Aligning a centerline of a motor shaft in a fan assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11846301-B2
Application number	US-201715458725-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2017
Priority date	Mar 15, 2016
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

Aligning a motor shaft in a fan assembly is described. Aligning a centerline of a motor shaft in a direct drive fan assembly includes selecting a motor from among a plurality of motors and matching a motor-plate from among a plurality of motor plates to the motor, the matched motor plate is based on the selected motor.Aligning the centerline further includes creating, from the selected motor and the matching motor plate, a motor-plate assembly that has a resulting height, where the resulting height of the motor-plate assembly corresponds to a particular height of a direct drive fan assembly, and aligning the centerline of a motor shaft of the motor-plate assembly to the direct drive fan assembly, where the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly is constant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for aligning a centerline of a motor shaft in a direct drive fan assembly, the direct drive fan assembly includes a motor, two motor supports each having a vertical side with a notch, a motor shaft, and a fan, comprising:
selecting the motor from among a plurality of motors, the plurality of motors having different heights;
matching a motor plate from among a plurality of motor plates to the selected motor, the matching motor plate being a single integral piece and including flanges, the plurality of the motor plates having different heights;
creating, from the selected motor and the matching motor plate, a motor-plate assembly having a resulting height that matches a particular height of the direct drive fan assembly, the motor-plate assembly being created by directly attaching the selected motor to the matching motor plate;
lowering the motor-plate assembly by inserting the flanges of the matching motor plate into the notches in the two motor supports which increases the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly by a distance, when the particular height of the selected motor exceeds a motor threshold height; and
aligning the centerline of the motor shaft of the motor-plate assembly to the direct drive fan assembly, and
the plurality of motors and the plurality of motor plates are sized such that each motor in the plurality of motors matches with one of the plurality of motor plates to create a respective motor-plate assembly having a resulting height that matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly, wherein the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly is based on a distance from the motor support to a center of a hub of the direct drive fan assembly.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each motor among the plurality of motors has a particular motor height,
each motor plate among the plurality of motor plates has a particular motor plate height, and
wherein the particular motor height of the selected motor inversely corresponds to the particular plate height of the matching motor plate.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of motors and the plurality of motor plates form a plurality of different motor-plate assemblies, each of the different motor-plate assemblies has the resulting height that matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resulting height of the motor-plate assembly is based on a distance from a base of the motor plate to the centerline of the motor shaft.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
changing the motor in the direct drive fan assembly to a second motor of the plurality of motors, and
changing the motor-plate in the direct drive fan assembly to a second motor-plate of the plurality of motor plates that matches the second motor to form a second motor-plate assembly,
wherein only the motor and the motor-plate are changed in the direct drive fan assembly, and
wherein the second motor-plate assembly has a resulting height equal to the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
changing the motor to a different motor of the plurality of motors, wherein the height of the matching motor-plate increases when the height of the different motor decreases, or the height of the matching motor-plate decreases as the height of the different motor increases,
wherein the height of the matching motor-plate is inversely related to the height of the motor, such that a distance from the centerline of the motor shaft to a base of the motor plate matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the motor-plate assembly on a placement area of the direct drive fan assembly, wherein the direct drive fan assembly includes a frame with a plurality of components in a fixed arrangement.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the centerline is a center of the motor shaft of the motor, and the centerline aligns with, and connects to, a hub of the direct drive fan assembly.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
setting the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly based on a maximum motor size, wherein the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly determines the resulting height of the motor-plate assembly.

10. A method for minimizing components in a direct drive fan assembly, the direct drive fan assembly includes two motor supports each including a vertical side with a notch, the method comprising:
setting a particular height of the direct drive fan assembly, wherein the particular height is a height from a base of the direct drive fan assembly to a center of a hub of the direct drive fan assembly;
selecting a motor from among a plurality of motors for the direct drive fan assembly, wherein each of the plurality of motors has a particular motor height;
matching a motor plate from among a plurality of motor plates to the selected motor to form a motor-plate assembly having a resulting height that matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly, the matching motor plate being a single integral piece and including flanges, the plurality of the motor plates having different heights, the motor-plate assembly being formed by directly attaching the selected motor to the matching motor plate, and the motor plate matching based on the particular motor height of the selected motor;
lowering the motor-plate assembly by inserting the flanges of the matching motor plate into the notches in the two motor supports which increases the particular height of the direct drive assembly by a distance, when the particular height of the selected motor exceeds a motor threshold height; and
aligning a centerline of a motor shaft of the motor-plate assembly to the direct drive fan assembly,
wherein the plurality of motors and the plurality of motor plates are sized such that each motor in the plurality of motors matches with one of the plurality of motor plates to create a respective motor-plate assembly having a resulting height that matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
matching each of the plurality of motors different particular motor heights to a particular motor plate with a different motor plate height, and
creating a plurality of motor-plate assemblies from various combinations of the motor and matching motor plates,
wherein each of the plurality of motor-plate assemblies has the resulting height that is equal to the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly and aligns the centerline of the motor shaft to the direct drive fan assembly.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the matching motor-plate includes a motor plate height that is inversely related to the particular motor height of the motor, such that a distance from the centerline of the motor shaft to a base of the motor plate matches the particular height of the direct drive fan assembly.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
changing the motor in the direct drive assembly to a different motor of the plurality of motors;
changing the motor plate to a different motor plate of the plurality of motor plates in response to the changed motor, the different motor plate including flanges;
matching the different motor to the different motor plate to create a different motor-plate assembly;
lowering the different motor-plate assembly by inserting the flanges of the different motor plate into the notches in the two motor supports, wherein the different motor-plate assembly includes a second resulti

Assignees

• Trane Int Inc

Inventors

• Sullivan Ryan
• Orr Joseph R
• Long Brian F
• Niblick Daniel T

Classifications

• F04D29/601 Primary

  specially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title

• F04D25/02

  Units comprising pumps and their driving means · CPC title

• F04D29/053

  Shafts · CPC title

• F04D29/626

  Mounting or removal of fans · CPC title

• H02K5/26 Primary

  Means for adjusting casings relative to their supports · CPC title