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US 2026/0177073 A1Published application
4d printed fan with optimized cooling
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsCarolina Garcia Delgado, Daniel Angeles Garcia, Jonathan Cottrell, Jeremy R. Fox
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method includes receiving sensor data indicating environmental conditions and determining an optimal fan blade shape based on the sensor data. A shape of a fan blade of a cooling fan is adjusted, wherein the fan blade includes a shape-changing material that changes shape in response to the environmental conditions.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- receiving sensor data indicating environmental conditions;
- determining an optimal fan blade shape based on the sensor data;
- and
- adjusting a shape of at least one fan blade of a cooling fan, wherein the at least one fan blade includes a shape-changing material that changes shape in accordance with the environmental conditions.
1 more element
A system, comprising:
- a fan comprising a plurality of fan blades, wherein
- at least one fan blade of the plurality of fan blades includes a shape-changing material, and
- the shape-changing material includes a liquid crystal elastomer;
- a sensor configured to detect environmental conditions;
- a processor set;
- one or more computer-readable storage media;
- and
- program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media to cause the processor set to perform operations, including:
- determining, using a machine learning model, correlations between the environmental conditions and optimal fan blade shapes;
- and
- adjusting a shape of the at least one fan blade based on the determining of the correlations.
8 more elements
(canceled)
A cooling fan, comprising:
- a hub;
- and
- a plurality of fan blades attached to the hub, wherein at least one fan blade of the plurality of fan blades includes a shape-changing material that changes a shape of the at least one fan blade in response to environmental conditions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.