Question about fans, please read.

Hello members,

I have the following question. Do fans that suck air from the sides and blow them towards the upside exist? I really need to know this. Thank you very much.

By the way I just mean normal fans here, nothing related notebooks.

Thank you.

 

Any fan can be made to blow air wherever you want.

If they blow air down, and you want it to blow the air up, then simply turn the fan upside down. So just take a normal fan, see which way it blows, and then point it to blow in the direction you want, which is "towards the upside".

It's like saying "I want a gun that shoots up". Well they don't make guns specifically that just shoot "up". Guns are made to shoot where you aim them. The same applies to fans. They blow air to where you aim them.

 

I think he means this :

 

Thats indeed the way I mean it Mujtaba! Air comes from the sides and is been blown upwards.

I really need your help guys please.

 

Can you mount spacers between the intake and the surface?

 

Sorry mate I do not understand what you mean. Could you please explain that. I think it should be possible to have fan that take air in from the side.

 

I think fans suck in air from under and sides but mostly under it and blow it up. If you cover the part behind the fan then it would suck air from the sides. Not sure if it makes it less effective.

 

This is wat they meant, the spacer..

Another way to do it is to have fins that scoop the air into the middle, it's kinda hard to draw or to explain..

 

You can make yourself a fan out of something like PVC pipe.

 

Thanks for your reaction mate but it still sucks air from the bottom in your example. What I really mean is that the downside is closed and the sides are open for air intake.

Thanks for your reactions.

 

Take a fan and drill holes around the frame..it's quite easy to do..
the fram will be strong enough with the holes. just make sure there's enough clearence that the back of the fan doesn't touch anything, i'd use some washers to get a mm or of clearence..

 

Thanks Jedi master, I also believe that that should solve the problem. Just make a casing that is open at the side so air can flow in there and can be blown upwards.

More idea's are always welcome. Thanks in advance!

 

I have something like this fan to cool my laptop:
http://www.robotpower.com/images/osmc-wfan-sm.jpg

I would just drill holes in the frame, and IMO that would pull the air you need, and the fram would be sturdy enough.
What did you mean by "just MAKE a casing"?

 

Sorry for the bad naming... i hope u get wat i m drawing...
What i learnt in CFD... could do a CFD model for u if u want... might take 2 weeks to complete.. the school cpu is kinda slow..

 

Use a normal fan, but extend two or three sides downward so that it only pulls from under on one side and blows out the top (see my wonderful drawing).

 

This was wat he din wanted to do.....

 

Thanks Lunateck. So you think that drilling holes at the sides would be enough? Will that be strong enough?

Thanks!

 

Ya should be.. would be more efficient if it is like those side vents of laptops... wat exactly are you doing with it? A notebook cooler? BTW, where did u found those type of fins? They are nearly nonexistence unless you mold it urself.

 

It is indeed for a notebook cooler Lunateck. There is very little space for the 15 mm (height) fan so the bottom will be closed. So we were looking for a solution where the fan sucks air from the sides and blows them up.

What do you mean with those type of fins? Do you mean my post or someone's else?

 

Have you looked at video card fans, cause this is exactly what they do.

 

Well.. sometimes, but normally they suck the air from above and blow it to the sides. It would not work if the fins are very vertically place..
U need that type of star design but as well as the fins (the one i drew on the right hand side) to divert the air flow upwards (if it is a vertical fin, the air would be suck inside but the exhaust will only be in the middle, which is inefficient)

 

Those are called centrifrugal fans. They actually work in the OPPOSITE direction of what he wants though... suck air from top/bottom and blow the air out towards the sides.

A few companies have made a product that you are looking for, although they are both kind of make shift I guess. Antec's VCool has a regular bladed fan in a PCI card enclosure with the only source of air being the bracket.

 

That's the problem..
But if your just having 1 prototye, it might be ok... If you r mass producing, plastic injection method is recommended (the cheapest way)...

 

Thanks for the replies!

Acaurora could you just let the centriful fan spin the other direction so it sucks air from the sides and blows it to the top.

I totally forgot that the Zalman NC1000 also works the same way. Do you really need a special type of fan to work it the way I want it to work?

I added a screenshot of the Zalman. It is the same way I want to do it actually.

Thanks guys!

 

This would work also, but note that the fan spins counter clockwise... It would only work if the design is like the ones that Zalman has.

 

I'm afraid not. The reason they're called centrifugal fans is because centrifugal force makes them work. If you spin something around, it is "pulled" outward. Like if you spin a bucket of water around, the water is held in the bucket. Making the fan go backwards won't work, in the same way that if you spun the other way around with the bucket, the water wouldn't fly out of the bucket into your face. Virtually all fans either work on this centrifugal basis, or the much more common "desk fan" style, where the blades of the fan act as aerofoils, and push the air through the fan. It may be possible to design a fan that works how you want it to, but it certainly won't be very efficient if it works at all.

 

Lunateck, here is the attachment that I promised.

Thanks in advance!

 

Should work, make sure it is spinning clockwise. Have you tried it?

 

No, this is only a picture which was sent to us, we don´t have the fan. I did some thinking and it would be possible but I am not sure.

 

What requirements are you dealing with? Space requirements? Whats your min target airflow? are they 5v or 12v?

 

A top view would be nice. btw, recommend you to get a bigger one, it seems this one is about 30mm or so... better go for 1 huge fan (120mm? with longer fins) coz it generates less noise due to lower rpm but still chunking out the same cfm compared to 6 or 7 small ones.

 

You cannot put an 120mm in a notebook cooler, it will consume to much energy and the space for it is too small.

I do not know how big this fan is but it is an example of the type of fan.

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