Modding Fans in Serial(?)? So many questions and brackets

I have a 120mm fan intake at the front of my case, and wondered if there were any advantages to have 2 fans running in serial (one directly or close behind the other)?

I hope that it may increase airflow or pressure of air coming in? (I hope so as my graphics cards need some nice cool air so they don't fry)

Will it just put a strain on the fans somehow?

Is there any interesting science to this? (Any graphs appreciated! I <3 graphs)

 

If a fan is on a radiator, having an empty fan (i.e. the frame with the blades removed) as a spacer removes the fan's "dead zone".

Otherwise, stacking fans is kinda pointless. The easiest (but not completely correct) way I can explain it is, after the first fan, the air is moving at the fastest speed it will move. A second (identical) fan will not accelerate it further, because it's already as fast as possible (for that fan to move it at). There's no increase in static pressure, because there's no increase in velocity and ergo no increase in flowrate.

 

Makes perfect sense to me. I guess that using a shroud would also increase efficiency in CPU heatsinks and the like?

 

Yeah, very much the same principle, normally you're a bit more limited with space for a HSF, though.

 

Thanks for your responses.... I'll rethink my plans

 

You might see fans set up like this on some enterprise level equipment, but AFAIK, it's done mostly for redundancy.

 

What happens if you have a section like this:
fan->radiator->fan->radiator->fan
would that cool all the radiators well?

 

just to be pedantic the correct phrase is: "in series"

afaik, having two fans on tops of each other doesnt increase the air flow but it increases the fan pressure, so its could be useful on high FPI rads.

Otherwise dont bother...

 

I think you may have a point there Coldon, that is pedantic.

Just to clarify, this is not for a water cooled system, it is just to see if there was a way to maximise the effectiveness of the air coming in through the front of the case to the graphics cards...

 

short of buying a different fan, nope...

 

I tried running 2 fans in series to cool my DLP TV (one before bulb, one after) becuase it kept overheating (causing shutdown) and it didn't help in the slightest. I recently removed the light baffle/air duct (which kept it closed loop) and just used the 2nd fan to exhaust the whole electronics compartment and it hasn't overheated since. Not the best comparison, but its the same idea.