Outdoor power machine with mixed flow blower

An outdoor power machine, comprising:

• a chassis defining a longitudinal axis;
• two front caster wheel assemblies mounted to the chassis, each front caster wheel assembly including a pivot assembly defining a vertical pivot axis;
• a base plate connected to a front end of the chassis;
• a fan mounted to the base plate, the fan including:
• a housing having an inlet end and an outlet end;
• and
• an impeller rotatably mounted in the housing, wherein the impeller is configured to guide airflow within the fan having both a radial velocity component and an axial velocity component;
• and
• an air intake disposed at the inlet end, wherein the air intake converges the airflow in a direction of flow;
• wherein the housing has a shape of an oblate spheroid, a diameter of a middle portion of the housing is larger than a diameter of an end opening at the inlet end and a diameter of an end opening at the outlet end, the diameter of the end opening at the inlet end is smaller than the diameter of the end opening at the outlet end, and the diameter of the middle portion of the housing is greater than a distance between the end opening at the inlet end and the end opening at the outlet end;
• wherein the housing defines a vertical central axis disposed longitudinally rearward of the vertical pivot axes of the two front caster wheel assemblies;
• wherein a maximum vertical dimension of the housing is less than a vertical distance from a ground surface to an uppermost point of each of the two front caster wheel assemblies;
• wherein the chassis includes a forward-facing recess in which the base plate and the fan are disposed, wherein the base plate has an upper part that is aligned substantially perpendicular to the vertical central axis having an annular shape with an opening in which the fan is mounted and a lower part that is aligned substantially parallel to the vertical central axis on which a receiver mount and motor drive electronics are mounted.