DC fans with low starting voltage?

[tstein]

I have an application where the main power source needs to be a Alkaline AA battery (0.8V to 1.8V). So, I'll have a small boost converter to supply 3V to a cortex-m3 microcontroller.

The application needs to drive a small fan (20-60mm) that only needs to put out a very small CFM (<1.0cfm). Therefore, any fan that can reliably start at 3VDC should be sufficient.

I've played with a couple of 12VDC fans from ADDA that seem to start reliably at 4VDC, but 3VDC seems to be on the boarder.

So my question is, is there a fan out there with a very low starting voltage? Or am I really needing to bite the bullet and drop another boost converter on the board (not ideal)?

Thanks!

 

[saikat36]

I think you need a ckt. driver ckt. If that so then try drive your fan from your PSU & control your fan with the aid of mP.

 

[muthukumar_ece2004]

I think, most fan ratings are start from 5V. If you give lower than 5V means, it lower the speed of the fan or some one stopped. So may use a voltage booster to convert your 3V supply to 5 or 6V, then you can start the Fan without any performance degradation.

 

[allanvv]

Have you tried any 5V fans?

On Digikey I was able to find 3V fans. So I'm sure they exist, it's just a matter of price, since they not used as often.