Fan and housing device thereof

A fan includes a frame member, a fan body, a surrounding plate and a housing unit. The frame member surrounds an axis and defines an accommodating space in which the fan body is disposed. The fan body is rotatable about the axis. The surrounding plate surrounds the frame member and is formed with at least one plate hole extending in a transverse direction transverse to an axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit surrounds the surrounding plate and has a plurality of housing holes extending in the axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit and the surrounding plate cooperatively define a surrounding space therebetween that is surrounded by the housing holes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Invention Patent Application No. 110149142, filed on Dec. 28, 2021.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a fan, and more particularly to a fan that has a noise-reducing housing device.

BACKGROUND

During the operation of a conventional fan, the conventional fan urges air to flow therethrough. When the air flows through the conventional fan, components of the conventional fan, such as fan blades, vibrate and generate noise with different frequencies. When one of the frequencies is a positive integer multiple of another one of the frequencies that is lower than it, resonance occurs, which makes the noise louder.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a fan that can alleviate the drawback of the prior art.

According to the disclosure, the fan includes a rotating unit and a housing device. The rotating unit includes a frame member and a fan body. The frame member surrounds an axis and defines an accommodating space. The fan body is disposed in the accommodating space and is rotatable about the axis. The housing device surrounds the rotating unit and includes a surrounding plate and a housing unit. The surrounding plate surrounds the frame member and is formed with at least one plate hole that extends in a transverse direction transverse to an axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit surrounds the surrounding plate and has a plurality of housing holes that extend in the axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit and the surrounding plate cooperatively define a surrounding space therebetween. The housing holes are disposed in a multi-row arrangement to surround the surrounding space.

Another object of the disclosure is to provide a housing device that can alleviate the drawback of the prior art.

According to the disclosure, the housing device is adapted for a fan, and includes a surrounding plate and a housing unit. The surrounding plate surrounds an axis and is formed with at least one plate hole that extends in a transverse direction transverse to an axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit surrounds the surrounding plate and has a plurality of housing holes that extend in the axial direction of the axis therethrough. The housing unit and the surrounding plate cooperatively define a surrounding space therebetween. The housing holes are disposed in a multi-row arrangement to surround the surrounding space.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIGS.1to3, an embodiment of a fan according to the disclosure includes a rotating unit1and a housing device2that surrounds the rotating unit1. The rotating unit1includes a frame member11and a fan body12. The frame member11surrounds an axis (L) and defines an accommodating space110. The fan body12is disposed in the accommodating space110and is rotatable about the axis (L). When the fan body12rotates about the axis (L), the fan body12urges air to flow therethrough in an axial direction (Z) of the axis (L).

The housing device2includes a surrounding plate21and a housing unit22. The surrounding plate21surrounds the frame member11and is formed with at least one plate hole210that extends in a transverse direction (R) transverse to the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) therethrough. Specifically, the surrounding plate21defines an inner space200in which the rotating unit1is disposed. The surrounding plate21has two opposite ends211in the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) that respectively define two space openings201through which the inner space200communicates with the external environment. When the fan body12of the rotating unit1rotates, the fan body12urges air to flow through one of the space openings201into the inner space200and exit the inner space200through the other one of the space openings201(seeFIG.3). In this embodiment, the surrounding plate21is formed with a plurality of plate holes210that are separated into four groups in which the plate holes210respectively extend in a first transverse direction (R1), a second transverse direction (R2), a third transverse direction (R3), and a fourth transverse direction (R4). Each of the first transverse direction (R1), the second transverse direction (R2), the third transverse direction (R3) and the fourth transverse direction (R4) is transverse to the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L). In one embodiment, the surrounding plate21may be formed with a plurality of plate holes210that respectively extend in a plurality of directions transverse to the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L).

The housing unit22surrounds the surrounding plate21, and has a plurality of housing holes220, a main section224, an interconnecting section223and a casing plate222. The housing holes220extend in the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) through the main section224. The housing unit22and the surrounding plate21cooperatively define a surrounding space212therebetween. In one embodiment, the main section224consists of a plurality of tube members221. The tube members221are disposed in a multi-row arrangement to surround the surrounding space212, abut against each other, and respectively define the housing holes220(i.e., the housing holes220are disposed in the multi-row arrangement to surround the surrounding space212). The casing plate222surrounds the tube members221. The main section224of the housing unit22is spaced apart from the surrounding plate21. The interconnecting section223of the housing unit22interconnects the main section224of the housing unit22and one of the opposite ends211of the surrounding plate21. The main section224of the housing unit22cooperates with the other one of the opposite ends211of the surrounding plate21to define a surrounding opening219through which the surrounding space212communicates with the external environment. In this embodiment, each of the tube members221has a circular cross section. However, in certain embodiments, a cross section of each of the tube members221may be, but not limited to, quadrilateral or of other shapes. In addition, the housing unit22further has a plurality of housing spaces extend in the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) therethrough. Each of the housing spaces is defined among the tube members221. Therefore, holes that extend through the housing unit22in the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) are relatively intensively distributed.

By virtue of the housing unit22of the housing device2having the housing holes220and the housing spaces, when the fan body12of the rotating unit1rotates and urges air to flow from the external environment into the inner space200of the housing device2, part of the air that is not located at the projected area of one of the space openings201of the housing device2in the axial direction (Z) of the axis (L) flows through the housing holes220. Referring toFIG.3again, the dot-dash broken line illustrates an imaginary boundary of the air that has been urged toward the fan from the same reference plane. Because part of the air flows through the housing holes220, the air is prevented from being squeezed into the inner space200, which reduces the likelihood of wind shear and the likelihood that components of the fan will vibrate. Consequently, noise that is generated when the fan is in operation is reduced. Furthermore, by virtue of the housing holes220being disposed in the multi-row arrangement, vibration of the fan caused by the flow of the air and the rotation of the fan body12is restrained, which further reduces the noise. When the air in the inner space200is urged by the fan body12to exit the inner space200, part of the air flows through the plate holes210of the surrounding plate21into the surrounding space212of the housing device2, and bounces off the main section224of the housing unit22and into the inner space200again. By adjusting parameters such as the shape and the volume of the surrounding space212, and the volume of the space surrounded by the surrounding space212, narrowband noise (i.e., noise that lacks a flat spectral density plot) can be reduced, and white noise, which has constant power spectral density, can be generated to obtain impulse responses in order to achieve a relatively better noise-reducing effect for noise with specific frequencies (e.g., harmonic frequencies).

Referring toFIG.4, sound produced during the operation of the fan body12of the rotating unit1alone and sound produced during the operation of the fan (i.e., including the housing unit2) are respectively analyzed, and the results thereof are respectively shown in the upper sound spectrum and the lower sound spectrum. Exemplarily, fundamental frequency of each of the sounds is in a range of 760 to 790 Hz, and harmonic frequency is in a range of 1,520 to 1,580 Hz. The peak decibel values of the fundamental frequency and the harmonic frequency of the fan operating with the housing unit2are relatively low compared with the values for operating the fan body12of the rotating unit1alone. Therefore, it is clear that the fan certainly achieves the effect of noise reduction, especially noise with high frequency.

In summary, by virtue of the housing unit22of the housing device2having the housing holes220and the housing spaces, the likelihood of wind shear and the likelihood that components of the fan will vibrate are reduced. By virtue of the housing holes220being disposed in the multi-row arrangement, vibration of the fan caused by the flow of the air and the rotation of the fan body12is restrained. By adjusting the characteristics of the surrounding space212of the housing device2, noise with specific frequencies can be reduced. Consequently, the purpose of the disclosure is certainly fulfilled.