Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

Hello,

I find this a very interesting product:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cor...gpu,31977.html

It claims that it's fans "levitate".

Does this mean it no longer requires any oil and thus no more cleaning
because of dust+oil+black smoke stuff frictions ?

I consider this a major breakthrough, now PCs won't require any more oil to
function.

Perhaps oil to produce them, but after that, no more oil needed LOL.

Such a re-assurance ! Really it's very nice to know. In case the oil runs
out some day ! LOL.

Bye,
Skybuck.

Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

Skybuck Flying wrote:
Hello,

I find this a very interesting product:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cor...gpu,31977.html


It claims that it's fans "levitate".

Does this mean it no longer requires any oil and thus no more cleaning
because of dust+oil+black smoke stuff frictions ?

I consider this a major breakthrough, now PCs won't require any more oil
to function.

Perhaps oil to produce them, but after that, no more oil needed LOL.

Such a re-assurance ! Really it's very nice to know. In case the oil
runs out some day ! LOL.

Bye,
Skybuck.

The OEM is likely to be Sunon.

See page 3. The design relies on magnetic attraction.
There is still a bearing.

http://www.sunon.com/tw/products/pdf/maglev.pdf

Now if you look at this diagram and page, you'll see
that the claims are slightly different. The fan
actually has more conventional elements to it.
The fan is not quite as magical as it looks in
the Sunon PDF.

http://www.comet.bg/files/custom/MagLev_scheme.jpg

( http://www.comet.bg/?cid=105&NewsId=961 )

"Prevents dust penetration,
increases lubrication circulation"

From another web page

"The unique feature of SUNON's MagLev motor fan
is that the path of the flan blades during
operation is magnetically controlled by Sunon's
patented MagLev System. The result is that the
shaft and bearing have no direct contact during
operation and so experience no friction no matter
how the fan is oriented. This means that the
characteristic abrasion noises of worn-out components
are not produced and also allows a service life
of 50,000 hours or even longer at room temperature.
"

Some fans at work had a service life of 25000 hours.
We would tell customers to do a preventative replacement
of the fans in the product, every three years of 24 hour
per day system operation (the fans could be replaced
with the power still on). These Sunon fans would be good
for six years, if you believe the advertising material.

The device is not a fluid dynamic bearing, and isn't
sealed on the ends. It just has dust caps. Your guess
is as good as mine, as to what the lubrication circulation
pattern looks like.

The Panaflo fans, used a sealed bearing with a trade
name of "hydro wave". Which I believe is a fluid dynamic
bearing. Rather than a dust cap, that's an attempt at
a sealed bearing. While I don't have a datasheet
(and Panaflo was bought by NMB), a quick Google lists
some of those fans as having a 50000 hour service life.

So if I held two fans in my hand, a Panaflo and
a Sunon Maglev, which would you buy ? :-) Which
has the least flaky explanation for how it works ?
You decide. The Sunon looks like it has a pretty
conventional bearing. And when real world considerations
are taken into account, the bearing will not be
exactly frictionless. It will be "close to" frictionless.

HTH,
Paul

Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

On Mon, 20 Jun 2016 06:43:22 +0200, Skybuck Flying wrote:

Hello,

I find this a very interesting product:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cor...vitation-fans-
gpu,31977.html

It claims that it's fans "levitate".

Does this mean it no longer requires any oil and thus no more cleaning
because of dust+oil+black smoke stuff frictions ?

I consider this a major breakthrough, now PCs won't require any more oil
to function.

Perhaps oil to produce them, but after that, no more oil needed LOL.

Such a re-assurance ! Really it's very nice to know. In case the oil
runs out some day ! LOL.



I've been designing Sunon maglev fans into rackmount comms products for
years. I could check with production here, but off the top of my head, I
don't think we've had a single field failure (vs a lot of field failures
for the cheap sleeve bearing fans that we used in earlier designs).

Caveat:
Until the fans "fly" they are just like crappier-than-normal sleeve
bearings.
Expect lots of wear below a minimum RPM (that I don't think is specified
in the datasheet, although they may specify a minimum voltage or PWM duty
cycle).
Start and stop cycles will also cause wear.


So be careful about your thermal management software - you might need to
disable some of the software features that slow the fans right down or
turn them on and off cyclically. Those are features you want for a
sleeve or ball bearing fan, but not for a maglev fan.

Regards,
Allan

Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

On 20/06/2016 8:13 PM, Allan Herriman wrote:
Caveat:
Until the fans "fly" they are just like crappier-than-normal sleeve
bearings.
Expect lots of wear below a minimum RPM (that I don't think is specified
in the datasheet, although they may specify a minimum voltage or PWM duty
cycle).
Start and stop cycles will also cause wear.

How do you guarantee it to spin at maximum speed?

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Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

On Mon, 20 Jun 2016 21:16:48 +0800, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

On 20/06/2016 8:13 PM, Allan Herriman wrote:
Caveat:
Until the fans "fly" they are just like crappier-than-normal sleeve
bearings.
Expect lots of wear below a minimum RPM (that I don't think is
specified in the datasheet, although they may specify a minimum voltage
or PWM duty cycle).
Start and stop cycles will also cause wear.

How do you guarantee it to spin at maximum speed?

Do not reduce the PWM below the recommended minimum. Or do not reduce
the voltage below the recommended minimum.

The fan that the OP linked actually specifies an RPM range (400 - 2400),
so it would be acceptable to reduce the PWM duty cycle as long as the
speed is above 400RPM.

Regards,
Allan

Corsair magnetic levitation fans (maglev fans)
 

Skybuck Flying wrote:
Hello,

I find this a very interesting product:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cor...gpu,31977.html


It claims that it's fans "levitate".
* NOT true; use your eyes and whatever brain you got, and re-READ
carefully for comprehension.
It is a magnetic bearing,nothing new, been around for a long time.
Stronger magnetic field, so better physical isolation.


Does this mean it no longer requires any oil and thus no more cleaning
because of dust+oil+black smoke stuff frictions ?

I consider this a major breakthrough, now PCs won't require any more oil
to function.

Perhaps oil to produce them, but after that, no more oil needed LOL.

Such a re-assurance ! Really it's very nice to know. In case the oil
runs out some day ! LOL.

Bye,
Skybuck.