Turning a PC Fan into a Jet Engine! | Fan Showdown S6E7

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In this episode of Fan Showdown, we're taking things to new heights—literally. A subscriber has modified the iconic Noctua A12x25 into a 3-stage axial compressor inspired by jet engines, specifically those from the legendary Vulcan V bomber. The goal? To create a fan that doesn’t just cool but has the potential to dominate the leaderboard!

With multiple stages working together, this jet engine-inspired fan design isn't just for show; it’s engineered for serious performance. Will this ambitious mod be the ultimate fan in PC cooling? Watch as we put it through the tests to see if it has what it takes to make cooling history.

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[VinnyGrant]

Next season should be a "CFM per dB" competition to see who can make the most air for the least noise for real world PC use.

[john-wxgr]

not surprised the Olimpus sounded like a siren when it was designed after the engine in one of the loudest planes ever made aside from the thunderscreech

[Overcast_Props]

Hey! The Grain Dryer was my fan! I had no idea it would beat the A12x25. That was my goal

[MScotty]

I've designed, printed, and built a functioning axial compressor/jet engine, but I don't think the Noctua would be able to spin it. I have it driven by an electric motor from an RC car via a 3:1 drive belt setup, and the compressor spins anywhere from 20-30k RPM depending on what fan design I put in it. It's also around 250mm long (or over 400mm with the turbine section attached) so fitment may also be an issue. It's been a long running work in progress, maybe one day I'll finally make a video of it.

[anythingrandomlytaped]

I feel like the problem with the olympus was the angle of the blades, the first stage looks like the angle of attack would be really high causing severe flow separation and the angle doesn't really look like it changes as it goes through the compressor stages which you would normally expect.

[linuxcooldude]

This video peaked my interest as I use to be a gas turbine technician in the Navy. Typically, each progressive set of fan blades would get smaller and smaller as each stage would be compressed at a higher pressure. The built ones were essentially the same diameter. But really not a deciding factor on a PC fan. As I assessed this design would be the most inefficient design for a number of factors, higher friction and tolerances were not that great. But the most significant factor…the power to drive three fan blades rather than one, would slow the speed down significantly. Typically an axial flow gas turbine has a high power to weight ratio at the cost of high fuel consumption. As many guessed, the electric motor was not powerful enough to drive such a fan setup.

[TtheK]

Invelloop looks 98% like the Arctic P-12 fan 👏🏼

[EinhanderSnmn]

Involute needs the tips connected to the back of the previous blade with a thin strut. Hybris made me wonder if it didn't just act like it had thick blades. Grain Dryer is just a nice simple high speed fan with no skew and rather small blades. Maybe try a 10 bladed version for more blade area?

[ConfusedRaccoon]

5:52 Arctic cooling would like a word.

[BRUXXUS]

All these designs are really pleasing to look at and feel like they should perform quite well with some adjustments. Involute reminds me a lot of how Arctic fans look, and I bet would perform REALLY well with a more rigid material or slightly thicker blades.

[frank.]

With all the craziness in the world, thanks for something both fun and informative

[krakhedd]

Paused at beginning to say: if this is an actual 3-stage compressor with some math in it (:: not just 3 of the same fans, but, sized for actual function), then, yes, absolutely, these ARE the droids I'm looking for!

[HellOnFourLegs]

I'm here for the jet engine fan but gotta say for once the add was spot on, they chose the right guy which opinion we might trust with the right audience that might be nerded into buying the thing, ifixit should sponsor you harder, sure I'm not the only math is cooler than math guy that now wants one, who else here loves to go to the cables, adapters and electronics section?

[NinjAsylum]

If I can make a suggestion .. Maybe add a ruler or a yardstick to the side of the smoke test set up so we can measure how far the smoke is pushed. It would give a nice indicator of the actual differences in airflow.

[paulcochran]

Thanks for your service on this Veterans Day. Fellow AF vet here.

[thorsong]

The problem is the fan RPM. Axial compressors are running at 10s of thousands of RPM. The design has to change to be optimised for low speed operation.

[shiheeb]

Can designers utilize a common bearing size? Like say a 608 bearings? That would allow much better complex compressor designs, and a standard bearing size would make James's job easier.

It would be awesome to see a well engineered axial compressor with bearings and tested tolerances

[HellionBlade]

i always enjoy when i catch one of these videos. I know my low number of videos watched on your channel doesn't lend me a leg to stand on, but nevertheless, i'd like to suggest a season using one of those ridiculously powerful server fans that spin at like 5k RPM lol. I'd look at Delta, they make great ones. maybe you could test some of the previous season winners to see what RPM each of them does best at.

[brieee]

Maybe for a future season you can measure both CFM and static pressure, or just mass flow? Also, it would be interesting to see what some of the lower-RPM designs that have been on the show can do with Noctua's A14 industrialPPC-3000 frame and motor?

[thelegend]

I lost this channel like a year or 2 ago and just now found it again lol so glad your still going