68 IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System Products and Technology
4.3 Fan modules
The Enterprise Chassis supports up to 10 hot pluggable fan modules that consist of two
40 mm fan modules and eight 80 mm fan modules.
A chassis can operate with a minimum of six hot-swap fan modules installed, consisting of
four 80 mm fan modules and two 40 mm fan modules.
The fan modules plug into the chassis and connect to the fan distribution cards. More 80 mm
fan modules can be added as required to support chassis cooling requirements.
Figure 4-10 shows the fan bays in the back of the Enterprise Chassis.
Figure 4-10 Fan bays in the Enterprise Chassis
For more information about how to populate the fan modules, see 4.6, “Cooling” on page 72.
Fan
bay 10
Fan
bay 9
Fan
bay 8
Fan
bay 7
Fan
bay 6
Fan
bay 5
Fan
bay 4
Fan
bay 3
Fan
bay 2
Fan
bay 1
69
Figure 4-11 shows a 40 mm fan module,
Figure 4-11 40 mm fan module
The two 40 mm fan modules in fan bays 5 and 10 distribute airflow to the I/O modules and
chassis management modules. These modules ship preinstalled in the chassis.
Each 40 mm fan module contains two 40 mm fans internally, side by side.
The 80 mm fan modules distribute airflow to the compute nodes through the chassis from
front to rear. Each 80 mm fan module contains two 80 mm fan modules, back to back at each
end of the module, which are counter rotating.
Both fan modules have an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) mesh screen on the rear
internal face of the module. This design provides a laminar flow through the screen. Laminar
flow is a smooth flow of air, sometimes called streamline flow. This flow reduces turbulence of
the exhaust air and improves the efficiency of the overall fan assembly.
These factors combine to form a highly efficient fan design that provides the best cooling for
lowest energy input:
Design of the whole fan assembly
The fan blade design
The distance between and size of the fan modules
The EMC mesh screen
Figure 4-12 shows an 80 mm fan module.
Figure 4-12 80 mm fan module
Power on
LED
Fault
LED
Removal latch
Pull handle
Power on
LED
Fault
LED
Removal latch
Pull handle
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