Novel Experimental Methodology for Characterizing Fan Performance in Highly Resistive Environments

It is well known that fans have been widely used in many applications for cooling and ventilation purposes. However, in a considerable portion of these applications, fans are being operated in highly resistive environments such as ITE (Information Technology Equipment) in which the fan will be installed in a narrow space surrounded by many obstacles. These obstructions lead to increased vibration and degradation in fan performance. As the fans’ pressure-flow rate (P-Q) curve is used to indicate the fan's performance, previous studies have investigated the blockage effect on the fan's P-Q curve using a flow test chamber. However, these studies measured the pressure from a considerable distance from the fan. Hence, developing a new technique that can measure the pressure closer to the fan will help in conducting a better understanding of how fans react to the presence of obstruction. In this work, pressure readings were taken through pressure taps that were drilled in a plexiglass sheet an experimental setup was designed to study the server chassis blockage effect on the fan performance by getting a multiple pressure reading right across the fans. These measurements were compared with pressure measurements that were collected from the flow test chamber at a considerable distance from the fan.