Some of the recent technologies are quickly becoming the face of the whole industry. And BLDC fan is a great example of it. The primary reason behind its wide adaptability is – BLDC fans provide an unfair advantage over those regular fans.
The BLDC is an acronym for Brushless DC motors. Its basic working principle is just like any other normal motor. It uses DC as a power source via an integrated inverter that rotates the motor. For better understanding, a detailed working model of a BLDC fan is also mentioned later in this article.
Till now you might’ve guessed that there are two types of motors, equipped with ceiling fans. The regular fan comes with a brushed motor while a BLDC fan has a brushless motor for advanced feats.
To provide you with better insight here are some of the basic advantages of using a BLDC fan.
- Powerful rotation
- Savings on electric bills
- It’s a one-time long investment.
Unlike those brushed motors, the BLDC motor has housing equipment in it that acts as a key performer. With this, the complete motors cool with a single process of conduction only. Thus, no fancy airflow or external fan is required here. This also implies that, now, the motor has complete protection against dust or any other unhealthy molecules.
One of the famous and pioneer companies that played with BLDC technology and successfully introduced something new was, Atomberg. The company came up with a new product and named it Gorilla Fans. This special fan had some amazing feats such as long lifespan, smooth rotation and of course electric savings (up to 65% every month).
There’s no doubt that the gorilla fan bought one of the major hype for BLDC fans in the market.
Another intriguing part of BLDC fans is, most of them are remotely controllable for easy access. On top of that, the timer and Sleep mode of the fan acts as a cherry on the cake. With this, you can easily set the number of hours during your sleep period. Whenever the time limit exceeds, the fan automatically lowers its speed. Thus, you can save much energy by preventing useless rotations and setting up a sleep schedule as well.
What’s so Special in a BLDC fan?
Here we’ll discuss the real thing- What makes a BLDC fan so special? To know so we’ll need to have a closer look at both the induction motor fan and BLDC fan.
Diving deeper into the working of these technologies might include a few scientific terms. But don’t worry at all, I’ve tried to clarify the whole concepts in simple layman language.
Induction Motor Fan:
In general, the induction motor fan is equipped with two fundamental parts to achieve high-speed rotation. These parts are-
- Stator
- Rotor
The stator and rotor form a cylindrical shape where the stator is the outer covering and the rotor is installed in it. And as their name suggests, the stator is a stationary part whereas, it’s the rotor that rotates and results in rotation to the fan.
The idea here is simple- transfer energy through the stator and rotate the rotor. A powerful winding of copper wire is performed across the whole stator in a specific manner. On supplying electricity, multiple fields of electricity (electric flux) are generated across the stator. This gives rise to the magnetic force inside the stator. Thus, the rotar starts taking movement and rotation begins.
Now, let us talk about controlling the speed of the fan. And this process can only be done by lowering down the speed of the induction motor present inside.
There are two possible methods to do so.
- Using the resistance
- Cutting the voltage
To achieve any of the following methods, we use a device called, regulator. And there are two types of regulators that control the speed of the fan by the above methods each.
- From the beginning, the regulator was used to increase the resistance of the whole circuit. It simply adjusts the amount of voltage, taking part in the whole process. This method surely reduces the fan speed but also affects the health of the motor. A high amount of heat is produced here. Moreover, all the electricity that turned into heat was a total waste.
- The regulators with cutting voltage are the recent idea. They mainly act as a switch that constantly switches the motor (by cutting or providing voltage) according to the speed of the fan. By adopting this method, there isn’t any loss of electricity in the whole process.
BLDC Fan:
There’s much complexity in a BLDC fan as compared to those general fans. We’ll try to understand the working of the most basic BLDC fan, the further models are equipped with a bit of modification.
From the beginning only, the motor takes AC and converts it into DC for further process. This whole conversion takes place with the help of the SMPS circuit.
SMPS is an acronym for a switched-mode power supply circuit, indulging in switching voltages purposes. In the final process, it rectifies the AC voltage into DC with the help of a rectifier.
Coming back to the motor itself. The change in the beginning (AC to DC) leads to the rotational energy as well. This rotating technique is also known as commutation.
To dive a bit deeper, here are the three important components of a BLDC motor. The two among these components are the stator and rotor. However, the electronics are something new here, which determines the type of commutation.
In the BLDC motor also, the work of the stator and rotor are almost similar to the induction motor. This is why we’ll understand the working of electronics only. The only part that makes the BLDC unique from others.
There’s no room left for winding copper wire around the stator here. Rather, multiple magnets are placed all across the stator to get the rotational movement. Also, this is where the electronics of the motor play an important role.
The electronics are a series of algorithms that decides the rotational movement of the BLDC motor. And it does so by analyzing the position of the magnets in the fan. To do so, the electronics either use a small device, Hall Fame Sensor or a basic force called back EMF.
Both of the methods mentioned above seemed to have an equal impact on the motor. However, using a Hall Fame sensor as a commutation process was becoming a bit problematic in the long run. This is why the recent BLDC fan uses only back EMF force only.
There’s a famous example of a donkey and carrot (fixed around his head) that easily replicates the whole BLDC method. Having a glimpse at this will help you to understand what is happening here.
In the above scenario, the donkey can resemble the stator of the motor. On the other hand, the magnets are working as a carrot here.
The donkey will keep chasing the carrot but will never be able to have it. Here, the noticeable thing is the donkey is constantly changing its movement. Similarly, the stator’s polarity also keeps changing wherever the current magnetic force will form. Thus, this whole process will lead to the rotation movement of the fan.
Advantages of using a BLDC fan:
There’s no doubt that a BLDC fan saves a tonne of electricity as compared to regular fans. But there’s more to it. If we observe this brushless DC motor, numerous benefits are on the way. Let us have a look at some major ones.
- As both of us know that there is no room left for brush and communicators in this motor. Thus, no mechanical complexities in terms of caring.
- A BLDC fan produces zero to minimal noise while operating. Now, you’ll never get distracted by switching just a fan.
- Long life is the most important reason (besides saving electric bills) to switch to a BLDC fan
- Being able to set a timer makes your life a lot easier. You can easily set the max fan speed according to your desired hours with the help of a timer and sleep mode.
- The BLDC fan would be the best friend for your inverters, even the solar-powered as well.
- It’s one of the top-notch players in the market in terms of accurate speed control. Thanks to the microcontroller used in the BLDC fans.
Isn’t there any downside of using a BLDC fan over regular ceiling fans?
Well, the answer is a small ‘Yes’ this time. By looking at the construction of the BLDC motor, you can easily come up with an opinion. This motor has one of the complex working models which isn’t an easy task at all. But, as a consumer, this isn’t a thing that we should care about.
However, a BLDC fan is a bit pricier as compared to the induction motor ceiling fan. Again, there’s nothing to worry about as it’ll pay back the whole price in two years (by saving electricity).
Conclusion:
Most of us have no idea how much we had to pay on the ceiling fans every single month. Researchers believe that almost 40% of the electric bill is charged for all the working fans in your home.
In such a salutation, there’s no doubt that a BLDC fan will save you a tonne of money in the long run. On top of that they do have attractive looks as well that’ll add more points to the interior of the house.
