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Finding and Buying Used Industrial Equipment

Would it surprise you to learn that you can find high quality industrial equipment at savings of 50 percent or more? When you buy used industrial equipment you are getting the same great performance for a fraction of the cost. Industrial equipment is built to last, so it often has many years of life left in it when a company goes under or upgrades and needs to sell. That's good news to you! My name is Ryan, and I can teach you how to find the best used equipment for your manufacturing plant at the lowest possible price. Come read all about it.

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Finding and Buying Used Industrial Equipment

What Is A Roots Blower?

by Patricia Brooks

There are all kinds of types of blowers and pumps out there. One kind is a Roots-type blower. These are positive displacement lobe pumps. 

Roots Blowers

Roots blowers got their name because the company that originally made them was started by a pair of brothers with the last name of Root in Indiana in the late 1800s. Early in the 20th century, car manufacturers discovered that these pumps were not only good superchargers for machinery, smaller versions of the blowers also worked really well as superchargers in cars, giving the engine more power. That's because they pump more oxygen into the engine so that it can have a better fuel burn. They are still used in both gasoline and diesel engines, as well as in industrial settings. But how do they work?

Positive Displacement Pumps

Roots blowers are positive displacement pumps. That means that they grab a certain amount of fluid or air and then force it into the discharge pipe. There are a lot of reasons that positive displacement pumps are used in so many places. One is that they always grab the same volume of air or fluid every time, at least on paper. In practice, there is a small amount of leakage as higher pressures set in, but most times and in most situations, the volume of air or fluid will be the same every time. 

Lobe Pumps

The inner workings of positive displacement pumps come in many different styles. A lobe pump has two or more pieces inside that have two, three, or four lobes. Basically, these pieces are similar to gears. They will mesh together so that each chamber between lobes fills with air and then that air is forced out when the chamber reaches the discharge pipe. A bi-lobe pump would have pieces that looked like rounded bow ties. When they are at rest, one piece will be horizontal and the other will be vertical. One lobe of the vertical piece will fit into the empty space on the other piece. As they start to spin, the pieces will continue to mesh in the same way, grabbing and discharging air as each chamber fills and empties. 

Roots blowers got their start as superchargers for blast furnaces. They would push more air into the furnaces so that they would produce more heat and work more efficiently. These days, they can still be found in industrial settings, but you can also find them in your car. For more information, contact a company like lambsmachineworks.com.

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