To : TECH@WW

By G8MNY (Updated May 15)
(8 Bit ASCII graphics use code page 437 or 850, Terminal Font)

I have often noticed fan noise from PSUs & powerful RF PAs, this can be quite distracting on Rx & the fan is normally not necessary in Rx mode.

FAN QUEITENING
Quiet fans are made & usually have feathered slots in the blade leading edges.

normal Quiet
_.-Ä-._ _.-Ä-._
| | | =<
\ /Leading \ =< Deep
\ _ / Edge \ _=< V Slots
/~ ~\ /~ ~\

There is little loss in efficiency, but nearby stationary support bars now produce a softer blurred sound pulse considerably reducing the blade pitch noise.

FAN SPEED
Permanently reducing the fan seed will reduce the noise, & for some over cooled systems this works well. But for applications where maximum cooling is occasionally needed a variable speed solution is appropriate.

There are several options.
1/ Underrun the fan in Rx mode.
This needs a series R that is shorted out when on Tx. This can be done with
a relay contact on a mains fan, & to keep the R power down the mains fan
should be Power Factor tuned with a mains C, or use a lower mains voltage.

LÄÂÄÄÄ¿ +12VÄÂÄÄÄÄÄ¿
=== Fan ÚÄÄÁÄÄ¿ _³_ LÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿230V
CÀ---´ ³Relay³ /_\ ||)____Ú \
ÃÄÄ¿ ÀÄÄÂÄÄÙ ³ OR ||)150V ³
R / ÃÄÄÄÄÄÙ ||) Fan
NÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÙ PTT NÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ

2/ Temperature sense.
By adding a thermal switch a DC or mains fan can be kept off, or running
slow most of the time.

ON OFF
LÄÄÄÄ¿ MODE SPEED UP LÄÄÄÄ¿
Fan MODE Fan
³ ÃÄÄ¿
/Thermal R /Thermal
NÄÄÄÄÙ Switch NÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÙ Switch
(With suppression)


3/ Variable controlled DC a fan.
This offers the quietest fan control.

+12VÄÄÂÄÄÄ¿+
FAN ===100u
³___³__
³ e\³_Old PNP
\³ /³ Germanium
ÃÄÄÄÙ In heatsink
e/³Tab
0VÄÄÄÙ NPN

If an old germanium PNP is not available, it can be a suitable NTC
thermistor & the NPN can have a hold off R base to emitter to set the
operation temperature. The cap is needed on DC fans to handle the pulse
currents & make the motor start better. A permanent quiet run R can be put
across the NPN if wanted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feedback from Osvaldo LW1DSE..
In place of a resistor to drop the voltage for the AC motor fan, I used a 1æF 275VAC, keeping in mind that this cap not resonates with the motor inductance. I used 1æF, but any other cap will do the job, and increasing its value, reduces the capacitive reactance (Xc = 1/ 2ã * F * C) and then increases motor speed. If this cap have infinite value, the motor will run at normal direct speed. And it doesn't discipates heat!

For DC motors, the solution is simpler. There exists a device called LM35 from National Semiconductor in TO92 case, the LM35 that is a thermal sensor directly calibrated inside the chip to give an output of 10mV/øC, then, at 30øC it will give about 300mV. Then, letting this voltage to a comparator like LM311 & putting the wiper of a potentiometer in the other input as voltage Temperature reference, & giving some hysteresis using a positive feedback, you can do a precise thermal control, in the form of an on/off circuit. As the power consumption of a normal fan is in order of tens of mA, the internal LM311 transistor is sufficient to drive this motor directly, the most of them being brushless, & then the freeweeling diode is unnecesary. Or, you can feed this voltage to the input of a PWM controller like one of the voltage mode PWM IC's, & do a PWM analog speed control with low power drain.



See my TECH Buls "Variable Speed Fan for AF PA" & "Variable Speed Thermal Fan"


Why Don't U send an interesting bul?

73 De John, G8MNY @ GB7CIP

-----------------------------------------
ARGEN-X BBS - IPV6 TELNET LU9DCE.DYNU.COM -----------------------------------------

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: ARGEN-X BBS (4:902/6)