Apple By Matthew Humphries Feb. 20, 2014 11:28 am
Whenever Apple thinks about designing a new device, or redesigning an existing one, there’s clearly always an emphasis on how to make it thinner and lighter. It’s because of this we have products like the impossibly thin MacBook Air and latest iMac.
But there are certain components that limit how thin Apple can go with such machines. One of those is the cooling fan, which is essential in all of Apple’s desktop and laptop offerings. The issue with cooling fans is, the smaller you make them, the faster they have to spin to create the same air flow. A faster spinning fan produces more noise–another feature Apple likes to minimize.
So Apple’s designers and engineers have decided to take matters into their own hands and have developed a brand new cooling fan. A patent for which was filed last October. It details a fan that is smaller than those found in existing iMacs and MacBooks, but at the same time is quieter.
Apple seem to have achieved this quieter operation by designing a fan that adjusts according to the “vibratory forces” applied to it. If they exceed a certain level, the thrust bearing within the fan acts as a stabilizer and therefore stops the noise produced getting louder. So Apple’s fan can spin faster for better cooling, but without the increase in noise you;d usually expect to hear.
As for the wireless aspect of this fan, Apple uses magnetic interaction rather than a physical link in order to make the blades of the fan spin. This again should cut down on the noise produced by the unit.
Although the patent has yet to be granted, we can probably expect to see these new, quieter fans deployed in the next update to the MacBook and iMac lines. Even if they don’t allow those devices to get any thinner, they will free up space for something else as well as producing an overall quieter experience when under load.
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But there are certain components that limit how thin Apple can go with such machines. One of those is the cooling fan, which is essential in all of Apple’s desktop and laptop offerings. The issue with cooling fans is, the smaller you make them, the faster they have to spin to create the same air flow. A faster spinning fan produces more noise–another feature Apple likes to minimize.
So Apple’s designers and engineers have decided to take matters into their own hands and have developed a brand new cooling fan. A patent for which was filed last October. It details a fan that is smaller than those found in existing iMacs and MacBooks, but at the same time is quieter.
Apple seem to have achieved this quieter operation by designing a fan that adjusts according to the “vibratory forces” applied to it. If they exceed a certain level, the thrust bearing within the fan acts as a stabilizer and therefore stops the noise produced getting louder. So Apple’s fan can spin faster for better cooling, but without the increase in noise you;d usually expect to hear.
As for the wireless aspect of this fan, Apple uses magnetic interaction rather than a physical link in order to make the blades of the fan spin. This again should cut down on the noise produced by the unit.
Although the patent has yet to be granted, we can probably expect to see these new, quieter fans deployed in the next update to the MacBook and iMac lines. Even if they don’t allow those devices to get any thinner, they will free up space for something else as well as producing an overall quieter experience when under load.
More...
