Center for the Built Environment

In a warm environment air movement with elevated velocity is a well-known cooling strategy. The air movement can be generated by cooling fans (e.g. ceiling fan, table fans, etc.). Appearance, power input and price are the main parameters considered today when purchasing cooling fans, while their cooling capacity and efficiency of energy use are unknown. Cooling fan efficiency index defined as the ratio between the cooling effect (measured with a thermal manikin) generated by the device and its power consumption is a measure of the efficiency of the fans. The index was determined for a desk fan and two identical computer fans working simultaneously. The results showed that the computer fans generated the same cooling effect (around -2°C) with less than half power consumption (7 W instead of 16-20 W). It means that the computer fan’s efficiency is double than the efficiency of the desk fan. The computer fans caused a more homogeneous cooling effect than the desk fan.