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Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

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Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#21

Post by Iulioh »

fyrn_ wrote: post #9
quanto wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There could be geometrically tiny optimizations that lead to an outsized impact in noise and flow by turbulence reduction. While optimizing an impeller with computational FSI (fluid structure interaction) is not as hard as before, it still is not trivial. And it's these (perhaps small) optimizations that justify Noctua being 5x more expensive than generic black fan.

I believe the tolerances to the fan housing (which reduces turbulence and thus noise), and the the material stiffness needed for that small tolerance, are the alleged reason there are few copycats. Supposedly getting plastic that rigid is hard. I've tried to find hard numbers and validate that claim, but I wasn't able to. Would probably have to measure an actual noctua fan blade to know. On the other hand, metal prin…

While metal printing is attainable..it generally produce shit, surface quality wise. You still need to CNC that if you want a surface roughness not measured in mm

And is not like a 5axis could not produce these fan geometries from a block

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#23

Post by ForOldHack »

zbrozek wrote: post #5
egeozcan wrote: post #3

> To protect our intellectual property, certain features – such as fan impeller geometries – have been slightly modified while remaining visually very close to the actual product. Noob question: If someone wants to copy their design with no respect to their intellectual property, can't they just 3D scan?

Yes, though the fidelity offered by faithful CAD would be both easier to interpret correctly and might even hint at the CAD feature tree. Kudos to them for releasing models useful for integration.

From what I remember from my NASA friend, a few companies, hired a few fluid flow engineers, during the defense bust, and designed fan blades that remarkably increased air flow. ( think profiles like air plane wing ). Something happened and in a few years, there were good fans, and there were great fans.

I happen to own a pair of Noctura fans, and wow! They are great, so I would assume that some heavy lifting was done in fluid flow.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#25

Post by ForOldHack »

whazor wrote: post #15
egeozcan wrote: post #3

> To protect our intellectual property, certain features – such as fan impeller geometries – have been slightly modified while remaining visually very close to the actual product. Noob question: If someone wants to copy their design with no respect to their intellectual property, can't they just 3D scan?

Wouldn't there be too much error when you both 3D scan and 3D print it?

My guess is that both 3D printed fans and production fans get balanced, but the production fans have an extra bit of design, that makes the profile sail at both a wider speed range, and peaks at a higher speed.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#26

Post by layer8 »

dcminter wrote: post #11
egeozcan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, by no means did I comment to take away from the great service they are doing to the builders. I'm a Noctua fan! I was just curious.

> I'm a Noctua fan! :)

Must be a really quiet guy.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#27

Post by ikornaselur »

kernalix7 wrote: post #10

Would have saved me time on a 3D printer I designed a while back. I integrated Noctua fans and ended up measuring mounting dimensions by hand. Having the official CAD models would have made fan integration a lot cleaner.

I was just thinking the same! Spent few hours a month ago measuring 120mm noctua fans to build a custom mounting bracket for a rack cooling module I was making.

Never finished it because I kept having to tweak and remeasure, but now I can definitely go back and finish it!

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#28

Post by Mashimo »

fy20 wrote: post #18

How much more is the BOM for a silent fan like in Noctua? I recently bought a controller for my well water pump, and it has two 80mm fans for cooling. Sounds like an aircraft when taking off and doesn't seem to move much air. I'm planning to replace them with Noctua fans.

Probably best to look up the local prices yourself? We don't know where you live.

There are fans that are cheaper that come close to noctua, but noctua are one of the best fans you can buy.

Re: Noctua releases official 3D CAD models for its cooling fans

#30

Post by taskforcegemini »

userbinator wrote: post #12
egeozcan wrote: post #3

> To protect our intellectual property, certain features – such as fan impeller geometries – have been slightly modified while remaining visually very close to the actual product. Noob question: If someone wants to copy their design with no respect to their intellectual property, can't they just 3D scan?

Unless they still have an unexpired patent on the design, it's completely legal to clone. Physical objects simply do not have the same type of copyright protection, and there is considerable precedent in making compatible components --- the most notable example being the automotive aftermarket.

just make sure there aren't any rounded corners
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