Fans for small enclosures 2

[rfwobbly]

My company used Comair-Rotron fans for 40+ years, but now with their demise we need to find a replacement brand. We no longer have an R&D group to do product testing. We need a brand with a good cross-section of 60mm, 80mm and 4" ball-bearing fans in AC and DC.

What brand fan has your company actually tested and used successfully?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Maxham1]

Really? Is Rotron going out of business?

 

[rfwobbly]

US-based Rotron Fans went out of business about 10 months ago. The name and drawings have now been bought by a Chinese manufacturer. They are now producing some of the 500 cfm models and the plan is for others to follow. I got this info yesterday by calling the old Rotron phone number.

However, I'm not about to risk my company's good name by buying start-up fans from China.

 

[itsmoked]

Fan like that are pretty much commodities that survive by being dependable. So any other main players fan are going to be very comparable.

EBM-Papst Industries
Jaro
Omron Electronics
NMB Technologies Corp.
Sunon
Bi-sonic
Orion Fans

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[HDS]

We were in the same situation and we did find some replacements that didn't work the same at the edges of the specs. So someone will need to verify they work.

itsmoked's list is pretty good. Delta was the only name I didn't see.

I found EBM-Papst has good technical info on their webpage.
All of the electronics distributors have a large selection of fans from any of those vendors. The sizes you list are also very common.

 

[HDS]

Is there an organization that sets the standard sizes and mounts for these fans?

 

[rfwobbly]

"We were in the same situation and we did find some replacements that didn't work the same at the edges of the specs."

Exactly my fear. When trying to cool electronics in any box, there is always decreased flow, so that's the source of my inquiry.

In a previous R&D position (~1994) I tested axial fans for flow under various restrictions for outdoor telecom cabinets. Of course all the axial fans had decreased flow, but Rotron did much better than the others. They also did better in a salt spray environment.


By the way, in those tests the second runner up was EBM, and the last place all-out looser was NMB. But to be clear, that was only 6" fans and more than 15 years ago.

Thanks all.

 

[drawoh]

rfwobbly,

That is what fan curves are for.

JHG

 

[rfwobbly]

Thanks JHG, but my testing proved that the curves of most fan manufacturers are, at best, pure fabrication. They can't be sued if their fan doesn't perform to the graph. And, the graphs are conveniently drawn so that no 2 manufacturers can be directly compared.

 

[eng1ne]

"And, the graphs are conveniently drawn so that no 2 manufacturers can be directly compared."

Why can't mathematics be applied?