Method of using oscilloscope to test rotation speed of fan

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a testing method, and particularly to a method for testing rotation speed of a fan.

2. Description of Related Art

In a normal electronic product such as a computer, electronic devices will generate a lot of heat during operation. If the electronic devices are continuously operated at high temperatures, they are easily damaged. Thus, to prevent such damage, a heat-dissipating fan is normally disposed in the electronic product to dissipate heat. And, the higher the rotation speed of the fan, the more heat dissipated. A conventional method to measure the rotation speed of a fan is using a tachometer, but the tachometer is an expensive cumbersome instrument.

What is needed, therefore, is a method for testing rotation speed of a fan, which overcomes the above-described deficiencies.

An exemplary method for testing rotating speed of a fan comprises the following steps: coupling a fan and a resistor in series between two ends of a power supply; coupling an oscilloscope in parallel with the resistor, the oscilloscope is used to plot an AC voltage signal to obtain the rotating speed of the fan.

Other advantages and novel features will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram showing a method for testing rotation speed of a fan according to an embodiment of the present invention, utilizing an oscilloscope;

FIG. 2 is a graph showing voltage waveforms obtained by the oscilloscope of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a control circuit of the fan of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic circuit diagram showing a method for testing rotation speed of a fan according to another embodiment of the present invention, utilizing an oscilloscope.

Oscilloscopes are widely used in the manufacture of motherboards. A method of an embodiment of the present invention uses the oscilloscope to test rotation speed of a fan used in a computer.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the method includes the following steps:

Coupling a fan 20 and a resistor 40 in series to a power supply 10 ; Coupling an oscilloscope in parallel with the resistor 40 ; Powering up the circuit as shown in FIG. 1 , and plotting voltage across the resistor 40 on a screen of the oscilloscope, and obtaining the period of the voltage signal, referring to FIG. 2 , in the embodiment, the period of the voltage signal is 12 ms; Obtaining the rotation speed of the fan 20 using the following formula:

Speed=60*1000/ T

wherein T denotes the period of the voltage signal. The speed of the fan 20 in FIG. 2 is 60*1000/12=5000 rotations per minute.

The theory of using the method to test the speed of the fan is as follows. Referring to FIG. 3 , a control circuit of a fan 20 is shown. The control circuit includes an operation circuit 50 , two windings L 1 , L 2 , three transistors Q 1 , Q 2 , Q 3 , a Hall element 60 , and a magnetic ring 70 . The magnetic ring 70 includes two pairs of magnetic blocks having contrary polarities being alternatively arranged in a circle. A power supply Vcc is connected to a Vcc 1 pin of the operation circuit 50 via a diode D 1 , the windings L 1 , L 2 each has an end connected to the VCC 1 pin of the operation circuit 50 . Another end of the winding L 1 is connected to a collector of the transistor Q 1 , a base of the transistor Q 1 is connected to a pin A of the operation circuit 50 , and an emitter of the transistor Q 1 is grounded. Another end of the winding L 2 is connected to a collector of the transistor Q 2 , a base of the transistor Q 2 is connected to a pin B of the operation circuit 50 , and an emitter of the transistor Q 2 is grounded. Pins H+, H− of the operation circuit 50 are connected to the Hall element 60 . Pin Tach 1 of the operation circuit 50 is connected to a base of the transistor Q 3 , a collector of the transistor Q 3 receives a fan speed control signal Tach, the emitter of the transistor Q 3 acts as a GND terminal of the control circuit 50 and is grounded. The two transistors Q 1 and Q 2 are made to alternately conduct by the operation circuit 50 to alternately energize the two windings L 1 , L 2 for driving the magnetic ring 70 and fan blades to rotate (the fan blades are attached to and moveable with the magnetic ring 70 ). The Hall element 60 serves as a sensor and controller, the Hall element 60 detects the switching of the polarities of the magnetic field and generates different voltage levels at the pin H+, H− that alternately energizes the two windings L 1 and L 2 via the transistors Q 1 and Q 2 .

When the fan 20 is powered on, one of the transistors Q 1 and Q 2 will be turned on firstly. Providing transistor Q 1 is turned on firstly, the transistor Q 2 is turned off. The power supply Vcc provides voltage to the diode D 1 , winding L 1 , and the transistor Q 1 , a magnetic field is generated when the current through the winding L 1 changes, and a generated magnetic force drives the magnetic ring 70 and the fan blades to rotate. When the Hall element 60 detects polarity of the magnetic ring 70 changing, the Hall element 60 sends a signal to the operation circuit 50 through the pins H+ or H− to turn off the transistor Q 1 , and turn on the transistor Q 2 , the power supply Vcc provides voltage to the diode D 1 , winding L 2 , and the transistor Q 2 , a polarity of the magnetic field around the magnetic ring 70 is changed, and the generated magnetic force drives the magnetic ring 70 and the fan blades go on rotating. The magnetic ring 70 goes round and round in this manner, and for each rotation of the magnetic ring 70 , the polarity of the magnetic field changes two times. Because the windings L 1 and L 2 have inductance characteristics, the current through the windings L 1 and L 2 can not change suddenly, induced voltage generated in the circuit as shown in FIG. 3 periodically changes. So, the speed of the fan can be obtained by testing the voltage generated in the circuit.

Referring to FIG. 4 , in another embodiment, the oscilloscope 30 is connected in series with the fan 20 and the resistor 40 to plot the current of the control circuit of the fan 20 . The period of the current is obtained, and the speed of the fan 20 can be obtained using the following formula: Speed=60*1000/T, wherein T denotes the period of the current.

The method of the present invention does not require the use of an expensive tachometer, the speed of the fan can be obtained by using an oscilloscope to plot the current or voltage of the control circuit. Therefore, the method of the present invention has low cost.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments described therein.