System and Method Involving a Variable Speed Cooling Fan Used With a Compressor and an Internal Combustion Engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018371981-A1
Application number	US-201816119271-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 31, 2018
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Dec 27, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method of a variable speed cooling fan for a skid mounted compressor. A magnetic variable speed clutch is mounted to the cooling fan drive shaft. The clutch mechanism is driven via by a drive pulley on the crankshaft of the engine driving the compressor. The speed of the fan is varied dependent upon the temperature of the fluids being cooled.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
an internal combustion engine that includes a rotatable drive shaft that rotates during operation of the internal combustion engine and a rotatable crankshaft that rotates during operation of the internal combustion engine; a compressor operatively connected to the drive shaft of the internal combustion engine so that operation of the internal combustion engine rotates the drive shaft and powers the compressor to compress gas; a fin fan cooler comprised of a rotatable cooling fan that rotates to cool the gas and/or the internal combustion engine; a magnetic variable speed drive that operatively connects the cooling fan to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine so that rotation of the crankshaft is transmitted to the cooling fan by way of the magnetic variable speed drive; and the magnetic variable speed drive being configured to vary a speed of rotation of the cooling fan.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic variable speed drive comprises a disk and a plate that are spaced apart from one another.

3 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the disk comprises non-ferrous material and the plate comprises magnetic material.

4 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the disk is fixed to the crankshaft so that rotation of the crankshaft results in rotation of the disk.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the plate is fixed to a drive pulley so that the disk and the drive pulley rotate together.

6 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein the drive pulley is a first drive pulley and the cooling fan includes a driving shaft, and further comprising a second drive pulley and a belt extending around the first drive pulley and the second drive pulley, the second drive pulley being coaxial with the driving shaft of the cooling fan.

7 . The system according to claim 2 , further comprising a solenoid to move the disk and the plate relative to one another to vary a distance between the disk and the plate and thereby vary the speed of rotation of the cooling fan.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic variable speed drive is coaxial with the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine.

9 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the internal combustion engine, the compressor and the fin fan cooler are mounted on a skid.

10 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetic variable speed drive comprises only one disk and only one plate that are spaced apart from one another, the disk comprising non-ferrous material and the plate comprising magnetic material.

11 . A system comprising:
an internal combustion engine that includes a rotatable drive shaft that rotates during operation of the internal combustion engine and a rotatable crankshaft that rotates during operation of the internal combustion engine; a compressor connected to the drive shaft of the internal combustion engine so that rotation of the drive shaft powers the compressor to compress gas; a fin fan cooler comprised of a rotatable cooling fan that rotates to cool the gas and/or the internal combustion engine; a magnetic variable speed drive connecting the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine to the cooling fan so that operation of the internal combustion engine results in rotation of the crankshaft that is transmitted to the cooling fan by way of the magnetic variable speed drive to rotate the cooling fan; and the magnetic variable speed drive comprising a disk and a plate that are rotatable about an axis, positioned side-by-side and spaced apart from one another so that a gap exists between the plate and the disk, the magnetic variable speed drive being configured to relatively move the plate and the disk to change a size of the gap so that an increase in the size of the gap decreases a rotation speed of the cooling fan while a decrease in the size of the gap increases the rotation speed of the cooling fan.

12 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the disk comprises non-ferrous material and the plate comprises magnetic material.

13 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the disk is fixed to the crankshaft so that rotation of the crankshaft results in rotation of the disk.

14 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the plate is fixed to a drive pulley so that the plate and the drive pulley rotate together.

15 . The system according to claim 14 , wherein the drive pulley is a first drive pulley and the cooling fan includes a driving shaft, and further comprising a second drive pulley and a belt extending around the first drive pulley and the second drive pulley, the second drive pulley being coaxial with the driving shaft of the cooling fan.

16 . The system according to claim 11 , further comprising a solenoid to relatively move the disk and the plate to change the size of the gap between the disk and the plate and thereby vary the speed of rotation of the cooling fan.

17 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the axis about which the disk and the plate rotate is coaxial with the crankshaft.

18 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the disk is made of non-ferrous material and is the only disk forming a part of the magnetic variable speed drive, and the plate is made of magnetic material and is the only plate forming a part of the magnetic variable speed drive.

Assignees

• Alfa Laval Corp Ab

Inventors

• Kight Rusty
• Minton Blake
• Jungers Chris

Classifications

• H02P15/00

  Arrangements for controlling dynamo-electric brakes or clutches (vector control H02P21/00) · CPC title

• F01P7/048 Primary

  using electrical drives · CPC title

• F04D29/584

  cooling or heating the machine (F04D29/5846, F04D29/5853 take precedence) · CPC title

• F04D19/002

  Axial flow fans · CPC title

• F04D27/004

  by varying driving speed · CPC title