Patent ID: 7775767

Claim:
A fan assembly comprising: a shaft supported in the assembly so as to be rotatable about an axis extending in an axial direction of the assembly; a cup-shaped portion integral with the shaft so as to rotate together with the shaft around the axis; a plurality of rotor vanes, supported by the cup-shaped portion, for generating air flow by rotating together with the cup-shaped portion around the axis; a housing accommodating the shaft, the cup-shaped portion, and the rotor vanes therein; a base portion opposed to the cup-shaped portion; a magnet and an armature, arranged in a space defined by the cup-shaped portion and the base portion, for generating a torque that rotates the shaft and the cup-shaped portion in a direction of rotation about the axis; and a plurality of stator vanes arranged in a passage of the air flow about the base portion, each of the stator vanes extending between and connecting the base portion and the housing, each of the stator vanes having an upstream surface and a downstream surface in the direction of rotation, the upstream surface having axially upper and lower edges with the upper edge being disposed closer to the rotor vanes in the axial direction than the lower edge, and the upper edge being located upstream of the lower edge in the direction of rotation, wherein the upstream surface is skewed relative to vertical when vertical is in the axial direction, wherein: the base portion includes a plate-like portion and a wall extending in the axial direction from the plate-like portion, and the wall has two or more side openings extending therethrough in a radial direction perpendicular to the axial direction to allow part of the air flow into a space within and delimited by the cup-shaped portion and the base portion, two of the two or more side openings being located approximately across the plate-like portion of the base portion from each other, wherein a portion of a surface of at least one of the stator vanes is exposed to a side opening among the two or more side openings.