U.S. patent application number 11/964923 was filed with the patent office on 2009-07-02 for impeller and cooling fan using the same.
This patent application is currently assigned to FU ZHUN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHEN ZHEN) CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to CHING-BAI HWANG, RAN LIN, ZHI-HUI ZHAO.
Application Number | 20090169389 11/964923 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40798675 |
Filed Date | 2009-07-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090169389 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HWANG; CHING-BAI ; et
al. |
July 2, 2009 |
IMPELLER AND COOLING FAN USING THE SAME
Abstract
A cooling fan (10) includes a bottom housing (12), a top cover
(14) covering the bottom housing, and impeller (16) and stator
accommodated in a space formed between the bottom housing and the
top cover. The impeller includes a hub (162), and a plurality of
blades (164) radially and outwardly extending from the hub. Each of
the blades includes a windward surface (164a) and a leeward surface
(164b) which has a different configuration with the windward
surface. The windward surface has a tip portion selected from a
group consisting of forward curved surface and planar surface. The
leeward surface has a tip portion selected from a group consisting
of planar surface and backward curved surface.
Inventors: |
HWANG; CHING-BAI; (Tu-Cheng,
TW) ; ZHAO; ZHI-HUI; (Shenzhen, CN) ; LIN;
RAN; (Shenzhen, CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PCE INDUSTRY, INC.;ATT. Steven Reiss
458 E. LAMBERT ROAD
FULLERTON
CA
92835
US
|
Assignee: |
FU ZHUN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHEN
ZHEN) CO., LTD.
Shenzhen City
CN
FOXCONN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Tu-Cheng
TW
|
Family ID: |
40798675 |
Appl. No.: |
11/964923 |
Filed: |
December 27, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
416/210R |
Current CPC
Class: |
F04D 29/281 20130101;
F04D 29/30 20130101; F05D 2240/304 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
416/210.R |
International
Class: |
B63H 1/20 20060101
B63H001/20 |
Claims
1. An impeller comprising: a hub; and a plurality of blades
radially extending from the hub, each of the blades comprising a
windward surface and a leeward surface which has a different
configuration from the windward surface, the windward surface
having a tip portion selected from a group consisting of forward
curved surface and planar surface, the leeward surface having a tip
portion selected from a group consisting of planar surface and
backward curved surface.
2. The impeller of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the windward
surface is a forward curved surface, and the tip portion of the
leeward surface is a backward curved surface.
3. The impeller of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the windward
surface is a planar surface, and the tip portion of the leeward
surface is a backward curved surface.
4. The impeller of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the windward
surface is a forward curved surface, and the tip portion of the
leeward surface is a planar surface.
5. A cooling fan comprising: a bottom housing; a top cover covering
the bottom housing; and impeller and stator accommodated in a space
formed between the bottom housing and the top cover, the impeller
comprising: a hub; and a plurality of blades radially extending
from the hub, each of the blades comprising a windward surface and
a leeward surface which has a different configuration from the
windward surface, the windward surface having a tip portion
selected from a group consisting of forward curved surface and
planar surface, the leeward surface having a tip portion selected
from a group consisting of planar surface and backward curved
surface.
6. The cooling fan of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the
windward surface is a forward curved surface, and the tip portion
of the leeward surface is a backward curved surface.
7. The cooling fan of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the
windward surface is a planar surface, and the tip portion of the
leeward surface is a backward curved surface.
8. The cooling fan of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the
windward surface is a forward curved surface, and the tip portion
of the leeward surface is a planar surface.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] 1. Technical Field
[0002] The present invention relates to impellers and cooling fans
using the same, and more particularly to an impeller which can
generate more airflow with a low level of noise.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] With continuing development of the electronic technology,
electronic components such as CPUs generate more and more heat
which is required to be dissipated immediately.
[0005] Conventionally, a cooling fan is used to produce an airflow
which can remove heat from the electronic component. The cooling
fan comprises a stator and an impeller being rotatable with
respective to the stator. The impeller further comprises a hub and
a plurality of blades radially and outwardly extending from the
hub. In use, the blades of the impeller rotate around the stator to
drive the airflow to flow towards the electronic component, thus
cooling the electronic component continuously.
[0006] Increasing a revolving speed of the impeller relatively
increases the amount of airflow, therefore a heat dissipation
efficiency is relatively improved. However, increasing the
revolving speed may correspondingly cause a rise of a noise level
generated by the cooling fan, thus making a user near the fan feel
uncomfortable.
[0007] What is needed, therefore, is an impeller which can overcome
the above-mentioned disadvantage.
SUMMARY
[0008] The present invention, in one aspect, provides an impeller
which generates more airflow without generating more noise. The
impeller includes a hub, and a plurality of blades radially
extending from the hub. Each of the blades includes a windward
surface and a leeward surface which has a different configuration
with the windward surface. The windward surface has a tip portion
selected from a group consisting of forward curved surface and
planar surface. The leeward surface has a tip portion selected from
a group consisting of planar surface and backward curved
surface.
[0009] The present invention, in another aspect, provides a cooling
fan using the impeller. The cooling fan includes a bottom housing,
a top cover covering the bottom housing, and impeller and stator
accommodated in a space formed between the bottom housing and the
top cover. The impeller includes a hub, and a plurality of blades
radially extending from the hub. Each of the blades includes a
windward surface and a leeward surface which has a different
configuration with the windward surface. The windward surface has a
tip portion selected from a group consisting of forward curved
surface and planar surface. The leeward surface has a tip portion
selected from a group consisting of planar surface and backward
curved surface.
[0010] Other advantages and novel features of the present impeller
and cooling fan will become more apparent from the following
detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is an exploded, isometric view of a cooling fan
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a top view of an impeller of the cooling fan of
FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a top view of an impeller according to a second
embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a top view of an impeller according to a third
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to
describe the preferred embodiment in detail.
[0016] Referring to FIG. 1, the cooling fan 10 includes a bottom
housing 12, a top cover 14 covering the bottom housing 12, and an
impeller 16 and a stator (not shown) accommodated in a space formed
between the bottom housing 12 and the top cover 14.
[0017] The impeller 16 includes a hub 162 and a plurality of blades
164 radially and outwardly extending from the hub 162. An air
channel 122 is formed between free ends of the blades 164 and an
inner surface of a sidewall of the bottom housing 12 of the cooling
fan 10. In operation of the cooling fan 10, the impeller 16 rotates
in the bottom housing 12 along a counterclockwise direction and
drives an airflow to flow towards an air outlet 124 of the cooling
fan 10.
[0018] Referring to FIG. 2, each of the blades 164 includes a
windward surface 164a and a leeward surface 164b which confronts
the windward surface 164a of a neighboring blade 164. The windward
surface 164a has a tip portion 1641 which is a forward curved
surface. An extension direction of the tip portion 1641 of the
windward surface 164a confronts to the rotation direction of the
impeller 16. The leeward surface 164b has a tip portion 1642 which
is a planar surface.
[0019] In the present impeller 16, the tip portions 1641, 1642 of
the windward and leeward surfaces 164a, 164b of the blades 164 of
the impeller 16 are respectively to be forward curved surfaces and
planar surfaces. The present impeller 16 generates more airflow
than an impeller whose windward and leeward surfaces have planar
tip portions, and generates less noise than an impeller whose
windward and leeward surfaces have forward curved tip portions.
Therefore, the windward surfaces 164a impel more air to flow
towards the air outlet 124 of the impeller 16, and the leeward
surfaces 164b decrease noises generated during operation of the
impeller 16. Thus, the present impeller 16 is optimized to generate
more airflow without generating more noise.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 3, a second embodiment of the present
impeller 26 is shown. In this embodiment, the tip portion 2641 of
the windward surface 264a of the blade 264 is a planar surface, and
the tip portion 2642 of the leeward surface 264b of the blade 264
is a backward curved surface. Planar surfaces can generate more
airflow than backward curved surfaces and generate less noise than
forward curved surfaces. Therefore, the present impeller 26 can
generate more airflow than an impeller whose windward and leeward
surfaces have backward curved tip portions, and generate less noise
than an impeller whose windward and leeward surfaces have planar
tip portions. The present impeller 26 is optimized to generate more
airflow without generating more noise.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 4, a third embodiment of the present
impeller 36 is shown. In this embodiment, the tip portion 3641 of
the windward surface 364a of the blade 364 is a forward curved
surface, whilst the tip portion 3642 of the leeward surface 364b of
the blade 364 is a backward curved surface. Therefore, the present
impeller 36 can generate more airflow than an impeller whose
windward and leeward surfaces have backward curved tip portions or
planar tip portions, and generate less noise than an impeller whose
windward and leeward surfaces have forward curved tip portions. The
present impeller 36 is optimized to generate more airflow without
generating more noise.
[0022] In the hereinabove embodiments of the present impeller 16,
26, 36, the tip portions 1641, 2641, 3641 of the windward surfaces
164a, 264a, 364a and the tip portions 1642, 2642, 3642 of the
leeward surfaces 164b, 264b, 364b of the blades 164, 264, 364 of
the impeller 16, 26, 36 are different types of surfaces which have
different capabilities in driving airflow and decreasing noise.
Therefore, the present impeller 16, 26, 36 can be optimized to
generate more airflow without generating more noise.
[0023] It is to be understood, how ever, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been
set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of
the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is
illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the
broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed.
* * * * *