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Need parts suggestions for a computer fan type air circ system

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bradleyheathhays

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I'm designing a small air circulation system (not computer related) where I need to use two computer type fans and some type of fan speed controller, and I need some advice on what parts to get.

Requirements for the fan..
- 120 or 140 mm
- as quiet as possible
- moves as much air as possible (hopefully in the 70+ cfm range)
- ball bearings, not sleeve

I've done some looking around on newegg, etc and found some good candidates, but if anyone knows of a good brand that's long lived, quiet and moves lots of air please let me know.

And as far as supply power and the speed controller are concerned, I'm entirely open to your ideas. Being a novice I'm guessing there are probably better parts suggestions that what I've imagined so far. The power will be coming from 110v so I'm gonna have to convert that somehow. I have a janky little adapter box that plugs into a 110v outlet and outputs to a female 12v car adapter, so that would probably work. Although I'd like a more solid electrical connection than the male in female socket of this adapter would provide.

And for the controller I'm thinking a simple light dimmer from home depot might do the trick.

Thanks for helping, I'm all ears.

.
 
I'm designing a small air circulation system (not computer related) where I need to use two computer type fans and some type of fan speed controller, and I need some advice on what parts to get.
The fan speed controller can be as simple as a potentiometer or you can base the fan speed on something like temperature where as temperature increases the fan speed increases. You can build or buy and likely find what you want in a turn key solution at New Egg. Using PC type fans you will want a 12 VDC power supply and likely a 12 VDC 1 Amp wall wart would suffice. Fan Speed Controllers at New Egg as an example. Just find a 12 VDC generic Wall Wart for the power supply, most PC 12 V fans only draw a few hundred mA maximum current.

Ron
 
Thanks Ron, that all sounds like great advice.

Any recommendations for a 120 or 140 mm fan that is quite and has good cfm?
Really they are all close to being the same. The two main characteristics you care about are how much air does it move and how loud is it. Depending on your location any home computer supply store should have a good variety. While they come in a dozen brands most are all made in the same plant in China and branded. :) A good mail order place is New Egg

Ron
 
I can buy an old XP desktop computer box at the thrift shop cheaper than one new fan. The desktop has several fans in it....
 
120, 127, and 140 mm are each noticeable increases in airflow-per-watt (all controllable things being approximately equal) because of an increasing value of the hub diameter to blade diameter ratio.

Mechatronics is a solid performer. EBM-Papst (Germany) and Nidec (Japan) are high end. For lower noise and longer life, get a oversized fan and slow it down by decreasing its operating voltage. Example, get a 100 CFM 12 V fan and run it at 10 or 11 volts. If you don't need to bother with PWM or LDO regulation, one or two diodes in series works well. Always add noise filter caps across the fan power input.

ak
 
4 wire fans have a speed control built in, a 555 pwm circuit is all you need to control them.
 
Rereading post #1, are you interested in AC or DC fans?

ak
 
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