风机已有悠久的历史。中国在公元前许多年就已制造出简单的木制砻谷风车，它的作用原理与现代离心风机基本相同。1862年，英国的圭贝尔发明离心风机，其叶轮、机壳为同心圆型，机壳用砖制，木制叶轮采用后向直叶片，效率仅为40%左右，主要用于矿山通风。1880年，人们设计出用于矿井排送风的蜗形机壳，和后向弯曲叶片的离心风机，结构已比较完善了。
Fans have a long history. China has made simple wooden rice hulling windmills for many years BC, and its working principle is basically the same as that of modern centrifugal fan. In 1862, British Guibert invented the centrifugal fan. Its impeller and casing are concentric and round. The casing is made of bricks. The wooden impeller uses straight backward blades. Its efficiency is only about 40%. It is mainly used for mine ventilation. In 1880, people designed the volute casing for mine ventilation and centrifugal fan with backward curved blades, and the structure has been relatively perfect.
1892年法国研制成横流风缆接地箱 隔离墩模具 保定电动门 铜狮子 u型槽模具 SMT贴片焊接 收费岛模具 水泥井模具机；1898年，爱尔兰人设计出前向叶片的西罗柯式离心风机，并为各国所广泛采用；19世纪，轴流风机已应用于矿井通风和冶金工业的鼓风，但其压力仅为100～300帕，效率仅为15～25%，直到二十世纪40年代以后才得到较快的发展。
In 1892, France developed a cross flow fan; In 1898, Irish people designed a forward facing centrifugal fan of Sirocco type, which was widely used in various countries; In the 19th century, axial flow fans were applied to mine ventilation and blast in the metallurgical industry, but their pressure was only 100-300 Pa and efficiency was only 15-25%. It was not until the 1940s that they developed rapidly.
1935年，德国首先采用轴流等压风机为锅炉通风和引风；1948年,丹麦制成运行中动叶可调的轴流风机；旋轴流风机、子午加速轴流风机、斜流风机和横流风机也都获得了发展。按气体流动的方向，风机可分为离心式、轴流式、斜流式和横流式等类型。
In 1935, Germany first adopted axial flow equal pressure fans for boiler ventilation and induced draft; In 1948, Denmark produced an axial flow fan with adjustable blades in operation; Rotary axial flow fans, meridional acceleration axial flow fans, oblique flow fans, and transverse flow fans have also been developed. According to the direction of gas flow, fans can be divided into centrifugal, axial, oblique, and transverse flow types.