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(12) NEW EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATIONAfter opposition procedure

(45) Date of publication and mention of the opposition decision: 12.02.2014 Bulletin 2014/07

(45) Mention of the grant of the patent: 14.05.2003 Bulletin 2003/20

(21) Application number: 95306851.7

(22) Date of filing: 28.09.1995

(51) Int Cl.:F04D 29/60 (2006.01) F04D 19/00 (2006.01)

F04D 29/32 (2006.01) F04D 25/08 (2006.01)

(54) FAN MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT

ANORDNUNG ZUR MONTAGE EINES LÜFTERS

ARRANGEMENT DE MONTAGE D’UN VENTILATEUR

(84) Designated Contracting States: DE ES FR GB IT

(30) Priority: 29.09.1994 US 31482731.05.1995 US 456178

(43) Date of publication of application: 03.04.1996 Bulletin 1996/14

(60) Divisional application: 03075277.8 / 1 302 670

(73) Proprietor: VALEO THERMIQUE MOTEUR78320 Le Mesnil Saint-Denis (FR)

(72) Inventor: Alizadeh, AhmadIndianapolis, Ind. 46250 (US)

(74) Representative: Rolland, Jean-Christophe et alValeo Systèmes Thermiques 8 Rue Louis Lormand BP 517 - La Verrière78321 Le Mesnil Saint-Denis Cedex (FR)

(56) References cited: EP-A- 0 242 342 EP-A- 0 521 285EP-A- 0 569 738 DE-A- 1 488 640DE-A- 4 143 383 DE-A- 4 222 264DE-U- 8 612 292 FR-A- 2 214 340US-A- 3 385 516 US-A- 4 358 245US-A- 4 805 868

• parts catalog "Passenger Car" 1990 & US 5 297 931 A 29 March 1994

• Service manual "Front wheel drive van/wagon" & US 4 548 548 A 22 October 1985

• technical drawing "shroud, S-body"• technical drawing "radiator fan, S-body"• service manual "lebaron, spirit, acclaim, shadow,

sundance"• technical drawing "shroud, A-body"• technical drawing "fan, A-body"• extract from "ATZ - automobiltechnische

Zeitschrift"• further page of E1

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Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a mounting ar-rangement for an axial flow fan, for example a fan de-signed to cool air flowing through a heat exchange sys-tem in a vehicle.[0002] When used in a vehicular application, a fan canbe arranged either to blow air through a heat exchangesystem such as a radiator, if the heat exchange systemis on the high-pressure (downstream) side of the fan ordraw air through the heat exchange system if the heatexchange system is on the low-pressure (upstream) sideof the fan.[0003] The mounting of the fan is of particular concernwhen used to move air in an enclosed engine compart-ment. More particularly, the fan mounting is required toprevent noise and other vibrations from being transmittedbetween the rotating fan and the vehicle body work. An-other requirement is that the mounting should, as far aspossible, prevent air from leaking-back around the pe-riphery of the fan.[0004] A first object of the present invention is to pro-vide a fan mounting arrangement which is capable ofproviding an improved acoustic noise performance.[0005] A second object of the present invention is toprovide minimum fan packaging while maintaining, or in-creasing, the fan system efficiency.[0006] DE-A-4222264 discloses a mounting arrange-ment for mounting an axial flow fan to a structure defininga circular passage, the mounting arrangement having aplurality of curved arms.[0007] EP-A-521285 discloses a mounting arrange-ment for mounting an axial flow fan to a structure defininga circular passage, the mounting arrangement having aplurality of arms skewed so as to form the same anglewith respect to a radius of the circular air passage.[0008] The Supplement of AutomobiltechnischeZeitschrift, AZT 95 Jahrgang /Nr 9, September 1993 de-scribes a mounting arrangement for mounting an axialflow fan to a structure defining a circular passage, themounting arrangement having three arms, one of thembeing skewed.[0009] According to the present invention there is pro-vided a mounting arrangement for mounting an axial flowfan to a structure defining a circular passage accordingto the arrangement as claimed in claim 1.[0010] Preferably the axial flow fan is secured to anelectric drive motor for driving the fan, and the mountingarrangement supports the drive motor.[0011] Preferably at least one arm has, at its supportstructure end, an attachment finger extending in use par-allel to the plane of the fan for sliding cooperation withan attachment socket of said structure.[0012] Preferably the fan comprises plural blades anda bowl-shaped hub member having a front wall portionextending to a peripheral side wall portion and plural in-ternal radially-extending vane member for circulating airwithin said hub member wherein each fan member has

a first portion extending forwardly along the side wall por-tion and a second portion extending along the front wall.[0013] Preferably, the fan is secured to an electric mo-tor for driving the fan, a portion of the motor being dis-posed within the hub member whereby in use the motoris cooled by circulation of air caused by the vane mem-bers.[0014] Preferably, the fan has plural blades each se-cured at a tip region thereof to a blade support band hav-ing a radially-extending bell mouth portion and the struc-ture defining a circular passage comprises a ring extend-ing axially towards the bell mouth portion of the fan todefine, with said bell mouth portion, a first annular regionextending axially of the fan.[0015] For a better understanding of the present inven-tion and to show how the same may be carried into effect,reference will now be made by way of example to theaccompanying drawings.[0016] It is to be noted that Figures 10 and 11 are notaccording to the present invention but are included in thepresent application to preserve clarity as the descriptionof the embodiment shown in Figure 12, which is accord-ing to the present invention, refers to the arrangementsin Figures 10 and 11.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fan from the front;Figure 2 is a plan view of the fan of Figure 1, seenfrom the front;Figure 3 is a cross-section taken through the hub ofthe fan along line III-III in Figure 2;Figure 4 is a plan view of a hub insert for the fan ofFigures 1-3;Figure 5 is a cross-section of the hub insert of Figure4, taken along the line V-V in Figure 4;Figure 6 illustrates diagrammatically the sweep, di-hedral and pitch respectively of a fan blade;Figure 7 is a cross-section through the fan takenalong the line VII-VII in Figure 2.Figures 8 and 9 show the projection of a blade ontothe plane orthogonal to the blade axis;Figure 10 shows a partial plan view of a fan mountingarrangement;Figure 11 shows a cross-section through a fan, elec-tric motor and ring support taken along line XI-XI inFigure 10;Figure 12 shows a modification of the arrangementof Figure 10;Figure 13 shows a modification of the hub of Figure3 with an improved form of cooling vane.

[0017] Figures 1 and 2 show a fan 2 which has a cen-trally located cylindrical hub 4 with a plurality (seven asillustrated) of blades 6 extending radially outwardly there-from to an outer band 8 having a generally cylindricalform.[0018] The hub 4 carries a central hub insert 10 whichdefines an aperture 12 for accepting a shaft which mountsthe fan for rotation around its central axis. The blade sup-

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port band 8 encloses the blades and is generally centeredon the axis of rotation of the fan 2. Each blade 6 extendsfrom a root region 14 secured to the hub 4 to an outer(or tip) region 16 secured to the inner surface of the bladesupport band 8. The tip region 16 of the blades 6 arejoined to the band over the full width of the blades andnot at a single point or over a narrow connecting line.This increases the strength of the structure.[0019] The blade support band 8 of the fan adds struc-tural strength to the fan by supporting the blades at theirtip and also serves to hold air on the working surface ofthe blades. The band 8 is of uniform thickness and hasa first axially extending cylindrical portion 9 and an axiallyextreme portion 9a which is curved radially outwardly toprovide a bell-mouth, as is best seen in Figure 7.[0020] The curved portion 9a of the band 8 reduceslosses due to vortices in a gap between the fan and ashroud member surrounding the fan. The band 8 further-more provides a uniform flow passage of air flow passingthrough the fan and decreases unwanted variations inthe dihedral angle u and the pitch angle (see Figure 6)of the blade by virtue of the tip support.[0021] The blades 6 have respective leading edges Band trailing edges C and are shaped so that they aresecured to the band 8 with the leading edge B tangentialto the curved portion 9a of the band. This can be seenin Figure 7.[0022] In use in a vehicular application for engine cool-ing, the fan can be positioned in front of or behind anengine cooling heat exchanger system comprising forexample a radiator, condenser and oil cooler. The fanmay be arranged so that air is either blown through theheat exchanger system if the heat exchanger is on thehigh pressure (downstream) side of the fan, or drawnthrough the heat exchanger system, if the exchanger ison the low pressure (upstream) side of the fan. The fan2 is preferably used in conjunction with a shroud thatextends between the radiator and the outer edge of thefan. The shroud serves to prevent recirculation of airaround the outer edge of the fan from the high pressureregion at the downstream side of the fan to the low pres-sure region at the opposite side of the fan adjacent theradiator. One known shroud structure is funnel-like asshown for example in US-A-4,358,245. A second shroudarrangement is shown in Figures 10-12, and will be de-scribed later herein.[0023] Reference will first be made to the design of thehub having regard to Figure 3. The hub has a plasticsmoulded body member 18 which defines an outer cylin-drical hub ring 20 and an inner cylindrical hub ring 22.The inner and outer hub rings define between them anannular space 21. The inner cylindrical hub ring 22 hasfirst and second axially spaced annular ledges 24 and25 which are directed radially inwardly. The ledges areprovided for supporting a hub insert 10 as described inmore detail hereinafter.[0024] Referring to Figures 4 and 5, the hub insert 10can be made of a plastics or metal material and is a body

formed as a solid walled cylinder 26 having a plurality ofperipheral circumferentially spaced protrusions 28 whichform a castellated outer surface. The castellations mayall be in the same plane perpendicular to the insert axis,or may be in different planes perpendicular to that axis.The insert 10 defines an aperture 12 having a first cylin-drical portion and an adjoining portion in the form of a Dshape, that is having an arcuate portion 30 and an op-posing single flat portion 32. The flat portion 32 is forkeying to a shaft inserted into the aperture 12 wherebyrotation of the shaft with respect to the hub insert 10 isprevented. The castellated outer surface of the hub insert10 enables the hub insert to be connected to the plasticsmoulded portion 18 of the hub in a single manufacturingstep. That is, a mould defining the plastics moulded bodyportion 18 is provided in which the hub insert 10 is placed.Plastics material is injected into the mould in a knowninjection moulding process and enters between the pro-trusions 28 of the hub insert. Thus, a secure mechanicalconnection is provided between the hub insert 10 andthe plastics moulded portion 18. The hub insert 10 pro-vides a close fit and thus reduces the play between ashaft inserted into the aperture 12 and the insert 10. Thisthus helps preserve the fan balance when rotating andreduces drift of the fan from true axial rotation.[0025] Use of a single flat portion 32 is advantageousin that the hub insert 10, and hence the fan, is alwaysmounted in the same orientation with respect to the shaft.Hence balancing measures may be taken, without thepossibility of the fan being refitted after removal in theopposite orientation, as would be possible if two flat por-tions were provided on both shaft and hub.[0026] However, where such considerations are notsignificant, two or more flats could be provided, the samenumber being present in the shaft.[0027] Referring again to Figure 3, the annular space21 between the inner and outer hub rings may accom-modate the front face of an electrical motor provided todrive the shaft. The motor is then protected by the mould-ed portion from the intrusion of moisture and dust.[0028] The outer surface of the fan hub 4 approximatesto a bowl shape which is more rounded than the straightcylindrical hubs of the prior art. More particularly, the hubouter surface has a central shallow depressed region 15flanked by a substantially straight angled annular region50. The annular region extends to a substantially planarannular region 52 which further extends into an outercylindrical surface 55 of the hub via a radiussed portion54. The elimination of a sharp angle at the front part ofthe hub reduces vortices forming at the hub surface. Theformation of vortices, known as "vortex shedding" causesundesirable turbulence in the flow in the region of thehub, and gives rise to increased noise levels.[0029] The minimum extent of the hub in the axial di-rection is at least equal to the axial blade extent at theroot of the blade 6. The axial extent of the hub 4 and ofthe blade support band 8 respectively may vary up to50% of the axial extent of the band 8.

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[0030] The inner surface of the hub moulded portion18 is provided with a plurality of radially extending ribs,one of which can be seen in Figure 3 designated by ref-erence numeral 19. The ribs 19 of which two are providedfor each blade, are curved with the moulded plastics sec-tion 18 and serve to guide flow recirculating in the rearpart of the hub in an effective manner to cool an electricmotor by dissipating heat generated thereby. The ribs 19extend radially inwardly towards the inner cylindrical ring22 and thus also provide structural support for the hubbody and hub insert.[0031] Referring again to Figures 1 and 2, the bladesof the fan will now be described. As shown in Figure 1,each blade 6 is rearwardly skewed in that the medial lineof the blade (which is the line obtained by joining thepoints that are circumferentially equidistant from the lead-ing edge B and the trailing edge C of the blade) is curvedin a direction (root to tip) opposite to the direction D ofrotation of the fan 2. The leading and trailing edges B,Care curved in the same direction. The skew is referred toherein as the tangential sweep of the blade and is indi-cated diagrammatically by the angles λ1, λ2 and λ3 inFigure 8. Furthermore, each blade is secured to the hubso that the blade lies at a dihedral angle which is illus-trated diagrammatically by angle m in Figure 6. The di-hedral angle m is the angle between a tangent betweena tangent P-T to the blade surface and a plane P-Q per-pendicular to the axis of rotation. Furthermore, the bladeis pitched so that the leading and trailing edges B and Care not in the same plane. The pitch angle γ alternativelyknown as the chord angle is also shown in Figure 6.[0032] Figure 7 shows in section the blade 6 and theconnection at the root to the hub 4 and at the tip to theband 8. Figure 7 also shows a variation in the dihedralangle m such that the dihedral angle decreases with re-spect to the radius of the fan along the span of the bladeover the first 50% of the innermost radius and then staysconstant for the remaining 50%. As an alternative to thedihedral angle remaining constant over the remaining50% of the blade span, it could increase slightly over thisdistance.[0033] Reference will now be made to Figure 8 to de-scribe the tangential sweep λ of the blade 6. In Figure 8,the fan origin is indicated as O. The leading edge B ofthe blade contains a portion BI at which the tangent D tothe curve passes through the origin. Similarly, the medialline of the blade 6, shown as curve A, has a point AI, atwhich the tangent x to the line passes through the origin,and the curve C defining the trailing edge has a similarportion CI extending tangentially to the radial line E.[0034] Figure 9 illustrates the relationship between theprojection of the chord length at the root 14 of the bladeand that at the tip 16. Ri is the radius of the hub measuredfrom the fan origin O and θR is the angle subtended bythe root points CR, BR of the trailing and leading edges.The root chord length projection SR is given by ST=RiθRwhere θR is in radians.[0035] Points CT and BT are the trailing and leading

edge tip points. Radii intersecting these tip points sub-tend an angle θt. Hence the tip chord length projection isST=Rfθt where Rf is the outer fan radius. In the illustratedembodiment, θR is greater than θt. Advantageously, thechord length itself gradually increases from the root ofthe blade over the first 50% of the span of the blade. Thechord length may then decrease over the whole remain-ing span, or decrease up to about 70% of the span, afterwhich it remains constant.[0036] Referring again to Figure 1, it will be seen thatthe blade is pitched so that the leading and trailing edgesB and C are not in the same plane. The angle that theblade chord makes with the horizontal axis is termed thechord angle. The chord angle decreases with respect tothe radius of the fan, preferably along the entire bladelength. The projected blade width gradually decreasesfrom the root of the blade along the span of the blade,i.e. with increase of blade radius.[0037] The blade described herein provides a down-stream variable axial flow velocity which increases con-tinuously from the hub 4 to the outermost region of theblade, with the maximum axial velocities occurring overthe span of the blade at the outermost 25-35% of theblade. This variation enables the performance efficiencyof the fan to be optimised whilst reducing the noise level.[0038] Referring to Figures 10 and 11, a mounting ar-rangement for a fan will now be described: -[0039] Referring first to Figure 10, the mounting ar-rangment generally consists of an outer annular ring 101for coupling to the bodywork of a vehicle in which the fanis to be mounted, for example for coupling adjacent to afront face member, eg a so-called "plastic", of such avehicle, and an inner generally annular ring 102 for sup-porting an electric motor (110 - see Figure 11) used todrive the fan. The inner ring is secured to the outer ring101 by three arms 103, 104, 105, which as shown inFigure 10 extend generally radially. At the junction ofeach arm with the inner ring 102 there is provided a re-spective hole 106. Each arm is prolonged beyond theouter periphery of the outer ring 102 to provide a respec-tive bayonet fastening 107, 108, 109. The bayonet fas-tenings permit the fan, attached to the mounting arrang-ment to be axially offered to the counterpart opening ofthe vehicle bodywork and then circumferentially rotatedinto counterpart bayonet housings on the bodywork.[0040] Referring now to Figure 11, the fan 4 is shownsecured to the electric drive motor 110, which in turn ismounted into the inner ring 102 of the mounting arrange-ment by a bracket 111. The bracket 111 is secured tothe mounting arrangement via a suitable screw 112 pass-ing through a resilient mounting 130 described later here-in, contained by hole 106. Wiring (not shown) for the mo-tor is secured to and supported by one of the arms, soas not to impede the flow of air. The outer ring 101 ex-tends beside the cylindrical portion 9 of the blade supportband 8 of the blades to define a narrow annular passage-way therebetween which extends radially from the band8. A front face portion 115 of the ring 108 is disposed

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immediately behind and adjacent the curved portion 9aof the blade support band 8. The curved portion 9a of theband extends radially beyond the innermost radial extentof ring 101.[0041] A member 113 consists of a generally annularring secured to or integral with the vehicle body 114 anddisposed forwardly of the fan. The ring member 113 hasa lip which extends radially of the fan and back towardsthe curved portion 9a of the band 8. Member 113 andcurved portion 9a define another narrow annular pas-sageway. The vehicle body 114 defines a circular pas-sageway for receiving the fan, and this surrounds thecircumference of the bell mouth portion 9a to define afurther annular passageway. The assembly of the ring101, the body 114 and the member 113, together withthe blade support band 8 provides a series of narrowpassages between the front and rear of the fan andaround the edge thereof. These passages form a laby-rinth, and cooperate to impede blow-past of air. This im-proves efficiency and reduces noise.[0042] Continuing to refer to Figure 11, the bolt 112securing bracket 111 with respect to the inner ring 102is coupled to the ring 102 by a two-part resilient mounting,which consists of a first sleeve 130 having a circumfer-ential slot extending transversally of the axis of the sleeve130 so that the sleeve is retained grommet-fashion onring 102. The sleeve has a radially-inner axial hole whichreceives and houses a second sleeve 131, which secondsleeve has a radially-inner axial hole for the bolt 112.[0043] As mentioned above, with reference to Figure10 the inner ring is supported with respect to the outerring via three arms 103, 104 and 105. Three arms areused to prevent acoustic coincidence between thenumber of blades of the fan as well as providing the lowestimpedance to air flow. Lack of acoustic coincidence pre-vents resonances from forming which would increasenoise, lead to vibration or reduce the efficiency of thedevice. The arrangement is both lightweight and rigid.[0044] Also shown in Figure 11 is the manner of con-nection of the fan to the motor 110. As shown the motorhas an axially projecting shaft 132 for mounting thereonof the fan. The shaft has a flattened axial portion for co-operation with the flat portion 32 of the hub insert andalso has a circular protruding portion embraced by thecircular aperture portion of the hub insert 10. An axiallydistal portion of the shaft is threaded to accept a nut 133.[0045] To mount the fan upon the motor shaft 132, themotor and the fan are offered together and the fan isrotated until the flat 32 coincides with the flat portion ofthe motor shaft 132. The shaft may then be urged intothe fan, whereby the threaded distal portion projects fromthe hub insert 10. The cylindrical part of the shaft ishoused by the circular aperture portion of the hub insert10, serving to centre the fan. The flat on the shaft coop-erates with the flat on the insert 10 to rotatably couplethe two together. The nut 133 is then applied to the endof the shaft and tightened. For compactness the axialextent of the nut is no greater than the axial extent of the

central shallow depressed region 15 of the hub outer sur-face. When fully tightened the nut 133 engages with theaxially outer surface of the hub insert 10, rather than en-gaging with the hub itself.[0046] Where the fan is to be rotated clockwise, thethread on the motor shaft and the nut are each left hand-ed; where the fan is for anticlockwise rotation, right hand-ed threads are used.[0047] Referring now to Figure 12 a modification in ac-cordance with the present invention, of the mounting ar-rangement of Figure 10 is shown. Similarly to the ar-rangement shown in Figure 10, the mounting arrange-ment has an outer ring 101 and an inner ring 102. How-ever in this case the inner and outer rings are connectedby arms 141, 142 and 143. To further reduce acousticco-incidence, the arm 141 forms an acute angle with re-spect to a radius of the outer ring 101, the arm 142 formsa less acute angle with a radius of the outer ring 101 andthe third arm 143 is parallel to such a radius.[0048] Referring now the Figure 13, a hub 400, simi-larly to hub 4 previously described with respect to Figure3, carries a central hub insert 10 which defines an aper-ture 12. The hub member 400 consists of a plasticsmoulded body member 180 which has a substantiallyplanar front wall portion 181 of generally annular form.The front wall portion 181 extends via a radiussed portion182 into a peripheral side wall portion 183 which is cir-cular-cylindrical. Thus the hub body member 180 is gen-erally bowl-shaped. The peripheral side wall portion 183supports the root portion of the plural blades of the fan.[0049] The inner surface of the hub member 180 isprovided with plural radially-extending ribs, similarly toribs 19 shown in Figure 3. These ribs are not shown inFigure 13, but are provided at the rate of one rib perblade, for example one corresponding to the leadingedge of each blade. The inner surface of the hub member180 is also provided with plural internal radially-extendingvane members 190. The vane members 190 which areprovided one per blade are of considerably greater areathan the ribs 19, described herein with respect to Figure3. The vane members 190 have a first portion 191 whichextends axially from the rearmost extremity of the periph-eral sidewall portion along the peripheral wall portion toa second portion 192 which extends radially outwardlyalong the inside of the front wall portion 181.[0050] The first portion 191 has a straight radially-inneredge 193 which makes an angle J to a plane F-F’ whichis perpendicular to the fan axis. The second portion alsohas a straight radially inner edge 194 which makes anangle G with another plane H-H’ which is parallel to theplane F-F’. It has been found that increasing the surfacearea of the vane members 190 causes an increase of airflow within the hub, due to action as a turbine. In thedescribed embodiment the angle J is 60 degrees and theangle G is 8 degrees.[0051] As previously herein before described an elec-tric motor used for driving the fan may be partly accom-modated within the confines of the hub. Larger vane

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members increase the air flow through the motor, thusenhancing the cooling of the motor. However the partic-ular shape of the vane members will be determined bythe shape of the motor, since the hub must clear themotor to allow rotation.[0052] Accordingly the vane members may have oneor more straight edges, as shown in Figure 13, or maybe partly or wholly curved, either concave or convex ac-cording to the constraints of the motor, the desired cool-ing and the constraints imposed by the moulding tech-nique. Equally the vane members may be aligned withfan radius, or may be skewed with respect thereto. Ifskewed, the vane members may be curved or straight,and the direction of skew is the same as the direction ofrotation - for example, if the fan rotates clockwise, the tipof each vane is clockwise with respect to the vane root.[0053] Secondly the number of vane members can beincreased so as to further enhance the air flow. Howevera problem may occur if a large number of large-area vanemembers are provided, since the weight of the fan overallis thereby increased. This adds to the inertia of the fanand thus requires a larger motor to drive the fan.[0054] It will also be appreciated that the absolutenumber of vane members 190 and ribs- 19 per fan maybe varied, for example providing more than one vanemember per fan blade, or only one vane member for eve-ry alternate blade.

Claims

1. A mounting arrangement for mounting an axial flowfan (2) to a structure defining a circular passage, themounting arrangement consisting of an outer ring(101) and an inner ring (102) and three arms (141,142,143) extendable from a structure and connect-ing the outer ring (101) and the inner ring (102), onwhich arms (141,142,143) a fan (2) is supportable,wherein each arm (141,142,143) is straight therebydefining a respective longitudinal axis, character-ised in that one arm (141) forms an acute angle withrespect to a radius of the outer ring (101), one arm(142) forms a less acute angle with a radius of theouter ring (101) and one arm (143) is parallel to sucha radius.

2. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 1wherein the fan (2) is secured to an electric drivemotor (110) for driving the fan (2) and the mountingarrangement supports the drive motor (110).

3. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 1wherein at least one arm (141, 142,143) has, at itssupport structure end, an attachment finger(107,108, 109) extending in use parallel to the planeof the fan (2) for sliding cooperation with an attach-ment socket of said structure.

4. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 1wherein the fan (2) comprises plural blades (6) anda blow-shaped hub member (400) having a frontwall portion (181) extending to a peripheral side wallportion (183) and plural internal radially-extendingvane members (190) or circulating air within said hubmember (400) wherein each vane member (190) hasa first portion (191) extending forwardly along theside wall portion and a second portion (192) extend-ing along the front wall (181).

5. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 4wherein the first portion (191) of each vane (190)extends substantially from the axially rearmost ex-tremity of the side wall portion (183) forwardly to-wards the front wall portion (181).

6. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 5wherein the first portion (191) of each vane member(190) has a straight inner edge describing a first an-gle (J) to a plane perpendicular to the fan axis andthe second portion (192) has a straight inner edgedescribing a second angle (G) to said plane.

7. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 4wherein the fan (2) is secured to an electric motor(110) for driving the fan (2), a portion of the motor(110) being disposed within the hub member (400)whereby in use the motor (110) is cooled by circula-tion of air caused by the vane members (190).

8. A mounting arrangement as claimed 7 wherein eachvane member (190) is curved with respect to a re-spective hub radius, the curvature being such thatthe tip of each vane member (190) is offset from aradius through the root of the vane (190), the offsetbeing in said first direction.

9. A mounting arrangement as claimed in Claim 1,wherein the fan (2) has plural blades (6) each se-cured at a tip region (16) thereof to a blade supportband (8) having a radially-extending bell mouth por-tion (9a) and the structure defining a circular pas-sage comprises a ring (101) extending axially to-wards the bell mouth portion (9a) of the fan (2) char-acterised in that said ring defines with said bellmouth portion (9a), a first annular region extendingaxially of the fan (2).

10. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 9wherein the bell mouth portion (9a) has a circumfer-ence defining with said circular passage, a secondannular region extending radially of the fan (2).

11. A mounting arrangement as claimed in claim 10wherein the blade support band (8) has a cylindricalportion (9) extending axially of the fan (2), and thecircular passage defines with said cylindrical portion

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(9) a third annular region extending radially of thefan (2).

12. A mounting arrangement as claimed in any one ofclaims 9 to 11 wherein said ring (101) is a ring mem-ber secured to said structure.

13. A mounting arrangement as claimed in any one ofclaims 9 to 11 wherein said ring (101) is integrallyformed with said structure.

Patentansprüche

1. Montageanordnung zur Montage eines Axialströ-mungslüfters (2) an einer einen kreisförmigenDurchgang definierenden Konstruktion, wobei dieMontageanordnung aus einem äußeren Ring (101)und einem inneren Ring (102) und drei Armen (141,142, 143) besteht, die sich von einer Konstruktionaus erstrecken können und den äußeren Ring (101)und den inneren Ring (102) verbinden, wobei vondiesen Armen (141, 142, 143) ein Lüfter (2) abge-stützt werden kann und jeder Arm (141, 142, 143)gerade ausgeführt ist, so dass er eine jeweiligeLängsachse definiert, dadurch gekennzeichnet,dass ein Arm (141) einen spitzen Winkel bezüglicheines Radius des äußeren Rings (101) bildet, einArm (142) einen weniger spitzen Winkel mit einemRadius des äußeren Rings (101) bildet, und ein Arm(143) parallel zu einem solchen Radius verläuft.

2. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 1, bei der derLüfter (2) an einem elektrischen Antriebsmotor (110)zum Antrieb des Lüfters (2) gesichert ist und die Mon-tageanordnung den Antriebsmotor (110) abstützt.

3. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 1, bei der min-destens ein Arm (141, 142, 143) an seinem Stütz-konstruktionsende einen Befestigungsfinger (107,108, 109) besitzt, der sich im Gebrauch parallel zurEbene des Lüfters (2) erstreckt, um mit einer Befe-stigungsbuchse der Konstruktion gleitend zusam-menzuwirken.

4. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 1, bei der derLüfter (2) mehrere Flügel (6) und ein muldenförmigesNabenelement (400) mit einem Vorderwandab-schnitt (181), der sich zu einem Umfangsseiten-wandabschnitt (183) hin erstreckt, sowie mehrere in-nenliegende, sich radial erstreckende Schaufelele-mente (190) zur Luftumwälzung innerhalb des Na-benelements (400) umfasst, wobei jedes Schaufel-element (190) einen ersten Abschnitt (191), der sichnach vorne entlang dem Seitenwandabschnitt er-streckt, und einen zweiten Abschnitt (192), der sichentlang der Vorderwand (181) erstreckt, besitzt.

5. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 4, bei der sichder erste Abschnitt (191) jeder Schaufel (190) im we-sentlichen vom axial hintersten Ende des Seiten-wandabschnitts (183) aus nach vorne zum Vorder-wandabschnitt (181) hin erstreckt.

6. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 5, bei der dererste Abschnitt (191) jedes Schaufelelements (190)eine gerade Innenkante, die einen ersten Winkel (J)zu einer senkrecht zur Lüfterachse verlaufendenEbene beschreibt, und der zweite Abschnitt (192)eine gerade Innenkante, die einen zweiten Winkel(G) zur Ebene beschreibt, besitzt.

7. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 4, bei der derLüfter (2) an einem Elektromotor (110) zum Antriebdes Lüfters (2) gesichert ist, wobei sich ein Abschnittdes Motors (110) innerhalb des Nabenelements(400) befindet, so dass der Motor (110) im Gebrauchdurch von den Schaufelelementen (190) bewirkteLuftumwälzung gekühlt wird.

8. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 7, bei der jedesSchaufelelement (190) bezüglich eines jeweiligenNabenradius gebogen ausgeführt ist, wobei die Bie-gung so beschaffen ist, dass die Spitze jedes Schau-felelements (190) gegenüber einem durch die Wur-zel der Schaufel (190) verlaufenden Radius versetztist, wobei die versetzte Ausrichtung in der erstenRichtung erfolgt.

9. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 1, bei der derLüfter (2) mehrere Flügel (6) besitzt, wobei jeder aneinem Spitzenbereich (16) davon an einem Flügel-stützband (8) mit einem sich radial erstreckendenschalltrichterförmigen Abschnitt (9a) gesichert istund die einen kreisförmigen Durchgang definierendeKonstruktion einen Ring (101) umfasst, der sich axialzum schalltrichterförmigen Abschnitt (9a) des Lüf-ters (2) hin erstreckt, dadurch gekennzeichnet,dass der Ring mit dem schalltrichterförmigen Ab-schnitt (9a) einen ersten ringförmigen Bereich defi-niert, der sich axial zum Lüfter (2) erstreckt.

10. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 9, bei der derschalltrichterförmige Abschnitt (9a) einen Umfangaufweist, der mit dem kreisförmigen Durchgang ei-nen zweiten ringförmigen Bereich definiert, der sichradial zum Lüfter (2) erstreckt.

11. Montageanordnung nach Anspruch 10, bei der dasFlügelstützband (8) einen zylindrischen Abschnitt (9)aufweist, der sich axial zum Lüfter (2) erstreckt, undwobei der kreisförmige Durchgang mit dem zylindri-schen Abschnitt (9) einen dritten ringförmigen Be-reich definiert, der sich radial zum Lüfter (2) er-streckt.

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12. Montageanordnung nach einem der Ansprüche 9 bis11, bei der der Ring (101) ein an der Konstruktiongesichertes Ringelement ist.

13. Montageanordnung nach einem der Ansprüche 9 bis11, bei der der Ring (101) integral mit der Konstruk-tion ausgeführt ist.

Revendications

1. Agencement de montage pour le montage d’un ven-tilateur à flux axial (2) sur une structure définissantun passage circulaire, l’agencement de montageétant constitué d’un anneau extérieur (101) et d’unanneau intérieur (102) et de trois bras (141, 142,143) étant aptes à s’étendre à partir d’une structureet reliant l’anneau extérieur (101) et l’anneau inté-rieur (102), lesquels bras (141, 142, 143) étant aptesà supporter un ventilateur (2), dans lequel chaquebras (141, 142, 143) est rectiligne définissant de lasorte un axe longitudinal respectif, caractérisé ence qu’un bras (141) forme un angle aigu par rapportà un rayon de l’anneau extérieur (101) un bras (142)forme un angle moins aigu avec un rayon de l’anneauextérieur (101) et un bras (143) est parallèle à un telrayon.

2. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 1,dans lequel le ventilateur (2) est fixé à un moteurélectrique d’entraînement (110) pour entraîner leventilateur (2) et l’agencement de montage supportele moteur d’entraînement (110).

3. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 1,dans lequel au moins un bras (141, 142, 143) a, àson extrémité de structure de support, un doigt defixation (107, 108, 109) s’étendant en fonctionne-ment parallèlement au plan du ventilateur (2) pourune coopération coulissante avec un manchon defixation de ladite structure.

4. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 1,dans lequel le ventilateur (2) comprend plusieurs pa-les (6) et un élément de moyeu en forme de bol (400)ayant une partie de paroi avant (181) s’étendant jus-qu’à une partie de paroi latérale périphérique (183)et plusieurs éléments d’ailettes internes (190)s’étendant dans le sens radial pour produire une cir-culation d’air dans ledit élément de moyeu (400),dans lequel chaque élément d’ailette (190) a unepremière partie (191) s’étendant vers l’avant le longde la partie de paroi latérale et une deuxième partie(192) s’étendant le long de la paroi avant (181).

5. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 4,dans lequel la première partie (191) de chaque ailet-te (190) s’étend substantiellement à partir de l’extré-

mité la plus en arrière dans le sens axial de la partiede paroi latérale (183) en avant vers la partie de paroiavant (181).

6. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 5,dans lequel la première partie (191) de chaque élé-ment d’ailette (190) a un bord intérieur rectiligne dé-crivant un premier angle (J) par rapport à un planperpendiculaire à l’axe du ventilateur et la deuxièmepartie (192) a un bord intérieur rectiligne décrivantun deuxième angle (G) par rapport audit plan.

7. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 4,dans lequel le ventilateur (2) est fixé à un moteurélectrique (110) destiné à entraîner le ventilateur (2),une partie du moteur (110) étant disposée dans l’élé-ment de moyeu (400) de telle sorte qu’en fonction-nement le moteur (110) est refroidi par la circulationd’air produite par les éléments d’ailettes (190).

8. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 7,dans lequel chaque élément d’ailette (190) est incur-vé par rapport à un rayon de moyeu respectif, la cour-bure étant telle que la pointe de chaque élémentd’ailette (190) est décalée par rapport à un rayon auniveau du pied de l’ailette (190), le décalage étantdans ladite première direction.

9. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 1,dans lequel le ventilateur (2) a une pluralité de pales(6) chacune étant fixée au niveau de sa pointe (16)à un cercle de support de pale (8) ayant une partieen forme de cloche s’étendant dans le sens radial(9a) et la structure qui définit un passage circulairecomprend un anneau (101) s’étendant dans le sensaxial vers la partie en forme de cloche (9a) du ven-tilateur (2) caractérisé en ce que ledit anneau dé-finit, avec ladite partie en forme de cloche (9a), unepremière région annulaire s’étendant dans le sensaxial par rapport au ventilateur (2).

10. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 9,dans lequel la partie en forme de cloche (9a) a unecirconférence définissant, avec ledit passage circu-laire, une deuxième région annulaire s’étendantdans le sens radial par rapport au ventilateur (2).

11. Agencement de montage selon la revendication 10,dans lequel le cercle de support de pale (8) a unepartie cylindrique (9) s’étendant dans le sens axialpar rapport au ventilateur (2), et le passage circulairedéfinit avec ladite partie circulaire (9) une troisièmerégion annulaire s’étendant dans le sens radial parrapport au ventilateur (2).

12. Agencement de montage selon l’une quelconquedes revendications 9 à 11, dans lequel ledit anneau(101) est un élément d’anneau fixé à ladite structure.

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13. Agencement de montage selon l’une quelconquedes revendications 9 à 11, dans lequel ledit anneau(101) est formé intégralement avec ladite structure.

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REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader’s convenience only. It does not form part of the Europeanpatent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot beexcluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.

Patent documents cited in the description

• DE 4222264 A [0006] • EP 521285 A [0007]