Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Fan life at 4 deg C
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Circlotron:
Back on 2nd November 2002 I put a 90mm Sunon ball bearing fan inside the refrigerator, aimed at the evaporator panel for the purpose of improving the heat transfer. That, and a pair of fans at the bottom of the condenser behind the fridge improved the compressor duty cycle from 60% to 31%. Halved the power consumption. But that's another story. The point is, the fan inside the fridge is still going just fine after 144,768 hours 24/7 in a 4 deg C ambient as of today. We did some life tests of fans at work some time ago and at 70 deg C some would only last a few months. Temperature sure seems to make a difference!
wraper:
In hot environment sleeve bearing fans will often fail within a few weeks. On the other hand I use 120x38mm 230V Sunon fans with ball bearings in a place with above 60oC temperature. They run fine for 5+ years 24x7 then bearings start emitting noise. Stupid manufacturer for some reason used Sunon fans with sleeve bearings  :palm:, they don't last even a year.
OM222O:
You might want to look into maglev fans. they use a magnetic field to levitate the blades so there isn't a real bearing to speak of. corsair has some but I believe other manufacturers have also made similar ones.
wraper:

--- Quote from: OM222O on May 09, 2019, 01:24:35 pm ---You might want to look into maglev fans. they use a magnetic field to levitate the blades so there isn't a real bearing to speak of. corsair has some but I believe other manufacturers have also made similar ones.

--- End quote ---
Whatever they claim, ball bearing fans are more reliable, especially at higher operating temperatures. Also, they don't levitate blades. It's just a fancy sleeve bearing. All magnet does is pulls shaft to one side so it does not bounce and move depending on fan orientation.
https://strawberry-linux.com/pub/VapoBearingMaglevTechnology.pdf
wraper:
There is also fluid (hydro) dynamic bearing type. Also fancy sleeve bearing. Shaft has grooves to keep lubrication in. https://www.nidec.com/en-NA/technology/capability/fdb/. However it's really good if done properly. That's why they are used in HDD.
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