U.S. patent application number 16/939063 was filed with the patent office on 2022-01-27 for fan frame structure.
The applicant listed for this patent is ASIA VITAL COMPONENTS ( SHEN ZHEN) Co., LTD.. Invention is credited to Chu-Hsien Chou, Pei-Chuan Lee, Yi-Chih Lin, Sung-Wei Sun.
Application Number | 20220025901 16/939063 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | |
Filed Date | 2022-01-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220025901 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Sun; Sung-Wei ; et
al. |
January 27, 2022 |
FAN FRAME STRUCTURE
Abstract
A fan frame structure includes a frame having a bottom surface,
a top surface and a flow passage. The flow passage is located
between the bottom surface and the top surface, and the bottom
surface and the top surface are provided with an outlet opening and
an inlet opening, respectively, which are communicable with the
flow passage. The outlet opening has an outlet edge, on and along
which a plurality of notches communicable with the flow passage is
cut. By providing the notches on the outlet edge, it is able to
largely reduce the noise and the vibration produced when a fan
operates.
Inventors: |
Sun; Sung-Wei; (Shenzhen,
CN) ; Chou; Chu-Hsien; (Shenzhen, CN) ; Lin;
Yi-Chih; (Shenzhen, CN) ; Lee; Pei-Chuan;
(Shenzhen, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
ASIA VITAL COMPONENTS ( SHEN ZHEN) Co., LTD. |
Shenzhen |
|
CN |
|
|
Appl. No.: |
16/939063 |
Filed: |
July 27, 2020 |
International
Class: |
F04D 29/52 20060101
F04D029/52; F04D 19/00 20060101 F04D019/00; F04D 29/32 20060101
F04D029/32 |
Claims
1. A fan frame structure, comprising: a frame having a bottom
surface, a top surface and a flow passage; the flow passage being
located between the bottom surface and the top surface, and the
bottom surface and the top surface being provided with an outlet
opening and an inlet opening, respectively, which are communicable
with the flow passage; and the outlet opening having an outlet
edge, on and along which a plurality of notches communicable with
the flow passage is cut.
2. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
notches are so cut on and along the outlet edge that they are
either equally spaced, unequally spaced, or in a staggered
arrangement.
3. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
outlet edge is selected from the group consisting of a surface bent
at an angle and a slant surface.
4. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
notches have a shape selected from the group consisting of a
groove, a triangle, a polygon, and an isosceles trapezoid.
5. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
notches can be cut on the outlet edge in a direction perpendicular
to or not perpendicular to the outlet edge.
6. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising a base located in the flow passage; and the base being
supported at the outlet opening and connected to the frame by a
plurality of connecting members.
7. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 6, wherein the
connecting members are selected from the group consisting of
stationary blades and ribs.
8. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flow
passage has a fan wheel pivotally rotatably mounted therein.
9. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame
has an inner sidewall surface facing toward the flow passage.
10. The fan frame structure as claimed in claim 9, wherein the
outlet edge is located between or at a joint of the inner sidewall
surface and the bottom surface.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a fan frame structure, and
more particularly, to a fan frame structure capable of largely
reducing the noise produced during fan operation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Following the quick development of high performance, high
frequency, high running speed and compact electronic products, the
amount of heat produced by the electronic products is constantly
increased, which tends to cause unstable operational state of the
electronic products and thus affect the reliability and the service
life thereof. Therefore, heat dissipation has become an important
issue among the electronic products. To effectively dissipate the
heat produced by the electronic products, a conventional way is
forced heat dissipation by cooling airflows produced by a fan.
[0003] The principle of producing cooling airflows by fan is mostly
related to the wing-shaped design of blades on a rotor of the fan.
The rotor is driven by a motor and a circuit board to rotate at a
nominal speed. When the wing-shaped blades are driven to rotate,
work is done through the camber of the wing-shaped blades that
produces a push force and accordingly, produces cooling airflows.
Meanwhile, when the rotor rotates, the frame of the fan often
produces undesired fundamental frequency vibration to cause
additional noise. And, with the increasingly rigorous demands for
heat dissipation by servers and other network communication
equipment, the conventional fan with general rotational speed is no
longer competent for use. Therefore, it is necessary to further
enhance the fan rotational speed. In addition, the problem of high
noise that comes from the entire fan and is caused by the turbulent
airflows at the fan outlet also needs to be solved urgently.
[0004] According to the above description, the conventional fan has
the disadvantages of (1) producing high noise when the fan operates
at a high rotational speed; and (2) producing severe vibration when
the fan operates.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] A primary object of the present invention is to effectively
solve the problems in the conventional fan by providing a fan frame
structure that can largely reduce the noise produced when the fan
operates.
[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a fan
frame structure that can largely reduce the vibration produced when
the fan operates.
[0007] To achieve the above and other objects, the fan frame
structure according to the present invention includes a frame
having a bottom surface, a top surface and a flow passage. The flow
passage is located between the bottom surface and the top surface,
and the bottom surface and the top surface are provided with an
outlet opening and an inlet opening, respectively, which are
communicable with the flow passage. The outlet opening has an
outlet edge, on and along which a plurality of notches communicable
with the flow passage is cut.
[0008] With the fan frame structure of the present invention, when
airflows are discharged via the outlet opening to an environment
outside the frame, the notches provided on the outlet edge allow
the turbulent airflows at the outlet opening to contact with air
outside the frame sooner. In this way, the noise produced when the
fan operates can be reduced, and the vibration of the fan produced
during its operation can also be largely reduced.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description of
the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings,
wherein
[0010] FIG. 1 is a bottom perspective view of a fan frame structure
according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the fan frame structure
of FIG. 1;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of a fan frame structure
according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of a fan frame structure
according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of a fan frame structure
according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and
[0015] FIG. 6 is a bottom perspective view of a fan frame structure
according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0016] The present invention will now be described with some
preferred embodiments thereof and by referring to the accompanying
drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are
the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same
reference numerals.
[0017] Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which are bottom and top
perspective views, respectively, of a fan frame structure 2
according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown,
the fan frame structure 2 in the first embodiment includes a frame
27 having a bottom surface 20, a top surface 21, a flow passage 22
and an inner sidewall surface 23. The flow passage 22 is located
between the bottom surface 20 and the top surface 21, and faces
toward the inner sidewall surface 23. The bottom surface 20 and the
top surface 21 are provided with an outlet opening 24 and an inlet
opening 25, respectively, and the inlet and the outlet opening 24,
25 are communicable with the flow passage 22.
[0018] In the flow passage 22 of the frame 27, a fan wheel 5 is
correspondingly arranged. Since the fan wheel 5 has a structural
configuration similar to that of conventional fan wheels, i.e. has
a hub and a plurality of radially outward extended blades, it is
not repeatedly described herein.
[0019] In addition, the fan frame structure 2 further includes a
base 4, which is supported at the outlet opening 24 and connected
to the frame 27 by a plurality of connecting members 40. In the
first embodiment of the present invention, the connecting members
40 are illustrated as a plurality of ribs. However, it is
understood the connecting members 40 are not necessarily limited to
the form of ribs, but can be, for example, stationary blades or
other equivalents.
[0020] The outlet opening 24 of the frame 27 has an outlet edge
240, which is a surface bent at an angle. In other words, the
outlet edge 240 is a joint of the bottom surface 20 and the inner
sidewall surface 23 of the frame 27. On and along the outlet edge
240, a plurality of notches 3 communicable with the flow passage 22
is cut. In the illustrated first embodiment, the notches are
equally spaced along the outlet edge 240, i.e. the joint of the
bottom surface 20 and the inner sidewall surface 23 of the frame
27. However, in other operable embodiments, for example the second
embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, the notches 3
can be otherwise unequally spaced along the outlet edge 240.
Further, in the illustrated first embodiment, each of the notches 3
are cut on the outlet edge 240 in a direction perpendicular to the
outlet edge 240. That is, a junction of each notch 3 and the outlet
edge 240 forms a right angle of 90.degree.. However, in a third
embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 4, there are
notches 3 cut on the outlet edge 240 in a direction not
perpendicular to the outlet edge 240. That is, the junction of each
notch 3 and the outlet edge 240 forms an included angle other than
90.degree.. Moreover, the quantity and the size of the notches 3
are also adjustable according to the user's requirements.
[0021] Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a bottom perspective view
of a fan frame structure according to a fourth embodiment of the
present invention. In the fourth embodiment, the outlet edge 240 is
a slant surface 26. That is, the slant surface 26 is formed at the
joint of the inner sidewall surface 23 and the bottom surface 20 of
the frame 27, and the notches 3 are cut on the slant surface 26. In
the illustrated fourth embodiment, the notches 3 are long grooves
in shape. In a fifth embodiment as shown in FIG. 6, the notches 3
can be isosceles triangles, equilateral triangles or isosceles
trapezoids in shape. In other words, the notches 3 are changeable
in shape according to the user's requirements to similarly achieve
the effect of the present invention.
[0022] With the fan frame structure of the present invention, when
airflows are discharged via the outlet opening 24 to an environment
outside the frame 27, the notches 3 provided on the outlet edge 240
allow the turbulent airflows at the outlet opening 24 to contact
with air outside the frame 27 sooner. In this way, the noise
produced when the fan operates can be reduced, and the vibration of
the fan produced during its operation can also be largely
reduced.
[0023] Therefore, compared to the conventional fan frames, the fan
frame structure of the present invention has the following
advantages: (1) capable of largely reducing the noise produced when
the fan operates at a high rotational speed; and (2) capable of
largely reducing the vibration produced when the fan operates.
[0024] The present invention has been described with some preferred
embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and
modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out
without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention
that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
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