Cubic Feet Per Minute

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What Does Cubic Feet Per Minute Mean?

Cubic feet per minute (CFM) is a key metric for air handling systems and other systems where air is transported from one place to another. The CFM rate reflects the passage of air flow over time, according to the performance of a device or appliance for its intended use.

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Techopedia Explains Cubic Feet Per Minute

In electronics, CFM is often used to measure performance for workstation fans, server cooling cages, and other cooling systems. A computer's internal fan may be rated for a particular CFM to guarantee specific cooling performance, for example, to handle overclocking and other situations where internal computer temperatures may rise significantly. In some ways, this is similar to the use of CFM in HVAC systems, except that while IT systems use air flow to protect sensitive hardware, HVAC systems use it to reflect performance to heat or cool larger spaces.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.