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Cathar · 08-17-2004, 08:46 AM

Something which has been crossing my mind more and more in the hunt for quiet fans is the though of a magnetically suspended bearing shaft for a fan rotor.

I'm wondering if this sort of thing has been done before? I'm talking about the rotor bearing being suspended mechanically when the fan is turned off, but when the fan is turned on the bearing shaft gets centered and effectively just spins in mid-air. Would probably need some beefy magnets at either end to hundle any thrust that the fan would produce, but after looking at how powerful disk-drive magnets are, this sort of thing doesn't seem to me to be too far fetched to expect that it could be done - basically a friction free bearing on a fan axle - thereby reducing one of the major sources of fan noise - being the bearing itself.

Thoughts? Too expensive? Too crazy?

08-17-2004, 08:46 AM	#1
Cathar Thermophile Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,538	Magnetically held bearing fans Something which has been crossing my mind more and more in the hunt for quiet fans is the though of a magnetically suspended bearing shaft for a fan rotor. I'm wondering if this sort of thing has been done before? I'm talking about the rotor bearing being suspended mechanically when the fan is turned off, but when the fan is turned on the bearing shaft gets centered and effectively just spins in mid-air. Would probably need some beefy magnets at either end to hundle any thrust that the fan would produce, but after looking at how powerful disk-drive magnets are, this sort of thing doesn't seem to me to be too far fetched to expect that it could be done - basically a friction free bearing on a fan axle - thereby reducing one of the major sources of fan noise - being the bearing itself. Thoughts? Too expensive? Too crazy?