How Corsair's ML Series Magnetic Levitation Bearing Technology heralds low-Power Solar Cooling

“All ML fans offer a huge PWM range, giving users total control over how their fans perform. Value silence above all else? At their lowest speed of 400 RPM, the ML Series will push more airflow at near silent 16 dBA (decibel A-weighting)”

Corsair comments on their website about the ML Series Cooling fans

Do you like Building PC's, sound systems or anything that requires a lot of cooling?

Then the Corsair ML Series has the fans that will get the job done as detailed in the article “Corsair Intros New Family Of Lit Case Fans, The ML Series”, published July 11, 2016, By Kevin Parrish, DigitalTrends.

There are ten (10) fans in the series, ranging in size from 120mm and 140mm as follows:

1.      ML Basic (x2)

2.      ML Pro (x2)

3.      ML Pro LED (x6)

Fans for cooling computers are nothing special on my blog, as I've already looked at 3M's Fluorinert FC-72 cooling systems developed by University of Alabama in Huntsville as detailed in my blog article entitled “UAH Graduate Students use 3M's Fluorinert FC-72 in Passive Cooling System – Gaming Rigs and Data Centres Noiseless Cooling Systems upgrade”.

What's special here is that these fans use Corsair’s new Magnetic Levitation Bearing technology.

By no means is this a new idea as many products feature magnetic levitation, mostly as a clever gimmick, such as the Mars by Crazybaby Levitating Bluetooth Speaker as described in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “Mars by Crazybaby Levitating Bluetooth Speaker Levitation Produces good vibration free sound”.

Combined with custom rotor design, they run quieter and faster, resulting in noiseless cooling under any load. So how exactly does this work?

Corsair's ML Series Magnetic Levitation Bearing Technology - Magnetic levitation and rotating electromagnets in action

Corsair's Magnetic Levitation Bearing technology reminds me of a blog article I did on the idea of a fan floating in a magnetic field as detailed in my blog article entitled “Global Warming and the Quest for Efficient Cooling – From Bladeless Fans to Blade Runner”.

Albeit their fans require an open standard 4-pin fan connector, you can splice this open and connect it to the required 5 VDC power supply to cool whatever you want. Take a moment to admire their impressive performance specs thanks to Corsair’s new Magnetic Levitation Bearing technology:

These performance specs are possible thanks to the face that the fans levitate in a magnetic field like a motor, with rotation being done by an electromagnet at the edge of the fan housing as shown in the image below.

This circular electromagnet changes polarity rapidly pulling and pushing the fan in a manner similar to a Maglev train as explained in my blog article entitled “JR Tokai's Chuo Shinkansen sets World Record of 603 km-h - How Maglev Train travels Tokyo to Nagoya in 40 minutes and Why HyperLoop is faster”.

But what had me interested is the fact that the fan floats on a frictionless cushion of electromagnets, making it possible to power this fan by using the very rotation of the fan to create its own power in a kind of perpetual motion like loop. Combined with Solar Power, a larger version of Corsair's Magnetic Levitation Bearing technology in a Fan can be used to make super quiet Solar Powered Extractors or even Air conditioning units!

You can still purchase Corsair's ML Series based on their new Magnetic Levitation Bearing technology. But if you're a true tinkerer, you can build a levitating fan yourself once you understand the concept of magnetic levitation and rotating electromagnets!