Cooling fan

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9803645-B2
Application number	US-201113813856-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2011
Priority date	Aug 5, 2010
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A cooling fan includes a boss section ( 12 ) connected to a rotary drive source, a plurality of blades ( 13 ) protruding outward from the boss section in a radial direction, and a cylindrical ring member ( 14 ) configured to annularly connect the vicinities of end sections outside in the radial direction of the plurality of blades. The plurality of blades ( 13 ) protruding outward from the boss section ( 12 ) in the radial direction are connected by the cylindrical ring member ( 14 ) in the vicinity of the end section outside in the radial direction. An air inlet groove ( 16 ) is formed at an end section in an axial direction of an air suction side of the ring member ( 14 ). The air inlet groove ( 16 ) is disposed between front regions in the rotation direction of all of the blades ( 13 ) on the ring member ( 14 ) and front regions in the rotation direction of the blades ( 13 ) adjacent thereto. The air flowing from the outer circumferential side passes through the air inlet groove ( 16 ) of the ring member ( 14 ) and gradually changes a direction to be suctioned between the blades ( 13 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cooling fan, comprising:
a boss section connected to a rotary drive source;
a plurality of blades protruding outward from the boss section in a radial direction; and
a cylindrical ring member configured to annularly connect the vicinities of end sections outside in the radial direction of the plurality of blades,
wherein an air inlet groove is formed at an end section in an axial direction of an air suction side of the ring member,
wherein a lightening groove is formed at an end section in the axial direction of the air ejection side of the ring member such that a position of the lightening groove is shifted in a circumferential direction of the ring member from a position of the air inlet groove,
wherein the lightening groove has at least two lightening grooves that are adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction and are each formed to be recessed in the axial direction with respect to a base level part of the end section of the air ejection side of the ring member, the base level part being arranged at a farthermost position in the axial direction from the air suction side, and
wherein, in the circumferential direction, at least a center position of a bottom section of the air inlet groove is disposed within the base level part between the two lightening grooves that are adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction.

2. The cooling fan according to claim 1 , wherein the air inlet groove is disposed between front regions in the rotation direction of all of the blades on the ring member and front regions in the rotation direction of the blades adjacent thereto.

3. The cooling fan according to claim 2 , wherein depths of the air inlet groove and the lightening groove are set to the same depth.

4. The cooling fan according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio between the depth of the air inlet groove and a thickness in the axial direction of the ring member is set to a range of 0.10 to 0.40.

5. The cooling fan according to claim 1 , wherein, at the end section in the axial direction of the air ejection side in the ring member, a wall section extending outward in the axial direction of a base level of the end section in the axial direction of the air ejection side in the ring member is formed at a place corresponding to a rear region in the rotation direction of the blade.

6. The cooling fan according to claim 5 , wherein, when a height from the lightening groove to the base level of the end section in the axial direction of the air suction side of the ring member is set to h,
a height from the air inlet groove to a front end of the wall section is set to a range of 1.2 h to 1.3 h.

7. The cooling fan according to claim 5 , wherein the wall section curvedly extends from the base level of the end section in the axial direction of the air ejection side in the ring member serving as a base point.

8. The cooling fan according to claim 7 , wherein an angle between the ring member and the wall section is set to a range of 15 to 30 degrees.

9. The cooling fan according to claim 5 , wherein the wall section is formed between the rear regions in the rotation direction of all of the blades on the ring member and the lightening grooves formed at positions corresponding to the rear regions.

10. The cooling fan according to claim 1 ,
wherein each of the blades is a forward-swept blade type in which an extending end side is curved toward a front side in the rotation direction of the blades, and
wherein each of the blades has a swelling region that is formed such that an edge section of the front side in the rotation direction of the blades has a swelling amount to the front side that is increased toward the extending end.

11. The cooling fan according to claim 10 , wherein the air inlet groove is formed between the swelling region of one of the blades and the swelling region of next adjacent one of the blades in the circumferential direction.

12. The cooling fan according to claim 11 ,
wherein, when a rear surface of the blade is defined as a positive pressure surface and a front surface of the blade is defined as a negative pressure surface, the lightening groove is formed at a position facing the positive pressure surface of the blade, and
wherein a position of a bottom part of the lightening groove is shifted in the circumferential direction from a position of a bottom part of the air inlet groove.

13. The cooling fan according to claim 12 ,
wherein the air inlet groove is formed such that the bottom part of the air inlet groove is arranged in a circumferential region of the ring member where no blade is provided on.

14. The cooling fan according to claim 1 , wherein the blade has a first part that is arranged between the boss section and the ring member, and a second part that is arranged protruding radially outward with respect to the ring member.

15. A cooling fan, comprising:
a boss section connected to a rotary drive source;
a plurality of blades integrally formed with the boss section and formed outward in a radial direction; and
a cylindrical ring member configured to annularly connect end sections outside in the radial direction of the plurality of blades,
wherein an air inlet groove is formed at an end section in an axial direction of an air suction side of the ring member, and
wherein a lightening groove is formed at an end section in the axial direction of the air ejection side of the ring member such that a position of the lightening groove is shifted in a circumferential direction of the ring member from a position of the air inlet groove,
wherein the lightening groove has at least two lightening grooves that are adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction and are each formed to be recessed in the axial direction with respect to a base level part of the end section of the air ejection side of the ring member, the base level part being arranged at a farthermost position in the axial direction from the air suction side, and
wherein, in the circumferential direction, at least a center position of a bottom section of the air inlet groove is disposed within the base level part between the two lightening grooves that are adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction.

16. A cooling fan comprising:
a boss section connected to a rotary drive source;
a plurality of blades protruding outward from the boss section in a radial direction; and
a cylindrical ring member configured to annularly connect the vicinities of end sections outside in the radial direction of the plurality of blades,
wherein an air inlet groove is formed at an end section in an axial direction of an air suction side of the ring member, and
wherein the air inlet groove is formed such that, in a circumferential direction of the ring member, a deepest bottom of the air inlet groove is positioned within a circumferential range where no blade is provided on.

17. The cooling fan according to claim 16 ,
wherein each of the blades is a forward-swept blade type in which an extending end side is curved toward a front side in the rotation direction of the blades, and
wherein each of the blades has a swelling region that is formed such that an edge section of the front side in the rotation direction of the blades has a swelling amount to the front side that is increased toward the extending end.

18. The cooling fan according to claim 17 , wherein the air inlet groove is formed between the swelling region of one of the blades and the swelling region of next adjacent one of the blades in the circumferential direction.

Assignees

• Ota Hidetake
• Yokoyama Hiroshi
• Osawa Yukio
• Mitsuba Corp

Inventors

• Ota Hidetake
• Yokoyama Hiroshi
• Osawa Yukio

Classifications

• F04D29/164 Primary

  of an axial flow wheel · CPC title

• F04D29/326

  comprising a rotating shroud · CPC title

• F04D19/002 Primary

  Axial flow fans · CPC title

• F04D29/666

  by means of rotor construction or layout, e.g. unequal distribution of blades or vanes · CPC title