Variable inlet vanes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9850908-B2
Application number	US-201514606266-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2015
Priority date	Jan 27, 2015
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A cooling system that includes two or more fans that each have a chassis. The chassis includes a first face, a second face, and a sidewall. The fans then can be attached to each other by attaching a sidewall of a first fan chassis to a sidewall of a second fan chassis. An adjustable vane is attached perpendicularly and approximately equidistant between the fans, with an angular control element that is attached to the first fan chassis. The vane can be oriented such that the vane divides the airflow distributed to the fans. The vane then can be adjusted radially by the angular control element, which is attached to the fan chassis. If an impeller of a fan chassis fails the vane can be adjusted radially using an angular control element to distribute more airflow to the failed fan superimposing the non-failed fan chassis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling system comprising:
a first fan and a second fan, the first and second fans each including:
a fan chassis having:
a first face with a first opening,
a second face with a second opening,
two or more impellers aligned in series, and
a chassis sidewall,
the first face and the second face oppose one another,
the fan chassis sidewall perpendicular to the first face and the second face,

the first fan chassis and the second fan chassis are configured to intake airflow via the opening of the first face and exhaust airflow via the opening of the second face,
the first fan chassis and the second fan chassis are attached adjacent to one another, such that the chassis sidewall of the first fan is substantially parallel to the chassis sidewall of the second fan, and
the first face of the first fan and the first face of the second fan are facing a same direction;
a first vane constructed out of a thermally expandable material positioned between the first and second fan approximately equidistant from the sidewall of the first fan chassis and the second fan chassis, having a first edge, the first edge of the vane is attached perpendicularly to the chassis of the first fan, wherein the first vane further comprises an extension element, wherein the extension element produces heat and is configured to expand a length of the first vane; and
an angular control element, the angular control element is configured to orientate a position of the vane radially relative to the first face of the first fan and the first face of the second fan along the first edge of the vane, based on impeller failure altering the airflow entering the first fan and second fan.

2. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the two or more impellers aligned in series are multiple impeller counter-rotational central electronic complex fans in a single fan chassis.

3. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the two or more impellers aligned in series include:
a first single impeller fan in a separate chassis;
a second single impeller fan in a separate chassis;
the first single impeller fan and the second single impeller fan are aligned in series; and
the exhaust of a second face of the first single impeller is feeding airflow into the intake of the first face of a second single impeller.

4. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the angular control element is configured to orient the vane towards a closed position superimposing the first face of the second fan in response to a second airflow entering into the first face of the first fan where the second airflow entering the first face of the first fan is less than a first airflow entering the second fan.

5. The cooling system of claim 4 , wherein the second airflow is non-zero.

6. The cooling system of claim 4 , wherein the angular control element is a spring that is configured to alter the position of the vane by:
varying from an open position towards the closed position based on the airflow entering the first fan chassis being different than the airflow entering the second fan chassis.

7. The cooling system of claim 4 , wherein the angular control element is a motor that is configured to alter the position of the vane by:
determining a failure of the first fan based on data from a monitoring unit; and
varying from an open position towards the closed position based on the data from the monitoring unit in the first fan chassis being different than the data from the monitoring unit in the second fan chassis.

8. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third fan including:
a fan chassis having:
a first face with a first opening,
a second face with a second opening,
two or more impellers aligned in series, and
a chassis sidewall,
the first face and the second face opposing one another,
the chassis sidewall adjacent to and perpendicular to the first face and the second face,
the third fan is configured to intake airflow via the first face and exhaust airflow via the second face, and
the first face of the third fan and the first face of the second fan are facing a same direction;

the third fan is aligned and attached with a sidewall of the third fan to the sidewall of the second fan to create a three fan structure;
a second vane having a first edge the vane positioned between the second and the third fan approximately equidistant from the attached sidewalls of the second fan and the third fan, and the first edge of the vane is attached perpendicularly to the second fan chassis with an angular control element; and
the angular control element is configured to adjust a position radially of the second vane relative to the first face of the first fan chassis along the first edge of the vane, based on airflow entering the first and second fans.

9. The cooling system of claim 8 , wherein a second plurality of vanes are added to the fan structure comprising:
a third vane positioned between the second face of the first fan chassis and the second face of the second fan chassis approximately equidistant from the attached sidewalls, and is attached to the first fan chassis with angular control units;
a fourth vane positioned between the second face of the second fan chassis and the second face of the third fan chassis approximately equidistant from the attached sidewalls, and is attached to the first fan chassis with angular control units; and
the angular control units are configured to:
hold the vane perpendicular to the second face of the first fan chassis the second face of the second fan chassis and second face of the third fan chassis; and

adjust the third vane and the fourth vane radially between an open and a closed position based on the airflow exhausting the fan chassis.

10. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising a stopper coupled to the first vane.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Anderl William J
• Stathakis Karl

Classifications

• H05K7/20172

  Fan mounting or fan specifications · CPC title

• F04D29/601

  specially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title

• F04D29/563

  specially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title

• F04D29/646

  Mounting or removal of fans · CPC title

• F04D25/166

  using fans · CPC title