Fan fixing structure

A fan fixing structure for holding a fan and fixing it on a housing is provided. The structure includes a guide piece secured on the housing, a cover plate, a resilient piece and a positioning element. The cover plate is pivoted on the guide piece and pivotedly rotates between an open position and a closed position. When the cover plate is in the open position, it further shifts to an engaged position. Therefore, the fan is moved into the guide piece by the guidance of the guide piece, and then fixed on the housing by pivotedly rotating the cover plate to the closed position and moving it to the engaged position. Meanwhile, the fan is stably located in the engaged position by the proper arrangement of the resilient piece and the positioning element. The object of easily assembling, fixing and disassembling the fan without tools is achieved.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a fan fixing mechanism, and more particularly to a fixing mechanism which fixes a fan to a housing of an electronic device with a clip-snap mechanism.

2. Related Art

It is very common in the art to dispose a fan in an electronic equipment so as to perform heat dissipation for the electronic equipment. And respective manufacturers have respective skills in how to fix the fan to the electronic equipment, for example, a housing, in a proper and convenient way. For example, a fan fixing device and an electronic equipment thereof disclosed in Taiwan Patent Publication No. 200525338 include a substrate and a fastener. The substrate is provided with a fixing portion, and one end of the fastener is connected with the fixing portion to fix the fan on the substrate.

Furthermore, a fan fixing device disclosed in Utility Model No. M285896 published on 11 Jan. 2006 is used to fix the fan in a base of the electronic equipment. The device includes a mounting bracket fixed to the base and a fixing piece for fixing the fan to the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket includes two side plates, and a clipping hole is respectively opened on one end of the two side plates. The fixing piece includes two fixing portions with resilience, and each fixing portion has a clipping block protruded corresponding to the clipping hole of corresponding side plate of the mounting bracket. The two fixing portions are respectively provided with an operating portion. Therefore, this fan fixing device enables a user to assemble and disassemble the fan without the need of a tool, thus enhancing the convenience.

It will be appreciated from the above-mentioned patents that there are various practices in conventional art for fixing a fan, and some of them require for screw and securing tools or adding additional mechanisms to the fan frame, such that much inconvenience in both assembling and disassembling is caused. Accordingly, some manufactures have also proposed a fixing device which achieves the fixing and assembling of a fan without tools, but they still employ the practice of adding a part like clipping blade spring on the fan frame. In this way, when a fan failure occurs, it is still necessary to remove the additional part on the fan, which results in much inconvenience.

In addition, after the fan is fixed, noise is generated due to the vibration accompanying the rotation of rotor. Therefore, the fan fixing device will develop towards how to effectively fix the fan for easy assembling and disassembling with a vibration-absorbing effect after fixing the fan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above, the present invention is directed to providing a fan fixing structure to solve the problems in conventional fan fixing devices such as the need for tools to secure the fan, noise generated during operation after fixing the fan, and adding means to the fan, so as to enable a user to mount, fix and disassemble the fan on the housing of an electronic device without using tools. The fan fixing structure can absorb vibration during operation, reduce the noise, and meanwhile reduce the total number of parts without adding any additional means on the fan, such that it is unnecessary to demount the means from the fan for recovery and use during maintenance.

The fan fixing structure of the present invention is used to hold the fan and fix it on the housing. The structure comprises a guide piece and a cover plate. The cover plate is pivoted on a rotating column of the guide piece by a guide slot, such that the cover plate may pivotedly rotate between an open position and a closed position. When the cover plate is located in the closed position, it shifts to an engaged position. Thus, when the cover plate is located in the open position, the fan can enter the guide piece by the guidance of the guide piece. Moreover, the fan is fixed on the housing by pivotedly rotating the cover plate to the closed position and moving it to the engaged position.

Besides, the fan fixing structure of the present invention further comprises a resilient piece to place the fan within the guide piece. In normal state, the resilient piece pushes the fan towards the cover plate to make the securing state more stable and achieve a vibration-absorbing effect.

Furthermore, the fan fixing structure of the present invention further comprises a positioning element for keeping the cover plate in the engaged position, so as to avoid the cover plate from pivotedly rotating to the open position in operational state.

Accordingly, with the design of the present invention, a user can place the fan into the fan fixing structure through the guide piece, then pivotedly rotate the cover plate to the closed position and move the cover plate to the engaged position, thus fixing the fan on the housing due to the actions of the resilient piece and the positioning element. On the contrary, when disassembling the fan, it only needs to move the cover plate to the closed position and pivotedly rotate it to the open position in sequence, and the resilient piece will automatically eject the fan, thus achieving the object of fixing and disassembling the fan without any tool or adding any means to the fan. Meanwhile, the structure also has the efficacy of absorbing vibration and reducing noise due to the pushing of the resilient piece.

The features and practices with regard to the present invention will now be illustrated as detailed below in the most preferable embodiments in accompanying with the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

First, referring toFIGS. 1 and 2, an exploded stereogram and an assembled stereogram of the present invention are shown respectively. It can be seen from the figures that the fan fixing structure of the present invention includes a cover plate10and a guide piece20. The guide piece20is secured on a housing90and is provided with a securing end22adjacent to the housing90and a guiding end21for guiding the fan91into the guide piece20. The guide piece20is further provided with a rotating column23and a clipping column24at the guiding end21. The guide piece20is disposed at a position different from an air inlet92and an air outlet (the position relative to the air inlet in the figure is not labeled since the opening thereof cannot be seen from the figure) of the fan91, such that the air stream of the fan91is not blocked by the guide piece20.

The cover plate10has a guide slot11and a clipping groove12respectively corresponding to the rotating column23and the clipping column24. The cover plate10is pivoted on the rotating column23by the guide slot11, and may pivotedly rotate between an open position and a closed position (which will be described in detail below). Besides, a resilient piece30is also disposed on the housing90. Therefore, after the fan91is placed onto the bottom (near the securing position) of the guide piece20, it presses against the resilient piece30, such that the resilient piece30has a force which pushes the fan towards the guiding end21.

Next, referring toFIGS. 3A,3B and3C, schematic views of the operations of the cover plate10and the guide piece20of the present invention are shown. It can be seen from the figures that the cover plate10is pivoted on the rotating column23by the guide slot11, and pivotedly rotates between an open position (as shown inFIG. 3A) and a closed position (as shown inFIG. 3B). When the cover plate10is located in the open position, the fan91can enter into the guide piece20by the guidance of the guide piece20. Then, the cover plate10is pivotedly rotated to the closed position as shown inFIG. 3B. At this time, the fan91is pressed down and presses against the resilient piece30, so that the resilient piece30in normal state has a force which pushes the fan91towards the guiding end21. Finally, the cover plate is further moved towards the clipping column24, so that the clipping groove12is engaged with the clipping column24, which is referred to as an engaged position of the cover plate10(as shown inFIG. 3C). As a result, even if the resilient piece30pushes against the fan91, the fan91will not be pushed out of the guide piece20and is maintained in the engaged position.

Furthermore, the clipping slot11is also provided with a positioning element110. The positioning element110is a groove recessed inward from the clipping slot11, and the recessing direction thereof is opposite to the direction of the resilient piece30pushing against the fan91. Thus, when the cover plate10is located in the engaged position, the rotating column23is inserted in the positioning element110, which positions the cover plate10in the engaged position, so that the cover plate10will not slide to the closed position or even pivotedly rotate to the open position. As such, it is ensured that the cover plate10secures the fan91in the guide piece20.

When it is required to remove the fan91, a user simply needs to move the cover plate10from the engaged position to the closed position (i.e., fromFIG. 3CtoFIG. 3B) and pivotedly rotate it to the open position (i.e.,FIG. 3A). In this way, the fan91is disassembled easily without the need of any tool. It is understood that when moving the cover plate10from the engaged position to the closed position, it is necessary to overcome the positioning element110first before moving. In this way, a security measure is added.

Moreover, the aforementioned rotating column23and the clipping column24are corresponding to the guide slot11and the clipping groove12. There may be a plurality of them in amount and they are disposed symmetrically, so that the forces pressing against the fan91are uniform. In addition, if the rotating column23and clipping column24are disposed at the cover plate10, and the guide slot11and the clipping groove12are disposed at the guide piece20, the same effect as the present invention is also achieved.

Also, the aforementioned positioning element110may also be disposed at the clipping groove12and the clipping column24, and designed as the same recessed structure, thus achieving the same effect as the aforementioned positioning element110. Or, any buckling structure in the engaged position of the cover plate10may achieve the same efficacy as the present invention. The applications of such technical means should belong to the equivalent applications of the present invention.