Side-vented axial fan and associated fabrication methods

Abstract

An axial flow cooling fan includes a rectangular housing base portion and a plurality of rectangular plate members, all having corner portions and central circular air flow openings. The plate members have corner openings and integral hollow cylindrical spacer members formed on side surfaces of their corner portions and aligned with their corner openings. To construct the housing subassembly the base portion post members are sequentially inserted through the corner openings of each plate member. Resilient finger structures on the outer ends of the post members create a snap-fitted locking engagement with the outermost plate member and anchor the plate members in a stacked, parallel relationship in which the installed plate members are held apart by their integral spacer portions to create side air inlet openings on the subassembly at edge portions of the stacked plate members. The housing base portion has a motor-driven impeller section operatively supported within its central air flow opening. Peripheral portions of the plate members and the housing base portion, surrounding their central openings, are preferably sloped in a downstream direction. Interfitting dimples and projections on the plate members and the housing base portion are provided to prevent an inadvertently reversed installation orientation of any of the plate members.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.