Sorry I wasn’t as clear as I thought. I mainly meant the cone part but that also is of interest.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 year ago
just to clarify, you’re talking about the bits whose ends are marked in red circles?
They’re called stators. In a ducted fan (or similar) they’re used to control the air flow coming off the fan. Usually, it’s fairly turbulent airflow, with a bit of spinning going on. the stators are used to make that turblent flow more smooth and laminar.
I’m not sure why they have it on the Voron- I assume that’s the fan that cools the hot end heat sink, in which case turbulent flow is not a problem at all. It could be to reduce noise and act as a fan guard, though. Or it could just be cosmetic. probably bit of the last two.
Grass@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 1 year ago
The cone shaped hub in the middle? Same reason you'd see a pointed nose or tail on a plane, to reduce drag and turbulence and possibly noise. With some fans it doesn't really matter but at high enough flows it'll become worth it to spend the extra money on that part to make it cone shaped.
Look at airplane propellers. On them that part is called a spinner. On an old, slow, biplane with tons of cables and other draggy parts, it likely wont have one because it'll make no difference anyway. But on anything that's the slightest bit sleek you'll have one because it will significantly reduce drag.
Grass@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I guess it’s 3d printing so I can just try it and see and redesign if I don’t like it. I have a couple old ek vardar fans that are stupidly loud and finger chopping fast rpm.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The hub mostly reduces turbulence in the flow as well. Depending on if it’s on then intake o exhaust , it also has a number of effects.
As an intake, it compresses the incoming flow, as it comes to the blades with less drag- which makes the fan much more effecient.
As an exhaust, does the same, but would also expand the cross section (which slows the airflow,) it looks like the duct also constricts, though, so rather than changing the speed of the airflow, it’s removing the center void created by then fan’s own hub.
Which again smooths out the flow and makes it more effecient for whatever it’s hitting
QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 1 year ago
What exactly are you trying to do, if you don't mind my asking?
Just trying to quiet those loud fans?
HewlettHackard@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
They discuss it in some detail in one of the Voron Live talks - I think this one, which was the announcement video for Stealthburner. Lots of CFD combined with manufacturability testing and aesthetics mixed in too.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Oh yeah. They put a lot of thought into it. I’d say it’s probably one of the more over engineered bits… but they’re all kinds over engineered… heh.