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Cooling fan / vent for facial interface

agenttoff
Heroic Explorer
I just posted this to Reddit, but I want to share with you guys what I just started working on.
My face gets super toasty within about 10 mins of wearing the Rift.  There's not much airflow.  Thanks to Oculus uploading those cad files for the facial interface I put this together.  

Tested it with a 12v blower fan that I had on hand and it works great.  

Next step is to order a 5v 35mm square fan, find a better solution to get power (need 5v or 12v), and gets some foam for the interface.

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/57chcl/cooling_venting_fan_for_facial_interface/

h3o1dmvmn9f8.png

So it's clear, this is the direction of airflow

ob9mnxmrv1ch.png
27 REPLIES 27

benplace
Rising Star
How is the noise/vibration?

Anonymous
Not applicable
Huh - it looks weird, but how would that fit with the strap? Also, instead of a fan - how about a solid state cooler instead or even a combo? https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Thermoelectric+Peltier

Wish I knew you irl xD I buy all the stuff and we have a ton of fun. I just wish I had a 3d printer

Not to be a dick, but see these are the things I wish Oculus would look into supporting x..x I always said it needed a vent/cooler some where there. As for noise/vib - you could in theory run a low 5v fan on some pretty low settings to the point you never hear the fan nor feel it moving but still allow at least some air flow into the unit it self.

agenttoff
Heroic Explorer

benplace said:

How is the noise/vibration?


Good question.  With the 50mm 12v blower there's very minimal noise, some vibration, but it's not really noticeable once there's foam or padding on the facial interface and it's sitting on the HMD, and this is of course with my first quick and dirty prototype that I designed in literally 5-10 minutes.   The 35mm 5v fan will cause even less vibration and I suppose I could even print a shock absorber with TPU.  


Mradr said:

Huh - it looks weird, but how would that fit with the strap? Also, instead of a fan - how about a solid state cooler instead or even a combo? https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Thermoelectric+Peltier

Wish I knew you irl xD I buy all the stuff and we have a ton of fun. I just wish I had a 3d printer

Not to be a dick, but see these are the things I wish Oculus would look into supporting x..x I always said it needed a vent/cooler some where there. As for noise/vib - you could in theory run a low 5v fan on some pretty low settings to the point you never hear the fan nor feel it moving but still allow at least some air flow into the unit it self.


It fits well.  If you check out the Reddit link there's a pic at the bottom of the imgur page that shows the first prototype on the Rift.  This second one is thinner/smaller, so won't be as bulky.  

The problem with a peltier is that it requires a decent heatsink and fan anyway.  It produces a lot of heat too, and uses a considerable amount of power.  It would be really heavy after all of that, and overkill.  I'm not trying to freeze my face. 😉  

But yeah, Oculus definitely needs to implement a cooling solution into the next one.  And like someone on Reddit said, if they did something like that then it could even be implemented into games/experiences.  

Anonymous
Not applicable
True, but they make different types of peltiers - some don't really get that cold and as a result - don't require that much power and make a ton of heat in the process.

If you ever need a backer - just let me know 🙂

agenttoff
Heroic Explorer

Mradr said:

True, but they make different types of peltiers - some don't really get that cold and as a result - don't require that much power and make a ton of heat in the process.

If you ever need a backer - just let me know 🙂


Thanks  🙂

I think what would also be really nice is replacing the foam with some kind of a gel cooling pad.  That foam just suffocates. 

Funmotion
Protege
nahh Ill just keep my big fan on me, no point in this,  and gel sucks, it will heat up and allow no breathing

RDredesign
Honored Guest
I think it would be better if you invert the flow, as hot air goes up and also you need to extract it and not blow air to your eyes.

Anonymous
Not applicable
I agree with RDredesign.  Pulling the heated air out will help to prevent dry eyes.  Plus the suction from the fan pulls room/body temp. air in from all around the HMD.  (which should be cooler)

Just my 2 cents.  😃

Looks great by the way.

Anonymous
Not applicable
Maybe do something like this instead? On the OP readit post - he also said maybe just have to invert instead. Simply flip the fan around would do that.
rrvufeedsioe.png