Inventor(s)

Garima Mishra

Abstract

The malfunctioning of one or more fans in an array of fans that are housed in a server rack results in, among other things, insufficient cooling and customer dissatisfaction, followed by fan replacement, and in some cases the replacement of an entire product. Occasionally during a malfunction case, the speed of the remaining working fans may be boosted to their highest speed to cool a device until a failed fan may be replaced. However, such boosted speed create a significant amount of noise and thus trigger severe customer dissatisfaction. To address these types of challenges, techniques are presented herein that support, among other things, the selective rotation and speed adjustment of one or more fans to allow a device to carry on with the same expected product performance. Aspects of the presented techniques employ an adapter plate and an adapter housing that has a built-in gear and pivot arrangement that allow a fan to be manually rotated about its pivot, through preset angular increments, by means of a small ergonomic lever. Application of the presented techniques allows the equipment to work, without any replacement needed, even with one failed fan (as the remaining working fans -- with their directions changed and their speeds increased somewhat -- will cover the area) yielding tangible benefits including cost savings, increased reliability, and improved customer satisfaction.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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