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Industry Glossary
| Term | Definition |
| 4BOB | Four-Bearing Outboard centrifugal blower design with impellers mounted on shaft supported by two bearing brackets at each end of the machine housing |
| 4BOH | Four-Bearing Overhung centrifugal blower design with impellers mounted on overhung shaft supported by two-bearing cast iron bracket |
| Aeration | Blower process of forcing air bubbles into a pool of liquid |
| Air Bleed | Introduction of air into a centrifugal machine to prevent surge |
| Air Gate | Guillotine style on/off valve |
| ARRIS | Abrasion-Resistant Removable Inlet Section. An option for Spencer separators used when collecting abrasive materials such as sand, glass, metal, fiberglass, circuit board dust |
| Bag-In/Bag-Out | Cartridge filter separator for hazardous materials. Cartridges are inserted and removed via plastic bags to minimize worker exposure to collected dust |
| Bag Shaker | Separator accessory that allows filter bags to be shaken clean after shutdown. Can be manual or motor operated |
| Ball Float Shutoff | Liquid separator device that cuts off vacuum and airflow if liquid level exceeds collector capacity |
| Blast Gate | Butterfly valve that limits air passing through a blower or vacuum producer to prevent overload |
| Cams and Lever | Mechanism that raises and lowers a separator dirt can |
| CFM | A non-scientific measurement denoting cubic feet per minute |
| Chic Hose | Spencer lightweight, wire-reinforced vacuum cleaner hose |
| Cork Pads | Rectangular pads supplied with Spencer fabricated machines, used under the machine feet as a leveling aid |
| Debridger | Separator accessory for unclogging a hopper during discharge |
| Deflector | Stationary circular fabrication with vanes mounted between rotating impellers to direct air from the tip of one blower impeller to center of the next rotating impeller |
| Dirt Can Liner | Heavy-gauge polyethylene bag for Spencer removable dirt cans. Facilitates removal of collected material |
| DO Controls | Dissolved Oxygen system that regulates air introduction into a wastewater basin by monitoring the oxygen content |
| Double Mechanical Seal | Non-contacting seal used with purge gas to greatly minimize detectable leakage in a multistage centrifugal blower where the rotating shaft enters or leaves the housing |
| E Valve | Vacuum system inlet valve used for exposed tubing systems |
| EMBC | Electronic Modulating Bleed Control. Allows a blower to bleed off excess air or a vacuum producer to ingest air to avoid surge |
| Energy Watcher® | Monitors CarVac™ vacuum system use and automatically reduces speed during slow periods and ramps up during high period use. |
| Equalizing Line | A Spencer option for separators with removable dirt can (RDC). Allows use of plastic bag liner by equalizing vacuum above and below the collection bag |
| Exhauster | A blower being used as a vacuum producer |
| Explosion relief bung | Separator accessory that vents excess pressure caused by an explosion |
| Fan | Rotating impeller inside a blower or single stage scroll blower with motor |
| FastVac® | Registered Trademark for a Spencer line of mobile and stationary vacuum units. |
| Filter socks | Cylindrical, fabric filter bags with one sealed end |
| Flapper | Vacuum inlet valve with self-closing cover used to connect vacuum cleaning hose to tubing system |
| Flexible Coupling | Connection between drive motor and blower/vacuum producer; must be aligned at job site to assure vibration-free operation |
| Flexible Joint | Rubber inlet sleeve that isolates a vacuum producer or blower from a tubing/piping system |
| Fluidized Bed | A blower process involving aeration of a bed of powdered material causing it to exhibit fluid properties |
GasCube® |
Registered Trademark for Spencer's Natural Gas Booster Skid Packages |
| Gland Exhauster | Blower used to vacuum escaping steam from a rotating shaft |
| Gulper Tool | Large diameter tool used to vacuum up large quantities of material, sometimes mixed with air for aeration purposes |
| Hastelloy® | Highly durable material used to fabricate multistage blowers with properties exceeding stainless steel |
| Heresite® | Highly durable coating that protects internal blower parts from corrosion |
| Housing Drain | Optional device for centrifugal blowers; allows liquids to drain from machine. One drain supplied for each stage |
| Hermetic | A blower design with the motor sealed inside the housing. The Spencer UL Listed Natural Gas Booster is a hermetic design |
| ICFM | Inlet Cubic Feet Per Minute. Air volume measured at the inlet to a blower or vacuum producer. Depending upon altitude/barometric pressure, temperature and humidity, the air density will vary from SFCM conditions |
| Immersion Separator | Specially designed separator in which air and materials are filtered through a water reservoir |
| Impeller | Rotating, air moving component inside a centrifugal blower, usually made of aluminum |
| Inches Hg | Units of vacuum measurement by a mercury manometer. One inch of mercury vacuum equals 13.59" water column vacuum |
| Inches WC | Units of vacuum measurement by a water manometer. 13.59" water column vacuum equals 1.0" Hg |
| Industravac® | Registered trademark for Spencer self-contained stationary and mobile vacuum cleaning systems |
| Isomode Pads | Cushioning squares of synthetic material normally supplied for use under Industravac units in lieu of cork pads |
| Jet-Clean® | Registered trademark for Spencer’s jet pulse separator |
| Jet Pulse | A term describing cleaning separator filter bags or cartridges with timed pulses of compressed air |
| Manifold | A arrangement of tubes or pipes which distributes air or gas to multiple ports |
| Organ Blower | Blower supplying air for pipe organs |
| Orgoblo | Spencer centrifugal blower supplying air for pipe organs |
| Peak To Peak | A measurement indicating vibration or whipping of a rotating shaft, measured in mils. Spencer blowers vibrate less than 1.5 mils peak to peak at 3,500 RPM |
| Power Mizer® | Registered Trademark for Spencer cast centrifugal blowers. |
| PSIA | Pounds per Square Inch Absolute. Pressure measurement in reference to nominal sea level atmospheric pressure of 14.7 PSIA. A blower producing an outlet pressure of 17.7 PSIA at sea level is creating a differential of 3 PSI |
| PSIG | Pound per Square Inch Gauge. A measurement of the pressure differential a blower can produce. A blower produces 5.7 PSIG at sea level and an inlet temperature of 70°F |
| Python Hose | Spencer vinyl, wire-reinforced vacuum cleaning hose with smooth surfaces inside and out |
| Radial Inlet | A blower or separator inlet with the centerline of the intake tube in line with the centerline of the cylindrical machine |
| RDC | Removable Dirt Can, available up to 7-1/2 cubic feet/55 gallons for Spencer separators |
| Return Channel | See Deflector |
| Rhino Hose | Spencer rubber, wire-reinforced vacuum cleaning hose |
| RTD | Resistance Temperature Device, an accessory usually mounted on a blower to monitor the bearing temperature |
| RTV | Room Temperature Vulcanizing. Refers to a specialized caulk used between separator sections in lieu of gaskets |
| SCFM | Standard Cubic Feet Per Minute. Air volume measured at 68° F at barometric pressure of 29.92 (sea level) and 36% relative humidity. Air weight is .075 pounds per cubic foot |
| Shrink Sleeve | Heat shrinkable sleeve used to seal joints in tubing systems |
| SOH | Standard overhung design of centrifugal blowers with impellers mounted on the motor shaft |
| Stuffing Box | Older seal type used to reduce leakage in a fabricated blower where a rotating shaft passes through the housing |
| Surge | Potentially destructive phenomenon that occurs during low airflow conditions through a centrifugal blower or vacuum producer, noted by a churning or pulsing sensation |
| Tangential Inlet | Separator inlet which joins the separator body on a tangent. Promotes centrifugal airflow and rapid material separation |
| Top Drum® | Registered Trademark for a line of Spencer separator. |
| Top Hat® Separator | Trademarked Spencer centrifugal separator, installed on a 55-gallon drum to collect debris before a primary separator |
| Tufflex Hose | Spencer flexible, easy-to-handle hose used for general vacuum cleaning |
| Vacometer | A Spencer flow measurement device, also known as Globe Vacometer, consisting of a globe with inlet valve connector, adjustable orifice plate and vacuum gauge. Used to measure vacuum and flow through a given orifice to verify vacuum system performance |
| Vellumoid | A wood-fiber-based gasketing material used between mating metal parts |
| Vortex® | Registered Trademark for Spencer's line of regenerative (side channel) blowers. |
| Water Leg | Separator accessory that allows liquid to drain from a wet collector without a pump |
| Water Trap® | Registered Trademark for Spencer's special separator for the car care industry. |
| Wheel | Rotating fan, fan blade or impeller inside machine housing |
| WWT | Waste Water Treatment. A market that utilizes Spencer blowers and controls to aerate wastewater lagoons |
| XP Bung | Explosion relief port that dissipates the force of an explosion within a separator |