CENTRIFUGAL FAN WITH MULTIPLE RING-PLATE BLADES AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001]This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 113145973, filed on Nov. 28, 2024. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

[0002]The disclosure relates to a centrifugal fan, and in particular relates to a centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades and a manufacturing method thereof.

Description of Related Art

[0003]With the rapid development of the computer industry, the heat dissipation problems caused by the pursuit of high speed, multi-function and miniaturization of CPUs are becoming more and more severe. This problem is particularly pronounced in electronic devices with compact internal space such as laptops and servers. If the heat generated by the heat-generating elements in these devices cannot be dissipated in a timely and effective manner, the operational performance of the heat-generating elements will be greatly affected, and the service life of the heat-generating elements will also be shortened. Therefore, it is imperative to implement heat dissipation measures for the heat-generating elements.

[0004]At present, in the above-mentioned devices, a centrifugal fan is usually installed near the heat-generating element for heat dissipation. The airflow generated by the rotation of the centrifugal fan blades is directly blown to the heat-generating element or a heat sink installed on the heat-generating element, thereby effectively dissipating heat therefrom. The blades of conventional centrifugal fans are usually flat-plate blades. These flat-plate blades exhibit poor flow-guiding characteristics, resulting in the centrifugal fan's inability to generate high flow velocities and substantial air volumes. They are also prone to producing noise. Consequently, these fans struggle to meet the requisite cooling demands for high-heat-generating electronic elements within relatively confined spaces.

SUMMARY

[0005]A centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades and a manufacturing method thereof, which employs simplified manufacturing technique and a distributed structure to reduce manufacturing to reduce production complexity while achieving enhanced heat dissipation efficiency, are provided in the disclosure.

[0006]A centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades of the disclosure includes a hub, a first ring-plate blade and at least one second ring-plate blade. The first ring-plate blade is assembled to the hub. The second ring-plate blade is stacked onto the first ring-plate blades and maintained a distance from the first ring-plate blade to form an air flowing channel. The second ring-plate blades is composed of multiple arc plates.

[0007]A manufacturing method of a centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades of the disclosure includes: sequentially stacking multiple arc plates to form a stacked unit, in which a distance is maintained between two arc plates stacked on each other. Multiple stacked units are assembled to the hub adjacent to each other, so that the stacked units form multi-layer ring-plate blades surrounding the hub.

[0008]Based on the above, the centrifugal fan forms an annular air flowing channel by disposing the first ring-plate blade and the second ring-plate blades around the hub, and maintaining a distance between the first ring-plate blade and the second ring-plate blade. Therefore, during operation, the centrifugal fan, at the annular air flowing channel, generates airflow through the disturbance of air caused by frictional force between the ring plates within the structure, thereby avoiding the noise produced by the blades stirring the air as previously mentioned.

[0009]Furthermore, the second ring-plate blade is formed by adjoining multiple arc plates, which may effectively reduce the complexity of manufacturing a complete ring plate and the problems caused (such as stress concentration). At the same time, by dividing the ring plate into multiple arc plates adjacent to each other, each of which having a corresponding assembled structure to the hub, the structural assembly strength of the ring-plate blades relative to the hub may be effectively enhanced. In addition, after the above-mentioned components are disassembled, the damaged parts may also be replaced, thereby avoiding the waste of materials and costs caused by scrapping the entire assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0011]FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the impeller of FIG. 1A.

[0012]FIG. 1C is an exploded schematic diagram of the impeller of FIG. 1B.

[0013]FIG. 1D is a manufacturing flowchart of the component of FIG. 1C.

[0014]FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of the assembly of the ring-plate blade.

[0015]FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram of the assembly of the ring-plate blade and the hub.

[0016]FIG. 1G is a partial cross-sectional diagram of the component of FIG. 1B.

[0017]FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

[0018]FIG. 2B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 2A.

[0019]FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 2B.

[0020]FIG. 2D is an exploded diagram of the stacked unit of FIG. 2C.

[0021]FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

[0022]FIG. 3B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 3A.

[0023]FIG. 3C is an exploded diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 3B.

[0024]FIG. 3D is an exploded diagram of another stacked unit of FIG. 3B.

[0025]FIG. 3E is a schematic diagram of the stacked unit of FIG. 3D after assembly.

[0026]FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

[0027]FIG. 4B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 4A.

[0028]FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 4B.

[0029]FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

[0030]FIG. 5B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 5A.

[0031]FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D illustrate the stacked unit of FIG. 5B from different perspectives.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

[0032]FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the impeller of FIG. 1A. FIG. 1C is an exploded schematic diagram of the impeller of FIG. 1B. Referring to FIG. 1A to FIG. 1C simultaneously, in this embodiment, a centrifugal fan with multiple ring-plate blades (hereinafter referred to as a centrifugal fan) 100 includes a housing 130 and an impeller rotatably disposed in the housing 130. Here, the impeller is composed of a hub 110 and ring-plate blades 120 disposed around the hub 110. The hub 110 has a rotation axis CX, and an air flowing channel is formed between two adjacent ring-plate blades 120. The hub 110 rotates along the rotation axis CX to drive the ring-plate blades 120 to generate airflow in the air flowing channel.

[0033]FIG. 1D is a manufacturing flowchart of the component of FIG. 1C. FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of the assembly of the ring-plate blade. Referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1E first, in this embodiment, for the purpose of subsequent description, the (ring-plate) blade 120 is divided into a first ring-plate blade 121 and second ring-plate blades 122 and 123, so that the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 are stacked on the first ring-plate blade 121 and maintained at a distance therebetween to form the aforementioned annular air flowing channel between adjacent blades. For the hub 110, the first ring-plate blade 121 and the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 are respectively located on different normal planes of the rotation axis CX, that is, the first ring-plate blade 121 and the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 are in a parallel state.

[0034]Furthermore, referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1D, first, as shown in FIG. 1C, the first ring-plate blade 121 and the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 are divided into multiple arc plates. Here, dividing into two arc plates is taken as an example. The corresponding arc plates are then stacked to form stacked units A1 and A2. Finally, the stacked units A1 and A2 are adjacently positioned to each other and assembled to the hub 110. This is shown in step S10 of the manufacturing method. Multiple arc plates are stacked to form stacked units A1 and A2, in which a distance is maintained between the two arc plates stacked on each other. Next, in step S20, multiple stacked units A1 and A2 adjacent to each other are assembled to the hub 110, so that the stacked units A1 and A2 form the ring-plate blades 120 of the multi-layer ring plates surrounding the hub 110.

[0035]In detail, in order for the above steps to be executed smoothly, the impeller of this embodiment necessitates corresponding structures to facilitate the assembly and arrangement of components. Here, as shown in FIG. 1C, the hub 110 is manufactured from metal and includes a body 111 and an assembly ring 112 extending from the body 111 and surrounding the body 111, and multiple (arc-shaped) slots 112a are punched out on the assembly ring 112. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1E, the first ring-plate blade 121 of this embodiment is manufactured by plastic injection molding. Furthermore, its surface is further formed with (arc-shaped) protruding ribs 121a′ and protruding pillars 121b, which are positioned on the upper surface of the first ring-plate blade 121. The protruding pillar 121b is in a stepped shape and has a step ST1 and a step ST2, and with respect to the upper surface, the step ST2 is higher than the step ST1. Accordingly, the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 may be sequentially stacked on different steps (step ST1 and step ST2) of the protruding pillar 121b, thereby forming two (arc-shaped) air flowing channels.

[0036]Simply put, what is shown in FIG. 1E is the manufacturing process of one of the stacked units A1 (or A2), that is, multiple arc plates are stacked on each other, and the step difference (step ST1 relative to the upper part) of the boss 121b is surface, or step ST2 relative to step ST1) to maintain a distance between the arc plates, thereby forming an arc air flowing channel. In this embodiment, the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 are metal blades, so after the above-mentioned stacking is completed, they may be fixed to the first ring-plate blade 121 by gluing or welding.

[0037]FIG. 1F is a schematic diagram of the assembly of the ring-plate blade and the hub. FIG. 1G is a partial cross-sectional diagram of the component of FIG. 1B. Referring to FIG. 1F and FIG. 1G and comparing to FIG. 1C, as described in step S20, after the stacked units A1 and A2 are completed, they may be assembled to the hub 110. The protruding ribs 121a′ on the upper surface of the first ring-plate blade 121 are passed through the slots 112a of the assembly ring 112, and then the protruding ribs 121a′ protruding from the assembly ring 112 are heat pressed (heat-melted), so that the protruding rib 121 a is transformed into an I-shaped cross-section (as shown in FIG. 1G) and is therefore clamped and fixed on the assembly ring 112, as shown in FIG. 1F, thereby completing the assembly manufacturing process between the stacked units A1 and A2 and the hub 110.

[0038]In addition, referring to FIG. 1C and FIG. 1E, as mentioned above, the second ring-plate blades 122 and 123 of this embodiment are metal blades. Therefore, during the manufacturing process, the opposite ends of the arc plates are further punched to form interlocking portions 122a, 123a, 122b, and 123b in a stepped shape respectively. These interlocking portions possess a structurally complementary corresponding relationship with each other to facilitate the adjoining process of the two stacked units A1 and A2 as shown in FIG. 1C, where the interlocking portion 122a of one of the second ring-plate blades 122 is connected to the interlocking portion 122b of another second ring-plate blade 122 (the interlocking portion 122a and the interlocking portion 122b have complementary structures), and the interlocking portion 123a of one of the second ring-plate blades 123 is connected to the interlocking portion 123b of another second ring-plate blade 123 (the interlocking portion 123a and the interlocking portion 123b are structurally complementary). Simply put, the opposite ends of the same arc plate are interlocking portions with different but complementary structures to facilitate the adjoining process of the stacked units A1 and A2. In addition, the interlocked stacked units A1 and A2 may be further fixed at the interlocking joint by gluing or welding.

[0039]FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 2A. FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 2B. Referring to FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C simultaneously, in this embodiment, the impeller includes a hub 210, (ring-plate) blades 220, and locking members 230. This embodiment also follows the manufacturing process shown in FIG. 1D. As shown in FIG. 2B, the blade 220 is divided into four stacked units B1 to B4. After each stacked unit has completed the stacking process of the arc plates, the stacked units are assembled and fixed to the hub 210, and the mutual adjoining of the stacked units B1 to B4 is completed at the same time.

[0040]FIG. 2D is an exploded diagram of the stacked unit of FIG. 2C. Referring to FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D first, in this embodiment, the blade 220 is divided into a first ring-plate blade 221 and second ring-plate blades 222 and 223, which are irregularly shaped (arc plate) metal blades respectively. At the same time, during the manufacturing process, the arc plates belonging to the second ring-plate blades 222 and 223 are punched to form multiple bumps one BL1 to BL10 on the periphery edge of the arc plates, and the bumps one BL1 to BL10 protrude from the plate surface of the arc plates. Then, these arc plates are stacked, and each bump one BL1 to BL10 abuts between two mutually stacked arc plates, thereby forming a distance. As shown in FIG. 2D, the bumps one BL1 to BL4 of the second ring-plate blade 223 abut the second ring-plate blade 222, and the height of these bumps one BL1 to BL4 is the distance maintained between the second ring-plate blades 222 and 223. Similarly, the bumps one BL5 to BL10 of the second ring-plate blade 222 abut the arc plate of the first ring-plate blade 221, so that the height of these bumps one BL5 to BL10 becomes the distance maintained between the second ring-plate blade 222 and the first ring-plate blade 221. After completing the above stacking process, some of the bumps one BL1 to BL10 and their adjacent arc plates may be welded, thereby completing the stacked units B1 to B4 shown in FIG. 2C.

[0041]Here, since the second ring-plate blades 222 and 223 have an irregular shape with multiple side edges, and there is at least one bumps one BL1 to BL10 on the same side edge, it is only necessary to ensure that each side edge has at least one bumps one BL1 to BL10 to complete the welding. Of course, the designer may set the required number of bumps one BL1 to BL10 at the required positions according to the requirements.

[0042]Then, the assembly process of step S20 may be performed. Referring to FIG. 2B to FIG. 2D, in this embodiment, the hub 210 is manufactured from metal (similar to the previous embodiment), and includes a body 211 and multiple first protruding plates 212 extending from the body 211. The first protruding plates 212 surround the body 211. The first ring-plate blade 221 has second protruding plates 221a that protrude from the inner arc edge of the first ring-plate blade 221 (as shown in FIG. 2C, they also protrude from the inner arc edges of the second ring-plate blades 222 and 223) and extend toward the hub 210, the second protruding plate 221a is fixed to the corresponding first protruding plate 212 through the locking member 230. Here, the first protruding plate 212 is punched with openings during manufacturing, and the second protruding plate 221a is also punched with openings during manufacturing. The locking members 230 include screws 231 and nuts 232. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2B, the stacked units B1 to B4 may be locked on the first protruding plates 212 of the hub 210 through the locking members 230.

[0043]During the above locking process, since the first ring-plate blade 221 and the second ring-plate blades 222 and 223 have concave and convex complementary structures at the opposite ends of their arc plates, the stacked units B1 to B4 may be smoothly adjoined to each other, and then welding and gluing are performed at the adjoining locations to complete the fixation of the stacked units B1 to B4.

[0044]FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 3B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 3A. Referring to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B at the same time, the impeller of this embodiment also follows the manufacturing process shown in FIG. 1D, and the (annular) blades 320 are divided into stacked units C1 to C6. The hub 310 is similar to the previous embodiment and is manufactured from metal. It includes a body 311 and an assembly ring 312 extending from the body 311. Multiple positioning holes 312a and openings one 312b are punched out on the assembly ring 312.

[0045]FIG. 3C is an exploded diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 3B. Referring to FIG. 3C and comparing with FIG. 3B, the manufacturing process of the stacked units C2, C4, and C6 is described herein. Here, the (annular) blade is manufactured from metal, and is divided into an arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade and arc plates 322 and 323 of the second ring-plate blade. During the manufacturing process, buckle grooves are punched out on the arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade, and buckle pieces and buckle grooves are punched out on the arc plates 322 and 323 of the second ring-plate blade. For the purpose of differentiation, the arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade is formed with buckle grooves one 321a and 321b, while the arc plate 322 of the second ring-plate blade is formed with buckle grooves two 322c and 322d. At the same time, buckle pieces 322a, 322b, 323a, and 323b are formed on the arc plates 322 and 323 of the second ring-plate blade. The arc plates 323 and 322 of the second ring-plate blade have the same structure, so they also have the same buckle groove two structure. However, in this embodiment, since the arc plate 323 of the second ring-plate blade is located at the top of the structure, its buckle grooves are not buckled by the buckle pieces, so the reference numerals of the buckle grooves are omitted.

[0046]Accordingly, as shown in the assembly relationship of FIG. 3C, the buckle pieces 322a and 322b are correspondingly buckled to the buckle grooves one 321a and 321b, and the buckle pieces 323a and 323b are correspondingly buckled to the buckle grooves two 322c and 322d. Since the buckles 322a, 322b, 323a, and 323b are respectively formed by extending and bending the arc plates 322 and 323, there is a relative distance from the plate surfaces of the arc plates 322 and 323. The relative distance is the distance required to form an air flowing channel after the arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade and the arc plates 322 and 323 of the second ring-plate blade are stacked.

[0047]Referring to FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C at the same time, when manufacturing the arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade, a positioning block 321c is further formed on the bottom surface thereof. Therefore, after the arc plate 321 of the first ring-plate blade and the arc plates 322 and 323 of the second ring-plate blade are stacked, the positioning block 321c may be embedded and positioned in the positioning hole 312a of the assembly ring 312, so that the stacked units C2, C4, and C6 may be fixed on the assembly ring 312 of the hub 310.

[0048]FIG. 3D is an exploded diagram of another stacked unit of FIG. 3B. FIG. 3E is a schematic diagram of the stacked unit of FIG. 3D after assembly. Referring to FIG. 3D, FIG. 3E and FIG. 3B at the same time, in this embodiment, for the stacked units C1, C3, and C5, different stacking and fixing processes are adopted from the aforementioned stacked units C2, C4, and C6. Here, the blade 320 is divided into an arc plate 324 of the first ring-plate blade and arc plates 325 and 326 of the second ring-plate blade. The arc plate 324 of the first ring-plate blade is also punched with the opening two 324a, while the arc plates 325 and 326 of the second ring-plate blade are respectively punched with extruded hole structures 325a and 326a. The extruded hole structures 325a and 326a respectively protrude from the plate surfaces of the arc plates 325 and 326. Accordingly, in the subsequent stacking process, the arc plate 325 abuts the upper surface of the arc plate 324 through the extruded hole structure 325a, aligns with the opening two 324a and maintains a distance, while the arc plate 326 abuts the upper surface of the arc plate 325 through the extruded hole structure 326a, aligns with the extruded hole structure 325a and maintains a distance, to form a structural state as shown in FIG. 3E.

[0049]Finally, as shown in FIG. 3B, through the screws 331 and nuts 332 of the locking members 330, the screws 331 sequentially passes through the extruded hole structure 326a, the extruded hole structure 325a, the opening two 324a, and the opening one 312b, thereby locking the stacked units C1, C3, and C5 together with the nuts 332 to achieve the purpose of locking the stacked units C1, C3, and C5 on the assembly ring 312.

[0050]FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 4B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of one of the stacked units in FIG. 4B. Referring to FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C at the same time, in this embodiment, the (annular) blades 420 are divided into stacked units D1 to D7, and these stacked units D1 to D7 include three different arc lengths AR1 to AR3. However, this embodiment does not limit the dimension and form of these arc lengths. Simply put, the designer may divide the blades 420 into different stacked units with the required number and arc length dimension according to the manufacturing requirements. Although the stacked units D1 to D7 include different arc lengths AR1 to AR3, their component compositions are the same, so FIG. 4C only uses one of the stacked units D1 to D7 as an example.

[0051]In addition, the stacked units D1 to D7 with different arc lengths AR1 to AR3 adopted in this embodiment also help to reduce the noise generated by the periodic frequency.

[0052]Referring to FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C again, in this embodiment, the blade 420 is further divided into an arc plate 423 of the first ring-plate blade and the arc plates 421, 422, 424, 425, 426 of the second ring-plate blade according to the stacked units D1 to D7, and each arc plate is a metal blade. Furthermore, each stacked unit D1 to D7 also includes an assembly member one 430, which assembles and fixes the arc plates 421 to 426 together through injection molding. During production, since these arc plates 421 to 426 have openings (here, the opening 426a is taken as an example), it is ensured that the assembly member one 430 may smoothly flow between these arc plates 421 to 426. At the same time, relevant parameters are also adjusted during the injection molding process to ensure that the distance between the arc plates 421 to 426 may be maintained by the assembly member one 430.

[0053]Furthermore, the arc plate 423 of the first ring-plate blade is also formed with hooks 423a and 423b during the manufacturing process. Therefore, during the assembly process with the body 411 of the hub 410 shown in step S20, in this embodiment, the body 411 and the hooks 423a and 423b are employed to connect the stacked units D1 to D7 to the side surface of the hub 410 by using the injection molded assembly member two 412.

[0054]FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an impeller according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 5B is an exploded diagram of the structure of FIG. 5A. Referring to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B at the same time, here, the blade 520 is divided into two groups E1 and E2, and each group E1 and E2 includes multiple stacked units. FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D illustrate the stacked unit of FIG. 5B from different perspectives. Referring to FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D at the same time, these stacked units in this embodiment have the same structural composition, so only one of them is taken as an example in FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D, and the stacked units are further divided into an arc plate 521 of the first ring-plate blade and an arc plate 522 of the second ring-plate blade. In this embodiment, the arc plates 521 and 522 are formed into an integrated structure by injection molding, and at the same time, connecting portions 523 are also injection molded on opposite sides of the arc plates 521 and 522 in the arc direction to connect them together.

[0055]Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the hub 510 of this embodiment includes a body 511 and an assembly ring 512 surrounding the body 511. Here, the body 511 is manufactured from metal, and then the assembly ring 512 is injection molded around it. At the same time, multiple grooves 512a are also formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the assembly ring 512 (only the grooves 512a on the upper surface are shown here due to the perspective). Finally, the aforementioned stacked units may be respectively disposed in the grooves 512a and adhesively fixed therein. In this embodiment, since the blades 520 are manufactured by an injection molding process, by segmenting the ring-plate (annular) blades, that is, dividing them into multiple stacked units, compared to the injection molding of the entire annular blade structure, the aforementioned method facilitates in improving the quality of the finished product in the injection molding process and avoiding the generation of defects (e.g., short shot, shrinkage, or lack of material).

[0056]To sum up, in the above embodiments of the disclosure, the centrifugal fan forms an annular air flowing channel by disposing the first ring-plate blade and the second ring-plate blades around the hub, and maintaining a distance between the first ring-plate blade and the second ring-plate blade. Therefore, during operation, the centrifugal fan, at the annular air flowing channel, generates airflow through the disturbance of air caused by frictional force between the ring plates within the structure, thereby avoiding the noise produced by the blades stirring the air as previously mentioned.

[0057]Furthermore, the second ring-plate blade is formed by adjoining multiple arc plates, which may effectively reduce the complexity of manufacturing a complete ring plate and the problems caused (such as stress concentration). At the same time, by dividing the ring plate into multiple arc plates adjacent to each other, each of which having a corresponding assembled structure to the hub, the structural assembly strength of the ring-plate blades relative to the hub may be effectively enhanced. In addition, after the above-mentioned components are disassembled, the damaged parts may also be replaced, thereby avoiding the waste of materials and costs caused by scrapping the entire assembly.