Fan motor case

Abstract

 The present disclosure relates to a fan motor case (1) capable of blocking vibration and noise generated from the fan motor (10). The fan motor case (1) according to the present disclosure includes a fan motor (10); a case part (20, 30) wholly surrounding the fan motor (10) and formed with an air inflow port (23) at an upper surface (21 a) thereof and an air discharging port (32) for discharging air at a side surface thereof; and an exhaust duct (25, 35) connected to the air discharging port (32) of the case part (20, 30) and formed along the side surface ofthe case part (20, 30) so that its width (W) is widened in the direction in which the air is discharged.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a fan motor, and more particularly, to a fan motor case capable of blocking vibration and noise generated from the fan motor.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Generally, a fan motor is for sucking air by rotating a plurality of blades and includes a blade part having the plurality of the blades and a motor for rotating the blade part.

[0003] The fan motor is used for various purposes, particularly is widely used in a vacuum cleaner for cleaning by sucking dust containing air. In other words, the fan motor is used as a suction force generator for generating suction force in the vacuum cleaner. The fan motor used in the vacuum cleaner includes an impeller in which a plurality of blades is radially arranged and a motor for rotating the impeller. The impeller therefore rotates to suck air with rotation of the motor and the sucked air is discharged to an outside through the motor.

[0004] However, large noise is generated when the fan motor operates to suck and discharge air. As the large noise is generated from the fan motor, a vacuum cleaner using the fan motor as a suction force generator also generates large noise. The large noise generated when cleaning makes users to be inconvenient as the vacuum cleaner is generally used indoors. It is therefore preferable that the vacuum cleaner generates small noise when it is operated. For this end, it is effective to reduce the noise generated when the fan motor operates.

[0005] Therefore, in order to reduce noise generated when the fan motor is operated, there is a continuous requirement for a method or an apparatus capable of reducing effectively noise which is generated by air discharged from the fan motor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The present disclosure has been developed in order to overcome the above drawbacks and other problems associated with the conventional arrangement. An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a fan motor case capable of minimizing noise generated by discharged air.
The above aspect and/or other feature of the present disclosure can substantially be achieved by providing a fan motor case, which includes a fan motor; a case part wholly surrounding the fan motor and formed with an air inflow port at an upper surface thereof and an air discharging port for discharging air at a side surface thereof; and an exhaust duct connected to the air discharging port of the case part and formed along the side surface of the case part so that its width is widened in the direction that the air is discharged.

[0007] The exhaust duct may be inclined in the air discharging direction. Particularly, it is preferable that the exhaust duct is inclined in an upward direction.

[0008] In addition, it is preferable that an outlet of the exhaust duct is formed in the same direction as the air inflow port.

[0009] Further, the above aspect and/or other feature of the present disclosure can also substantially be achieved by providing a fan motor case, which includes a fan motor; a lower motor case surrounding a lower portion of the fan motor and having a lower case part formed with an air discharging port at a side surface thereof and a lower exhaust duct formed from the air discharging port along the side surface of the lower case part with a width being widened in a direction that the air is discharged; and an upper motor case surrounding an upper portion of the fan motor, formed to correspond to the lower motor case, and including an upper exhaust duct and an upper case part.

[0010] It is preferable that the lower exhaust duct and the upper exhaust duct are upwardly inclined in the air discharging direction.

[0011] In addition, it is preferable that an outlet of the upper exhaust duct is formed in the same direction as the air inflow port.

[0012] In addition, it is preferable that an upper buffing member is installed between the upper case part and the fan motor and a lower buffing member is installed between the lower case part and the fan motor.

[0013] Other objects, advantages and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses preferred embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] These and/or other aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

[0015] Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fan motor case according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0016] Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the fan motor case of Fig. 1;

[0017] Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of the fan motor case of Fig. 1;

[0018] Figs. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the fan motor case of Fig. 1, in which an upper motor case is removed; and

[0019] Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an air flow in the fan motor case according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0021] Hereinafter, certain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying Fig. 1 to Fig. 3.

[0022] The matters defined in the description, such as a detailed construction and elements thereof, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the disclosure. Thus, it is apparent that the present disclosure may be carried out without those defined matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are omitted to provide a clear and concise description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fan motor case according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the fan motor case of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of the fan motor case of Fig. 1.

[0024] Referring to Fig. 1 to Fig. 3, a fan motor case 1 according to the present disclosure includes a fan motor 10, a case part 3 and an exhaust duct 5.

[0025] The fan motor 10 is for generating suction force for sucking air and includes an impeller 11 provided with a plurality of blades (not shown) which are radially arranged and a motor 15 for rotating the impeller 11. The motor 15 and the impeller 11 are substantially identical to a motor and an impeller of a fan motor according to the prior art, and thus detailed structure and operation thereof will not be described herein.

[0026] An air inlet 12 is formed at an upper surface of the impeller 11 of the fan motor 10 and a plurality of air outlets 16 are formed at a peripheral surface of a lower portion of the motor 15. Thus, with rotation of the impeller 11, air flows into the air inlet 12 of the fan motor 10 and is discharged out of the plurality of the air outlets 16 of the lower portion of the motor 15.

[0027] The case part 3 wholly surrounds the fan motor 10 and makes the air discharged in multi-flow from the plurality of the air outlets 16 of the fan motor 10 to form a single air flow. At a side surface of the case part 3, an air discharging port 32 for discharging air therefrom is formed. At an upper surface of the case part 3, an air inflow port 23 corresponding to the air inlet 12 of the fan motor 10 is formed. Thus, in a case that the fan motor 10 is installed inside the case part 3, the air is sucked into the air inlet 12 of the fan motor 10 through the air inflow port 23. The air flowing out from the air outlets 16 is discharged through the air discharging port 32.

[0028] The exhaust duct 5 communicates with to the air discharging port 32 of the case part 3. The exhaust duct 5 is formed with a predetermined length along the side surface of the case part 3 and a width of the exhaust duct 5 is gradually widened in a direction in which air is discharged. A height of the exhaust duct 5 is constant across the entire length thereof A sectional area of the inlet of the exhaust duct 5 is therefore smaller than a sectional area of the outlet of the exhaust duct 5.

[0029] In addition, the exhaust duct 5 may be installed with inclination along a moving direction of the air discharged from the air discharging port 32. At this time, it is preferable that the exhaust duct 5 is upwardly inclined in the air moving direction. The outlet of the exhaust duct 5 may be formed so that the air passed through the exhaust duct 5 is discharged in one direction among an upper direction, a lower direction and a side direction of the case part 3 according to a structure of the apparatus in which the fan motor case 1 is installed. In the present embodiment, the outlet 26 of the exhaust duct 5 is formed in a same direction as the air inflow port 23 of the case part 3. Thus, the air discharged from the outlet 26 of the exhaust duct 5 is discharged in a direction parallel to the air flowed into the air inflow port 23. The exhaust duct 5 may be formed as a separate part from the case part 3 or formed integrally with the case part 3.

[0030] The fan motor case 1 shown in Fig. 2 is a case in which the case part 3 and the exhaust duct 5 are formed integrally and which includes a lower motor case 30 and an upper motor case 20.

[0031] The lower motor case 30 includes a lower case part 31 which is apart by a predetermined distance from the fan motor 10 and formed to surround the lower portion of the fan motor 10 and a lower exhaust duct 35 formed along a side surface of the lower case part 31. The air discharging port 32 is formed at the side surface of the lower case part 31 and the lower exhaust duct 35 communicates through the air discharging port 32 with a space 37 which is formed between the lower case part 31 and the fan motor 10. Thus, multi-flow of the air discharged from the plurality of the air outlets 16 of the fan motor 10 joins to form a single air flow in a space 37 between the fan motor 10 and the lower case part 31 and to move through the air discharging port 32 to the lower exhaust duct 35.

[0032] A portion 31b of the side surface of the lower case part 31 forms a side surface of the lower exhaust duct 35. At this time, it is preferable that width W of the lower exhaust duct 35 is gradually widened in the direction in which the air is discharged and the lower exhaust duct 35 is formed with an upward inclination. Then, the lower exhaust duct 35 forming a flow passage in which the air discharged from the lower case part 31 flows is formed in a helical shape of which width W is widened in the direction in which the air is discharged as shown in Fig. 2.

[0033] A buffing member recess 33, in which a lower buffing member 42 is installed, is formed at a center of the lower surface 31a of the lower motor case 30 and two protrusions 34 are formed at vicinities of the buffing member recess 33 so as to fix the lower buffing member 42. The lower buffing member 42 is for preventing vibration generated from the fan motor 10 from being transferred to the lower motor case 30 and formed in a circular ring shape. The lower buffing member 42 is made of a material capable of absorbing vibration such as rubber. In addition, two fitting parts 43 which are inserted onto the two protrusions 34 formed at the lower motor case 30 are formed at an outer periphery of the lower buffing member 42. Thus, the lower buffing member 42 is stably fixed to the lower motor case 30 as the two fitting parts 43 of the lower buffing member 42 are inserted onto the two protrusions 34 of the lower motor case 30 and thus the lower buffing member 42 is seated in the buffing member recess 33.

[0034] In order to couple the lower motor case 30 to the upper lower case 20, four lower coupling protrusions 39 are formed at an outer peripheral surface of the lower motor case 30. A lower coupling hole 39a is provided at each of the four lower coupling protrusions 39. It is preferable that the lower coupling hole 39a is formed as a screw hole so as to fasten the upper motor case 20 to the lower motor case 30 with a fastening element such as a screw.

[0035] The upper motor case 20 surrounds an upper portion of the fan motor 10 and is formed in a shape corresponding to the lower motor case 30. In other word, the upper motor case 20 consists of an upper case part 21 formed in a shape corresponding to the lower case part 31 of the lower motor case 30 and an upper exhaust duct 25 formed in a shape corresponding to the lower exhaust duct 35. The upper exhaust duct 25 has therefore a width which is gradually widened in the direction in which the air is discharged and is formed with an upper inclination.

[0036] By assembling the upper motor case 20 and the lower motor case 30, the upper case part 21 and the lower case part 31 form the single case part 3 wholly surrounding the fan motor 10 and the upper exhaust duct 25 and the lower exhaust duct 35 form the single exhaust duct 5 in which the air discharged from the case part 3 flows.

[0037] The air inflow port 23 is formed at an upper surface 21a of the upper case part 21 and the air inflow port 23 is formed in a shape capable of guiding the inflow air to smoothly enter the air inlet 12 of the fan motor 10. Around the air inflow port 23 of the upper case part 21, a buffing member seat (not shown) is provided so as to install an upper buffing member 41. The upper buffing member 41 is for preventing vibration generated from the fan motor 10 from being transferred to the upper motor case 20 and is formed in a circular ring shape. The upper buffing member 41 is made of a material capable of absorbing vibration such as rubber.

[0038] In addition, the outlet 26 of the upper exhaust duct 25 is formed at an outer periphery of the upper surface 21 a of the upper case part 21. At this time, it is preferable that the outlet 26 of the upper exhaust duct 25 is formed in perpendicular to the upper surface 21a of the upper case part 21. In other words, it is preferable that a central axis 26a of the outlet 26 of the upper exhaust duct 25 is formed in parallel to a central axis 23 a of the air inflow port 23.

[0039] Four upper coupling protrusions 29 are formed at positions corresponding to the lower coupling protrusions 39 in order to couple the upper motor case 20 to the lower motor case 30. An upper coupling hole 29a is provided at each of the four upper coupling protrusions 29. It is preferable that the upper coupling hole 29a is formed as a through hole so as to allow a fastening screw to penetrate when fastening the upper motor case 20 to the lower motor case 30 with a fastening element such as the screw.

[0040] In the above embodiment, a case is described in which the case part 3 and the exhaust duct 5 forming the fan motor case 1 are cut at approximately middle of their height to form the upper motor case 20 and the lower motor case 30, but this is for convenient assembly and the present disclosure is not limited in the case.

[0041] Operation of the fan motor case 1 according to the present disclosure as above described will be described herein after with reference to accompanying Fig. 3 to Fig. 5.

[0042] In Fig. 5, the upper motor case 20 is shown in phantom line in order to illustrate clearly air flow inside the fan motor case 1.

[0043] When the motor 15 of the fan motor 10 is operated, the plurality of the blades (not shown) of the impeller 11 rotates to suck air. The sucked air flows into the air inlet 12 of the fan motor 10 through the air inflow port 23 formed at the upper motor case 20 (arrow A).

[0044] The air sucked into the air inlet 12 passes through the impeller 11 and the motor 15 and is discharged to the plurality of the air outlets 16 as arrow B. The multi-flow of the air discharged to the plurality of the air outlets 16 joins in the space 37 between the motor 15 and the lower case part 31 to form a single air flow and turns round an inner surface of the lower case part 31 and then is discharged through the air discharging port 32 (arrow C).

[0045] The air discharged from the air discharging port 32 moves along the exhaust duct 5 formed by the upper exhaust duct 25 and the lower exhaust duct 35 and is discharged through the outlet 26 of the exhaust duct 5 (arrow D). At this time, as the exhaust duct 5 forms a helical discharging flow passage having the width which is gradually widened in the direction in which the air is discharged and is formed with an upper inclination, noise generated by the air discharged from the fan motor 10 is reduced.

[0046] In addition, vibration generated when the fan motor 10 is operated is blocked by the upper and lower buffing members 41 and 42 which support an upper end and a lower end of the fan motor 10 and thus is not transferred to the upper and lower motor cases 20 and 30.

[0047] With the fan motor case according to the present disclosure, the air discharged from the fan motor is discharged through the helical exhaust duct having the width which is gradually widened in the direction in which the air is discharged and formed with an upper inclination, and thus the noise due to the discharged air is reduced.

[0048] In addition, with the fan motor case according to the present disclosure, a number of components can be minimized as the noise due to the discharged air can be effectively reduced only by the upper and lower motor cases. It is therefore possible to reduce cost for material and assembly of the fan motor case.

[0049] While the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, additional variations and modifications of the embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they have studied the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims shall be construed to include both the above embodiments and all such variations and modifications that fall within and scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A fan motor case, comprising:

a fan motor (10);

a case part (3) wholly surrounding the fan motor (10) and formed with an air inflow port (23) at an upper surface (21 a) thereof and an air discharging port (32) for discharging air at a side surface thereof; and

an exhaust duct (5) connected to the air discharging port (32) of the case part (3) and formed along the side surface of the case part (3) so that its width (W) is widened in the direction that the air is discharged.

2. The fan motor case of claim 1, wherein the exhaust duct (5) is inclined in the air discharging direction.

3. The fan motor case of claim 1 or 2, wherein the exhaust duct (5) is inclined in an upward direction.

4. The fan motor case of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein an outlet (26) of the exhaust duct (5) is formed in the same direction as the air inflow port (23).

5. A fan motor case, comprising:

a fan motor (10);

a lower motor case (30) surrounding a lower portion of the fan motor (10) and having a lower case part (31) formed with an air discharging port (32) at a side surface thereof and a lower exhaust duct (35) formed from the air discharging port (32) along the side surface of the lower case part (31) with a width (W) being widened in a direction that the air is discharged; and

an upper motor case (20) surrounding an upper portion of the fan motor (10), formed to correspond to the lower motor case (30), and comprising an upper exhaust duct (25) and an upper case part (21).

6. The fan motor case of claim 5, wherein the lower exhaust duct (35) is upwardly inclined in an air discharging direction.

7. The fan motor case of claim 5 or 6, wherein the upper exhaust duct (25) is upwardly inclined in the air discharging direction.

8. The fan motor case of any of claims 5 to 7, wherein an outlet (26) of the upper exhaust duct (25) is formed in the same direction as an air inflow port (23).

9. The fan motor case of any of claims 5 to 8, wherein an upper buffing member (41) is installed between the upper case part (21) and the fan motor (10).

10. The fan motor case of any of claims 5 to 9, wherein a lower buffing member (42) is installed between the lower case part (31) and the fan motor (10).

Drawing