cooling, where to put the fan and direction?

[michelrietveld]

Hi, i have the attached layout (roughly) and am struggling where to put the in and out airstream. I have 2 fans and can create some openings in the case but where?
first of all the lasers and x/y driver should be kept cool but what is a good aproach?
in the side panels fan for in and fan for out or holes in the top and both fans on the side for out?

suggestions?

Michel

[dnar]

Hi. First of all, it appears this is a single layer design with lasers/optics on the same side as the electronics right? If you mounted lasers and optics on one layer, you could seal for dust and provide fan cooling underneath for the electronics.

Given you current layout, I would place to fans (with dust filters) on the right sucking air in, place exhaust vents on the left. Air moves across the case. Alternatively, fan on right sucking in, fan on left blowing out.

I am sure others will have different suggestions. The old "suck" or "blow" argument lol. I prefer fans pulling air in, that way you can at least filter the air first.

[LaNeK779]

<sub>the way i think about it, and most probably i will do the same if i ever finish my projector, is this. i will build a plexi-glass "enclosure" that will cover and seal the dichros, mirrors and galvos. this enclosure will touch tightly against the apperture of the laser modules, and the beams will enter through a small hole. in front of the galvos i will place a bk7 ar coated optical window. so, having isolated all the optical components, i will just use a couple of fans to suck air out of the box and use quality filters for the air intakes

the above is for a single layer design.

if i use both sides of the baseplate, the top for optics and the bottom for PSUs so dual layer design, i will only use fans for the bottom part, again try to isolate and seal the optics part.

i generally prefer negative pressure (i.e. fans sucking air out). after a few hours of operation you can search for dust pile-ups and improve your sealing where it is necesary. the way i see it, one must seal the optics, so airflow direction becomes much less critical</sub>