Furnace air handler blower assembly utilizing a motor connected to an impeller fan that is suspended with mounting arms

A blower assembly comprising:

• an impeller fan, the impeller fan being adapted to rotate about an axis and having a plurality of impeller blades and having an axial length;
• a motor having a stator, a rotor, a first peripheral air directing surface, and a second peripheral air directing surface, the rotor and the impeller fan being coupled so that the impeller fan rotates with the rotor about the axis, the first peripheral air directing surface diverging away from the axis to direct air drawn axially into the impeller fan radially outwardly toward the impeller blades of the impeller fan, the first peripheral air directing surface being fixed relative to the stator such that the first peripheral air directing surface remains stationary when the impeller fan rotates about the axis, the second peripheral air directing surface diverging away from the axis to direct air drawn axially into the impeller fan radially outwardly toward the impeller blades of the impeller fan, the second peripheral air directing surface being attached to the rotor and adapted to rotate with the rotor and the impeller fan, the motor having an axial length, the rotor being configured to rotate relative to the stator about the axis, the rotor and the impeller fan being coupled so that the impeller fan rotates with the rotor about the axis;
• wherein the ratio of the axial length of the motor to the axial length of the impeller fan is less than 0.26.