Patent Publication Number: US-9429163-B2

Title: Series fan assembling structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a series fan assembling structure, and more particularly to a series fan assembling structure, which can greatly reduce the vibration of the series fan. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Along with the continuous advance of sciences and technologies, the reliance of peoples on various electronic apparatuses has more and more increased. In operation, the internal components of the electronic products (such as computers and laptops) will generate high heat. The heat must be dissipated to outer side of the electronic products in time. Otherwise, the problem of overheating will take place. Therefore, most of the electronic products are provided with fans disposed therein for keeping the electronic products working at an operation temperature within a range. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1A and 1B . The fan frames  10  of the current series fan  1  have the same size. The fan frames  10  are assembled with a fan impeller  11 , a motor (not shown), etc. to form the fan. In operation, according to the design principle of the motor torque operation, the fan frame  11  will inevitably vibrate. Especially, with respect to a series fan, the fan frames  10  are serially connected simply by means of the latch structures  12  between the fan frames  10  along the central shaft of the fan. Therefore, the vibration state of the fan cannot be changed. As a result, when the fan impellers  11  inside the fan frames  10  operate and rotate at the same time, under the inter-affection of the vibration frequency of the fan impellers  11 , the two fan frames  10  will severely resonate under resonation effect. The resonation will be directly transmitted outward form the fan frames  10 . The hard disc (such as the hard disc in a server) of the mainframe system of an electronic product is quite sensitive to vibration. However, the conventional one-piece fan frame  10  can hardly reduce the vibration. In some more serious cases, the vibration of the motor and the fan impeller  11  will even interfere with the normal work of other electronic components. This will lead to deterioration of the performance of the system. Moreover, the resonation is always accompanied by loud noise. 
     According to the above, the conventional device has the following shortcomings: 
     1. The vibration of the fan can be hardly effectively reduced. 
     2. The vibration of the fan will make loud noise. 
     3. The reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is lowered. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a series fan assembling structure, which can greatly reduce the vibration of the series fan. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above series fan assembling structure, which can lower the noise caused by the vibration of the series fan. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the series fan assembling structure of the present invention includes a connection assembly, a first fan and a second fan. The connection assembly has a first connection member, a second connection member and a third connection member. The first connection member has a first end face and a second end face opposite to the first end face. The second connection member is disposed at an upper end of the first connection member to outward horizontally extend from the first end face. The third connection member is disposed at a lower end of the first connection member to outward horizontally extend from the second end face. The second connection member and the third connection member horizontally extend in reverse directions. A passage is formed at centers of the first and second end faces. 
     The first fan is mated with the first end face of the first connection member. The first fan has a first fan frame and a first flow passage passing through the first fan frame. The first fan frame is connected with the second connection member in a horizontal position. The first flow passage communicates with the passage. 
     The second fan is mated with the second end face of the first connection member. The second fan has a second fan frame and a second flow passage passing through the second fan frame. The second fan frame is connected with the third connection member in a horizontal position. The second flow passage communicates with the passage. 
     The first fan is mated with the first end face and connected with the second connection member and the second fan is mated with the second end face and connected with the third connection member. Accordingly, the connection assembly is securely assembled with the first and second fans to greatly reduce the vibration of the fan in operation and lower the noise caused by the vibration. In addition, the reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is enhanced. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1A  is a perspective exploded view of a conventional series fan assembling structure; 
         FIG. 1B  is a perspective assembled view of the conventional series fan assembling structure; 
         FIG. 2A  is a perspective exploded view of a first embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2B  is a perspective assembled view of the first embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3A  is a perspective exploded view of a second embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3B  is a perspective assembled view of the second embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is a perspective exploded view of a third embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4B  is a perspective assembled view of the third embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective exploded view of a fourth embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective exploded view of a fifth embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 2A and 2B .  FIG. 2A  is a perspective exploded view of a first embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention.  FIG. 2B  is a perspective assembled view of the first embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention. According to the first embodiment, the series fan assembling structure of the present invention includes a connection assembly  2 , a first fan  3  and a second fan  4 . The connection assembly  2  has a first connection member  20 . The first connection member  20  has a first end face  201  and a second end face  202  opposite to the first end face  201 . A second connection member  21  is disposed at an upper end  204  of the first connection member  20  to outward horizontally extend from the first end face  201 . A third connection member  22  is disposed at a lower end  205  of the first connection member  20  to outward horizontally extend from the second end face  202 . The second connection member  21  and the third connection member  22  horizontally extend in reverse directions. A passage  203  is formed at the centers of the first and second end faces  201 ,  202 . 
     The second and third connection members  21 ,  22  are formed with multiple perforations  23 . The first and second fans  3 ,  4  are formed with multiple through holes  5  corresponding to the perforations  23 . Multiple fastening members  6  are passed through the perforations  23  and the through holes  5 . In this embodiment, the first and second fans  3 ,  4  are assembled with the second and third connection members  21 ,  22  by means of locking. In practice, the first and second fans  3 ,  4  can be assembled with the second and third connection members  21 ,  22  by any other measure that can securely connect the first and second fans  3 ,  4  with the second and third connection members  21 ,  22 , for example, by means of engagement, insertion, adhesion, latching or slide rail. This is not limited. 
     The first fan  3  is mated with the first end face  201  of the first connection member  20 . The first fan  3  has a first fan frame  30  and a first flow passage  31  passing through the first fan frame  30 . The first fan frame  30  is connected with the second connection member  21  in a horizontal position. The first flow passage  31  communicates with the passage  203 . 
     The second fan  4  is mated with the second end face  202  of the first connection member  20 . The second fan  4  has a second fan frame  40  and a second flow passage  41  passing through the second fan frame  40 . The second fan frame  40  is connected with the third connection member  22  in a horizontal position. The second flow passage  41  communicates with the passage  203 . 
     According to the assembling structure of the present invention, the first fan frame  30  of the first fan  3  is connected with the second connection member  21  in a horizontal position and mated with the first end face  201 . The second fan frame  40  of the second fan  4  is connected with the third connection member  22  in a horizontal position and mated with the second end face  202 . Accordingly, the connection assembly  2  is securely assembled with the first and second fans  3 ,  4 . In this case, when the series fan operates, the vibration frequencies of the fans are unified or damped by each other to greatly reduce the vibration and noise. Therefore, the present invention solves the problem of the conventional series fan that the first and second fans are simply directly assembled with each other and the vibration frequency cannot be changed or damped. In addition, the reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is enhanced. 
     Please now refer to  FIGS. 3A and 3B .  FIG. 3A  is a perspective exploded view of a second embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention.  FIG. 3B  is a perspective assembled view of the second embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention. The second embodiment is partially identical to the first embodiment in component and relationship between the components and thus will not be repeatedly described hereinafter. The second embodiment is mainly different from the first embodiment in that the first and second end faces  201 ,  202  of the first connection member  20  have multiple assembling sections  206 . The four corners of the fan frames of the first and second fans  3 ,  4  are formed with multiple connection sections  7  corresponding to the assembling sections  206  for assembling with the assembling sections  206 . In this embodiment, the first and second fans  3 ,  4  are assembled with the first and second end faces  201 ,  202  by means of engagement. In practice, the first and second fans  3 ,  4  can be assembled with the first and second end faces  201 ,  202  by any other measure that can securely connect the first and second fans  3 ,  4  with the first and second end faces  201 ,  202 , for example, by means of locking, insertion, adhesion, latching or slide rail. This is not limited. 
     In this embodiment, the assembling sections  206  are, but not limited to, posts for illustration purposes only. In practice, the assembling sections  206  can be any other means that can securely connect the first and second fans  3 ,  4  with the first connection member  20 , for example, holes, sockets or mortises. 
     In this embodiment, the connection sections  7  are, but not limited to, holes for illustration purposes only. In practice, the connection sections  7  can be any other means that can securely connect the first and second fans  3 ,  4  with the first connection member  20 , for example, sockets, mortises or posts. 
     According to the assembling structure of the present invention, the assembling sections  206  of the first and second end faces  201 ,  202  of the first connection member  20  are correspondingly connected with the connection sections  7  of the first and second fans  3 ,  4  to not only locate the first and second fans  3 ,  4 , but also more tightly connect the connection assembly  2  with the first and second fans  3 ,  4 . In this case, when the series fan operates, the vibration frequencies of the fans are unified to greatly reduce the vibration and noise. In addition, the reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is enhanced. 
     Please now refer to  FIGS. 4A, 4B and 5 .  FIG. 4A  is a perspective exploded view of a third embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention.  FIG. 4B  is a perspective assembled view of the third embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention.  FIG. 5  is a perspective exploded view of a fourth embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention. The third and fourth embodiments are partially identical to the first embodiment in component and relationship between the components and thus will not be repeatedly described hereinafter. The third and fourth embodiments are mainly different from the first embodiment in that at least one rail  8  is disposed on the second connection member  21  or the third connection member  22  in any position instead of the perforations  23  (as shown in  FIG. 3A ). The first and second end faces  201 ,  202  of the first connection member  20  have multiple assembling sections  206 . The first and second fans  3 ,  4  have multiple connection sections  7  for correspondingly assembling with the assembling sections  206 . In this embodiment, the rail  8  and the assembling sections  206  and the connection sections  7  together form a slide rail mechanism for tightly connecting the first and second fans  3 ,  4  with the connection assembly  2 . The rail  8  can be disposed on the second connection member  21  or the third connection member  22  in an axial direction (as shown in  FIG. 4A ) or a non-axial direction (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). In both cases, when the series fan operates, the vibration frequencies of the fans are unified to greatly reduce the vibration and noise. In addition, the reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is enhanced. 
     Please now refer to  FIG. 6 , which is a perspective exploded view of a fifth embodiment of the series fan assembling structure of the present invention. The fifth embodiment is partially identical to the first embodiment in component and relationship between the components and thus will not be repeatedly described hereinafter. The fifth embodiment is mainly different from the first embodiment in that the first and second end faces  201 ,  202  of the first connection member  20  have assembling sections  206  and the first and second fans  3 ,  4  are formed with connection sections  7  correspondingly tightly connected with the assembling sections  206 . That is, the first and second fans  3 ,  4  are correspondingly assembled with the first connection member  20  from two opposite side of the connection assembly  2  to form the series fan assembling structure. 
     In conclusion, in comparison with the conventional series fan, the present invention has the following advantages: 
     1. The vibration of the fan is greatly reduced and damped. 
     2. The noise caused by the vibration of the fan is lowered. 
     3. The reading efficiency of the hard disc of the system is enhanced. 
     The present invention has been described with the above embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the above embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.