Patent ID: 8702403

Claim:
A fan comprising: a housing having a compartment formed inside, with the housing including at least one lateral air inlet and at least one lateral air outlet both penetrating through inner and outer surfaces of the housing and communicating with the compartment; and a motor mounted inside the compartment of the housing and having a stator and an impeller, with the impeller rotatably coupled about an axis to the stator and further containing a hub and a plurality of blades mounted to a top of the hub, with each blade having a first end and a second end in a radial direction of the axis of the impeller opposite to each other, with the first end of each blade facing outward, and with the second ends of the plurality of blades defining an airflow-area, wherein the housing further includes a cover portion and a lateral wall portion, with the lateral wall portion and the cover portion defining the compartment, with the lateral wall portion having the at least one lateral air inlet and the at least one lateral air outlet penetrating through the lateral wall portion and communicating with the compartment, with the cover portion facing the top of the hub, with each blade axially extending toward the cover portion and extending over the top of the hub, wherein the lateral air inlet is arranged between the cover portion and the top of the hub of the impeller, and wherein a height of the lateral air inlet parallel to the axis is equal to or smaller than a distance between the top of the hub and the cover portion parallel to the axis, with the at least one lateral air inlet and the at least one lateral air outlet in the lateral wall extending to the cover portion, with the top and the cover portion delimiting a lateral flow path parallel to the cover portion in the compartment from the at least one lateral air inlet through the at least one lateral air outlet, with the at least one lateral air inlet and the at least one lateral air outlet aligned in a plane perpendicular to the axis, with each blade being contained in the lateral flow path, and with the motor mounted outside of the lateral flow path.