A damper which can be gotten on Blackhawk supply for example is an element, a valve, which regulates the air by creating a pressure drop. The damper can be manual, fixed, or motorized. It is the latter that we are dealing with here.
Principle Of The Motorized Damper
The role of the motorized damper depends on the type of damper. There are All or Nothing motorized registers (TOR); that is to say, they have only two positions (open or closed), All or Little registers ensuring a minimum flow even in the closed position. Finally, proportional registers with a full regulation range from 0 to 100%.
In the case of a TOR damper, the role will be the opening or closing an air conditioning network. It can be helpful in the case of antifreeze protection of a network or shut down to treat a specific part, for example.
The All or Little registers are used for premises with a random occupancy character. The damper switches to minimum flow when the room is unoccupied to ensure reduced air renewal.
As for proportional registers, they are entirely part of a regulatory chain. They can be slaved to a temperature sensor to modulate the airflow according to needs or a CO2 sensor. If the room is lightly occupied, the sensor detects low occupancy and the motorized damper closes in proportion to this occupancy. If the occupancy increases, the CO2 concentration also increases so that the airflow will increase accordingly with the damper’s opening.
Operation Of A Motorized Damper
Motorized dampers are made up of a metal body that can be adapted to the diameter of the duct. The damper has an adjustable shutter inside the body controlled by a servomotor generally supplied with 24 or 230 V. For proportional dampers; they also have a very often 0-10 V control.
The servomotor will orient the shutter according to the operating mode to operate. The damper seen on Blackhawk supply for example also has a seal for TOR models that allows the perfect air passage to be closed; however, a specific leakage rate is tolerated. For proportional models, the servomotor will take different positions ranging from 0 to 100% opening.
Where To Use A Motorized Damper?
Motorized dampers are used in several fields, ranging from residential for houses equipped with a ducted air conditioner to the tertiary sector for air distribution installations with, for example, an air handling unit (AHU). Motorized dampers can also be used in ventilation, air conditioning, or heating.
