SparkFun Forums

[joelongstreet]

I'm fairly new to electronics and have made a few hello world applications with an arduino. I'm looking at starting a project which incorporates a few party horns (ya know, these things - http://garrettword.files.wordpress.com/ ... y-horn.jpg), and came across the Blower - Squirrel Cage (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11270).

Will this produce enough air pressure to quickly extend 3 party horns? Are there other options?

Thanks for any help you can provide,

Joe

[bsagan]

Here are my basic back-of-the-envelop 2-minute calculations (as in very guess-worky):
Average lung capacity of a human is 6 liters (.211888 cubic feet). Lets say that an individual inhale or exhale is going to last 1 second. So if we are hyperventilating, we can be moving around (.211888 * 60) = 12.7CFM. The blower is rated at 16CFM so I'd hazard a guess of "yes, I think this would work." We haven't taken pressure into account but I can't imagine that these party horns require much back pressure to get them to work (ie I think that the pressure a fan can provide is a different specification than the amount of air it can move). But my guess is yes, you could use the blower.

Ben

[chartle]

I think its all about pressure. Take the horn and try blowing into it holding it a half an inch in front of your lips and see how it works.

I think you need an air compressor even one like the cheap 12 volt ones sold for around 10 bucks. Or an air tank with some valves.

ETA: I'm amending my post. I was on my phone so I couldn't see which blower you were talking about, but maybe it would work. That fan is pretty powerful.

[magnethead]

The coiled up portion has a spring-like load resistance. You need a [static] pressure to overcome this resistance.

[halfempty]

If you make sure the connection between the blower and the horn is tight I bet it would it would quickly build the static pressure you need, I think it would work

[notexactly]

The SparkFun Indoor Curling Kit (SICK) hovercraft might give you a rough idea of the blower's pressure.