You might have the most efficient air knives or nozzles in the world, but your system will not acheive optimum performance unless it is powered by a Vortron blower.

Vortron Delivers Air Superiority^TM

Superior Durability - Vortron's centrifugal blowers incorporate advanced, Patented features which enhance durability and dramatically extend operating life beyond all other competing industrial blowers. Only Vortron Industrial conducts on-going, 'round-the-clock durability testing on their blowers. Vortron backs this durability commitment with a full two-year warranty for each blower that is shipped, the best in the industry.

Superior Efficiency - The efficiency levels acheived by Vortron's centrifugal blowers are unequaled throughout the blower industry worldwide, tested to the highest precision possible and documented by certified compressor maps. A plant air audit will clearly show that installation of a Vortron Air Power® centrifugal blower and air knife system will provide a drastic reduction in plant energy costs, compared to a "plant air" blow-off system. In these cases, up to 90% energy reduction can be realized! And in comparison to other industrial blowers, performance can be matched using 25% to 50% less power. All blower manufacturers will make "high-efficiency" claims, but only Vortron Industrial can guarantee its efficiency levels will not be beat by any competitor.

Superior Performance - Vortron's centrifugal blowers have been engineered to deliver performance at operating points that no other compact industrial blower can match, providing pressure and airflow which previously required the use of multi-stage blowers. To a manufacturing plant, more volume and higher velocity from a blower or air knife system means improved blow-off effectiveness, resulting in increased production throughput, and better product quality with lower reject rates. As Vortron blower performance is documented and certified through rigorous testing, Vortron Industrial provides end users with the support of a true performance guarantee. A side-by-side comparison of a Vortron blower with any industrial blower of equivalent motor size will show that Vortron clearly surpasses performance of a comparable product under equal conditions.

  High-Efficiency Centrifugal Blower Development -
  How Does Vortron Do It?

One of the fundamental differences that sets Vortron's centrifugal blowers apart from the rest is exhaustive testing. Vortech Engineering has over 15 years of experience in industry-leading automotive supercharger design, development, and manufacturing. The Vortron Industrial division of Vortech has incorporated the same excellence into the engineering and development of its industrial blowers. Several years of analytical and empirical development are devoted to optimization, with numerous iterations for each blower model tested and evaluated against stiff criteria. All blower testing is accomplished with Vortron's own gas compressor test stand, which has been developed and operated in conformance with SAE Test Standard J-1723 - a first and only in the industry! As such, Vortron is the only industrial blower manufacturer that publishes a certified compressor map, derived from actual test data, for each blower model that it manufactures.

Vortron's Test Cell - Vortron uses this equipment to measure the performance and efficiency of its centrifugal blowers.

Example of CFD Output - this is one of the many graphic views available to evaluate aerodynamic performance within the flowpath of a centrifugal blower impeller.

Computational Fluid Dynamics - Vortron Industrial employs highly sophisticated analytical tools in the development of all their industrial blowers, including Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes developed specifically for the design of turbomachinery. Using CFD, a designer can analyze the aerodynamic performance of the entire blower/compressor stage in great detail, predicting parameters such as "bulk efficiency" to a very high degree of accuracy for each blower model. Through the use of CFD technology and other blower optimization routines available to us at Vortron, we can reveal and analyze certain performance parameters within the flowpath of each compressor stage that present opportunities to improve performance. Sure, we could try some modifications and test, but we can't simply pull this stuff out of thin air. A pure trial and error method would make full optimization nearly impossible, so from that standpoint, the skills and experience we have with tools such as CFD have been enormously helpful in the process of centrifugal blower development.

Testing is Fundamental to the Centrifugal Blower Development Process Whether it's a new clean-sheet, or a re-rate of an existing blower model, such as the Z40, the ability to test and quantify blower performance is crucial. Vortron often makes some fairly broad assumptions during the blower design process that can have a strong influence on the expectations of the final blower product and resulting performance targets. If our assumptions during the initial design and computer modeling stages are over-optimistic, we can easily end up with a centrifugal blower that does not meet our design goals. It is much more difficult to find out where and how we went wrong. Fortunately, Vortron Industrial prevails as much upon accurate testing and validation of their centrifugal blower designs as they do on computer modeling. Blower testing is where Vortron's state-of-the-art gas compressor test stand comes into play. Vortron is still the only industrial blower manufacturer that tests and certifies the performance and efficiency of their blower products in accordance with an accepted standard. Vortron uses the Society of Automotive Engineers Standard J-1723 for testing blowers and correcting test data, meaning that any organization with a certified, compliant test stand, using the J-1723 standard will obtain the same results if testing the same blower.

Example of a Certified Compressor Map - This is the Result of a J-1723 Compressor Test. Complete performance parameters of the Z40e Centrifugal Blower are displayed on this map, (operating efficiency, flow range, and pressure rise at various speeds). The data was obtained from a SAE Standard J-1723 test, as with all of Vortron's compressor maps. As shown on the map, the Z40e centrifugal blower easily reaches a flowrate of 1300 SCFM at 100"WC (1.25 pressure ratio) at an efficiency of 80 percent. Because of its high efficiency, it is able to meet the operating point with only a 25 HP motor.

Corporate Headquarters - Vortech occupies a 60,000 square foot facility housing administration, engineering, manufacturing, testing, quality control, sales and marketing.

Vortron Industrial is an AirPower® Group company along with Vortech Engineering, Paxton Automotive and Lysholm Technologies. The AirPower® Group is an advanced technology and manufacturing company serving customers worldwide with centrifugal blower technology, supercharging systems and components. The corporation, which is headquartered in Channel Islands, California, has four major business units: Engineered Material Services, Automotive, Marine and Vortron Industrial. The Vortron Industrial division was created in 2001 to specialize in industrial blowers and air knife systems for applications such as industrial drying, aeration, de-watering and blow-off. James K. Middlebrook is president of the privately held corporation that was founded in 1990, growing from $270,000 to over $12 million in sales. Recognized as a leader in establishing compressor performance standards, Vortech holds six US Patents for centrifugal blower and supercharger technology.

• First to develop a high-performance air blower system specifically for aircraft de-icing
• First centrifugal blower manufacturer to utilize a supercharger development test cell designed to meet SAE Std. J1723 allowing compressor efficiency quantifications
• Pioneered OEM quality (cast components) supercharging systems
• Innovator of a centrifugal supercharger air/oil mist system for distribution and cooling
• Initiated the use of an air bypass valve in supercharging systems
• Lead others by offering an upgradeable compressor
• First successful use of gears in a centrifugal supercharger

Vortron's Machine Shop - Makino A77 Horizontal Machining Center with 20 pallet FMS system

Manufacturing Equipment - includes such advanced units as a pair of Makino A77 Horizontal Machining Centers with 20 pallet FMS system, Seiki CS25 Vertical Turning Cell with live tooling, c-axis and part loading robot, Thurmark Laser Etch machine, Zeiss Eclipse 2840 Coordinate Measuring machine (CMM), Scherr Tumico 30" Comparator, DTS-4000G 2000 HP engine dynamometer, and Mustang Eddy Current chassis dynamometer. Design and manufacturing software includes Virtual Gibbs CadCam, Solidworks, Vellum Solids and SurfCam.