Patent Publication Number: US-8985939-B2

Title: Serial fan frame assembly structure

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a serial fan frame assembly structure, and more particularly to a serial fan frame assembly structure having first and second fan frames that can be quickly assembled together in a manner capable of preventing vibration during the operation of a serial fan. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     People&#39;s reliance on various electronic devices increases with the progress in the technological field. These electronic devices, such as computers and notebook computers, have internal elements that produce a large amount of heat during the operation of the electronic devices. The produced heat must be timely removed from the electronic devices to avoid the problem of overheated electronic devices. A cooling fan is usually provided in an electronic device for producing air flows and accordingly maintaining the electronic device at a specific operating temperature. However, there are times one single cooling fan is not sufficient to provide the required air flows. Therefore, two or more fans are frequently serially assembled together to provide sufficient air flows. 
     Taiwan Patent Publication No. 481434 discloses a Cooling Device for Central Processing Unit, which includes radiating fins and at least two fans and is characterized in that the at least two fans are serially connected end to end but spaced from each other by a plurality of connecting posts therebetween. The serial fan formed from two serially connected fans provides enhanced air flows and air pressure to more efficiently remove the high amount of heat produced by the central processing unit and absorbed by the radiating fins, and can therefore achieve an upgraded and quick cooling effect. 
     The cooling device for central processing unit disclosed in Taiwan Patent Publication No. 481434 also includes through holes provided at four corners of the fan frames of the two fans, so that screws can be threaded into the through holes to serially connect the two fans to one another and lock them to the radiating fins. 
     The problem in implementing the serial connection of two fans simply with screws lies in that the force used to tighten the screws is applied at points on one side of one fan instead of being applied on the contact surface of the two fans, which results in insufficient serial connection strength as well as noise produced during the operation of the serial fan. Meanwhile, air flows tend to leak via the space left between the two serially connected fans to adversely reduce the volume of air flows that can be acted on the radiating fins and accordingly reduce the heat dissipation performance of the serial fan. 
     According to another way of assembling a serial fan, one of the two fans to be serially connected together is provided at four corners with a plurality of through holes while the other fan is provided with at least one projection at positions corresponding to the through holes. By inserting the projections into the through holes, the two fans can be serially connected together and held in place. While this way enables two fans to fixedly connect to one another, the connection tightness between the two fans is poor to cause vibration and noise during the operation of the serial fan. 
     In brief, the prior art serial fans have the following shortcomings: (1) having poor connection tightness between the two serially connected fans; (2) producing vibration and noise during operation; and (3) using an inconvenient assembling manner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings in the prior art serial fans by providing a serial fan frame assembly structure that enables quick alignment and assembling of fan frames of a serial fan. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the serial fan frame assembly structure according to the present invention includes a first fan frame and a second fan frame. 
     The first fan frame has a first open end and an opposite second open end, as well as a first flow path. The first and second open ends communicate with the first flow path. The second open end is provided at two pairs of corners with a first and a second retainer, as well as a first and a second receiving slot. 
     The second fan frame has a third open end and an opposite fourth open end, as well as a second flow path. The third and fourth open ends communicate with the second flow path. The fourth open end is provided at two pairs of corners with a first and a second receiving recess, as well as a first and a second post. The first and second posts are sidewardly extended away from the fourth open end. The first and second retainer are configured for correspondingly engaging with the first and second recesses, while the first and second posts are configured for correspondingly engaging with the first and second receiving slots. 
     With the serial fan frame assembly structure of the present invention, a serial fan can be assembled without the need of using fastening elements to lock the fan frames to one another, and the fan frames can be quickly aligned with and assembled to one another with an enhanced connection tightness between them to avoid vibration and noise during the operation of the serial fan. 
    
    
     
       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. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an assembled view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an assembled perspective view of a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a first fan frame for a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a second fan frame for the serial fan frame assembly structure according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of being easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2  that are exploded and assembled perspective views, respectively, of a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the serial fan frame assembly structure in the first embodiment includes a first fan frame  1  and a second fan frame  2 . 
     The first fan frame  1  has a first open end  11  and an opposite second open end  12 , as well as a first flow path  13 . The first and second open ends  11 ,  12  communicate with the first flow path  13 . The second open end  12  is provided at two pairs of corners with a first receiving slot  121  and a second receiving slot  122 , as well as a first retainer  123  and a second retainer  124 . 
     The second fan frame  2  has a third open end  21  and an opposite fourth open end  22 , as well as a second flow path  23 . The third and fourth open ends  21 ,  22  communicate with the second flow path  23 . The fourth open end  22  is provided at two pairs of corners with a first receiving recess  221  and a second receiving recess  222 , as well as a first post  223  and a second post  224 . The first and second posts  223 ,  224  are sidewardly extended away from the fourth open end  22 . The first and second retainers  123 ,  124  are configured for correspondingly engaging with the first and second recesses  221 ,  222 , while the first and second posts  223 ,  224  are configured for correspondingly engaging with the first and second receiving slots  121 ,  122 . 
     The first receiving recess  221  has a first open side  2211  and a first closed side  2212 ; and the second receiving recess  222  has a second open side  2221  and a second closed side  2222 . The first retainer  123  has a first retaining end  1231  and the second retainer  124  has a second retaining end  1241 . And, the first and second retaining ends  1231 ,  1241  are fitted in the first and second open sides  2211 ,  2221 . 
     The first post  223  has a first expanded head portion  2231  and a first slit portion  2232  axially inward extended from the first expanded head portion  2231  by a predetermined length. Similarly, the second post  224  has a second expanded head portion  2241  and a second slit portion  2242  axially inward extended from the second expanded head portion  2241 . 
     The second open end  12  has a first bearing cup seat  14  and a plurality of connection ribs  15  connected at two opposite ends to between the second open end  12  and the first bearing cup seat  14 . The fourth open end  22  has a second bearing cup seat  24  and a plurality of connection ribs  25  connected at two opposite ends to between the fourth open end  22  and the second bearing cup seat  24 . The first bearing cup seat  14  and the second bearing cup seat  24  are aligned with and connected to each other face to face, so that the first and the second flow path  13 ,  23  are communicable with each other. 
     To assemble the first fan frame  1  to the second fan frame  2 , the first retainer  123  and the second retainer  124  of the first fan frame  1  are firstly respectively inserted into the first receiving recess  221  and the second receiving recess  222  of the second fan frame  2 ; and then the first post  223  and the second post  224 , which are respectively located opposite to the first receiving recess  221  and the second receiving recess  222 , are brought to engage with the first receiving slot  121  and the second receiving slot  122 , respectively. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3  that is an assembled perspective view of a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the serial fan frame assembly structure in the second embodiment is generally structurally similar to that in the first embodiment, except for at least one hole  111  provided at each of four corners of the first open end  11  and at least one hole  211  provided at each of four corners of the third open end  21 . 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  are perspective views of first fan frame  1  and second fan frame  2 , respectively, for a serial fan frame assembly structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the serial fan frame assembly structure in the third embodiment is generally structurally similar to that in the first embodiment, except for a first packing member  2213  provided on a predetermined position adjacent to the first receiving recess  221  and a second packing member  2223  provided on a predetermined position adjacent to the second receiving recess  222 . With the first and second packing members  2213 ,  2223 , further increased connection tightness between the first and the second fan frame  1 ,  2  can be obtained when they are assembled to each other in the aforesaid manner 
     The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described 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.