Motor cooling device and method
AssigneeTwin City Fan Companies, Ltd.
InventorsRadha Krishna Ganesh, Henry Thomas Bugner, JR., Jason Dean Emiliusen, Trinity Persful
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fan assembly, including motor cooling configurations and/or integrated controller configurations and associated methods are shown. Some examples of fan motors shown include electronically commutated motors that may include integrated controller circuitry. A number of cooling configurations are shown that may be used individually or in combination 10 to provide cooling to a motor in a fan assembly.
Claims43
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor;
- an impeller coupled to the fan motor, having an air inlet region and a periphery;
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region;
- and
- at least one deflector located at the periphery of the impeller to direct a portion of outflowing air over the fan motor.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor, including a hollow drive shaft;
- an impeller coupled to the motor, the impeller having a backplate, and a plurality of primary blades on a front side of the backplate that form a primary air inlet region and a periphery;
- and
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor;
- an impeller coupled to the motor, the impeller having a backplate, and a plurality of primary blades on a front side of the backplate that form a primary air inlet region and a periphery;
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region;
- and
- a number of secondary blades on a backside of the backplate to draw air over the motor.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor;
- an impeller coupled to the motor, the impeller having a backplate, and a plurality of primary blades on a front side of the backplate that form a primary air inlet region and a periphery;
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region;
- and
- a number of holes in the backplate of the impeller to draw air over the motor.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor;
- an impeller coupled to the motor, the impeller having a backplate, and a plurality of primary blades on a front side of the backplate that form a primary air inlet region and a periphery;
- a number of cooling fins located on a face of the fan motor directly facing the backplate of the impeller;
- and
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- a fan motor;
- an impeller coupled to the motor, the impeller having an air inlet region and a periphery;
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region;
- an outlet channel located at the periphery of the impeller;
- and
- one or more channels to draw air from the motor to a front of the inlet funnel.
A fan assembly, comprising:
- an electrically commutated motor;
- an impeller coupled to the electrically commutated motor, the impeller having an air inlet region and a periphery;
- an inlet funnel directing air to the air inlet region;
- one or more performance data sensors;
- and
- control circuitry integrated with the electrically commutated motor configured to vary a speed of the electrically commutated motor in response to data from the one or more performance data sensors.
A method of cooling a fan motor, comprising:
- forming an air flow pathway from a fan motor to a location within an interior of an impeller coupled in front of the fan motor;
- moving warm air from adjacent to the fan motor to the interior of the impeller;
- and
- mixing the warm air from the fan motor with air being moved by the impeller to dissipate the warm air.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.