Spiral blower

Abstract

A dryer blower for carwash facilities comprising a volute housing for an impeller having an axial intake and a tangential air outlet. The volute housing is characterized by a spiral channel of increasing cross-sectional area as a result of an increasing width and substantially constant radial dimension. The spiral housing terminates in a long, narrow output to create an air knife which effectively strips water from the surfaces of a just washed vehicle. The housing can be asymmetric or symmetric and housings can be arranged in side by side tandem to create additional length in the air outlet.

1 . A blower for drying just washed vehicles comprising::
 an annular impeller;   a motor for driving the impeller; and   a volute housing surrounding the impeller having an axis of rotation and an axial intake for air, an outlet, and a volute air channel leading to the outlet, characterized by a substantially constant radius and gradually increasing cross-sectional area.   
   
   
       2 . The blower as defined in  claim 1  wherein the outlet is in the shape of a narrow rectangle having an aspect ratio of about 12:1. 
   
   
       3 . The blower defined in  claim 1  wherein the volute is symmetric. 
   
   
       4 . The blower defined in  claim 1  wherein the volute is asymmetric. 
   
   
       5 . The blower defined in  claim 4  wherein one side of the volute is defined by a wall which is substantially planar and orthogonal to the axis of rotation while the opposite wall is non-planar to define said gradually increasing cross-sectional area. 
   
   
       6 . The blower defined in  claim 1  wherein the housing is made of plastic. 
   
   
       7 . The blower defined in  claim 6  wherein the plastic is high-density polyethylene. 
   
   
       8 . The blower as defined in  claim 1  wherein the motor is at least partially enclosed by the volute housing. 
   
   
       9 . A tandem blower arrangement for drying just washed vehicles comprising:
 a pair of volute housing blower arranged in side-by-side relationship and including for each blower an impeller having an axis of rotation and an axial air inlet, the volute housing of each blower terminating in a long, narrow outlet, the blowers being arranged such that the long, narrow outlets are in alignment and are adjacent one another and the axes of rotation of the respective impellers essentially coincide.   
   
   
       10 . The tandem blower arrangement of  claim 9  wherein the volute blower housings are asymmetric and are characterized by outside end walls that are essentially planar and inside end walls that diverge from the outside end walls and converge upon one another in a tandem arrangement. 
   
   
       11 . A housing for a volute air blower for car wash installations characterized by a spiral air channel which increases in cross-sectional area but remains substantially constant in radial dimension as it progresses toward a long narrow tangential outlet. 
   
   
       12 . A blower arrangement for directing air toward a wet vehicle comprising:
 a gantry;   at least one blower arranged on the gantry immediately over a vehicle position to direct a substantially continuous long, narrow, volume of high velocity air at the vehicle to drive water along the length of the vehicle as the vehicle moves longitudinally relative to the gantry.