Airflow Basics ?

[DeadPoet]

Hi y'all,

would anyone know of a site that explains the basics of airflow (as in A/C, ducting,...) in plain dummy-english ? I've googled around but to no avail ...

I'm rethinking my PC's iso box and I'd like better airflow management in it and I'd like some background information so that I don't screw it up ...

TIA,
Herwig

 

[Michael Jones]

There's some real basic stuff here:
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/pages/Air conditioning.htm
Not sure if that's what you're looking for though.

 

[DeadPoet]

Sorry, wasn't clear... I'll explain what I'm thinking of:

I have this iso box for two computers. It's a reasonably good box, but I'm sure it can be done quieter and -most importantly- with better airflow inside the box.

Right now there's just two mid-size pc towers inside a square MDF box. There's two fans at the back-bottom taking air in and two at the back-top sucking air out.

What I was thinking of was putting the computers on a small plateau, with underneath an air intake, let air flow through the box, let the computers' front side suck the air in, cool the damn things. Then at the back of the 'puters hot air gets out, and gets out of the box...

I know ... everybody fell asleep ...

I just spent some 30 minutes trying to draw this, but it will only confuse people more ...

Basically:
1) when 'ducting' or 'guiding' an airflow, how does it react in 90° angles ?
2) when taking air in in a closed box when an air exit exists, does the air 'find' the exit itself or is it better to 'help'/'guide' it with an outtake fan ??

I think I'll start on the project anyway and let you know how it turns out


Herwig

 

[TexRoadkill]

Do a google search on Sound Isolation Boxes and see what they are doing.

Usually you want the air to make a couple of turns and slow it down. That will reduce air velocity but it makes it quieter. There is no free lunch. They usually put the fans inside the box and not on the outside to also reduce noise.

You could take your current box and add a second box to the back. Line it with 703 or some other sound absorbant material and put a hole in the back towards the top and bottom. Put a piece in the middle to isolate the intake and outake and it will probably make it quieter. To make it even more quiet put a couple half walls in the intake/outake boxes so there is no direct line of sight from the fan to the outer hole.

Not sure if that made sense but if you look at the commercial iso boxes it will be more apparent.