Hot Swap Fans

Not all rack mount data center appliances have fault tolerance or fail-safe requirements. Hot swap fan modules are a fast, easy solution when you need simplicity for maintenance without taking your system offline. In 10 seconds, you can replace the hot swap fan module or FRUs (Field Replaceable Units). Each fan module is custom-designed specific to the chassis we design and build for you. It needs to blind-mate dock with your motherboard or backplane. Unlike COTS hot-swap power supplies, an interposer is rarely necessary.

We control the module design specific to your rack mount system. During design, we raise or lower the connector to precisely align with the connector on your system board. We fabricate and assemble your rack mount enclosure and any FRUs, such as the hot-swap fan module as an integral set. Any module can consist of one or more fans.

Hot-Swap Fan Options

We use 40mm fans for 1U systems. We also use 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm fans for other size hot-swap fan modules. In most cases, either single or dual-rotor fans can be used. In a bank of single-rotor fans, fans next to the failed fan will recirculate through the failed fan. You lose airflow from the failed fan plus some of each of the adjoining fans. However, the replacement of the module as mentioned above is very quick.
For mission-critical applications, dual rotor fans provide additional benefits. Each rotor in a dual rotor fan is independently powered and controlled. When one of the two rotors fails the second rotor still spins. There is still some loss, but not nearly like single rotor fans. There is no recirculation. Our dual rotor hot-swap fan modules have additional benefits: greater air volumes and higher static pressure. When the topology is complex, higher static pressure can more effectively maintain air velocity while overcoming, indirect flow or the complexity of heatsink, tall component, turbulence, etc., that would otherwise reduce airflow.