Fan Motors - which kind?

[metrologist]

I have two 9 inch floor fans. One motor looks radial with 4 or 6 coils oriented around the rotor. The other has one coil offset on the laminations to the side of the rotor. Is one style any better than the other? The radial style fan is stated 60W and the other is calculated as 72W from the current*amp rating.

[capt bullshot]

Don't know about the radial style motor, but the other one is well known for its ineffiency - lots of electrical power wasted to heat. These are simple and cheap to make, but real energy wasters.

[Circlotron]

Sounds like the second one is a shaded pole motor. Nobody makes big ones because they are pretty awful. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaded-pole_motor

[metrologist]

Well, I found this, but when searching I was getting convinced that the other motor was a permanent split capacitor motor. It does have a large square capacitor that the shaded pole motor does not have.

The outer windings are like these, only I think there are more than 4: https://www.psp.uk.com/shaded-pole-motors/

[james_s]

PSC motors are fairly common in medium-large fans, large in the domestic consumer sense anyway. Shaded pole motors are pretty standard for small desk fans, they're cheap and reliable.

[metrologist]

It's rather trivial. I wanted to keep the better design. Since they are both 9" fans, and I do not have a good way to measure actual air movement, I might just pick the lower wattage unit, but also consider longevity. I keep this one, but still cannot say what type of motor it has. (fans have been kind of sore spot because it gets hot here and a couple have burned out)