This complimentary, live workshop will be conducted at two different times to accommodate most time zones. Further details here.

This one-hour webinar will explore, in detail, the typical method for testing fans and blowers, the inherent assumptions in the test procedures and several methods of simulating fans. Particular insights into the air flow produced by fans and blowers will be demonstrated along with potential extensions of the data such as aeroacoustic noise.

The vast majority of electronic systems are cooled using fans or blowers to move air over heat exchange devices such as heat sinks. The fans and blowers are typically characterized by a performance (PQ) curve that shows the relationship between the flow that can be provided while overcoming a range of pressure.

Design engineers can then use the intersection of the PQ curve with the system resistance characteristic to predict the actual air flow of the selected fan in their particular system.

Sometimes, more detailed simulation of the fan or blower is required to accurately predict the system performance. In general, this will be the case when the usage situation varies dramatically from the test situation.

Examples include systems with significant flow obstructions just upstream or downstream of the fan, or side-by-side fans that produce flow interactions which the PQ curve cannot predict. In these cases, a detailed fan or blower simulation can greatly improve the designers understanding of the cooling situation.