US3804548A - Blower construction - Google Patents

Abstract

A centrifugal or cross-flow blower has its rotor and/or stator formed from one or more resinous elements of annular crosssection, such as rings or sleeves, with a multiplicity of generally radial channels, each element being a unitary cellular strip bent into cylindrical shape. Several rings with different channel orientations may be concentrically nested.

Description

United States Patent [191 Hubert et a1.

1451 Apr. 16, 1974 BLOWER CONSTRUCTION Buderussche Eisenwerke AG, Wetzlar, Germany Filed: Oct. 12, 1971 Appl. No.: 188,362

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 14, 1970 Germany 2050324 Mar. 12,1971 Germany 2111914 US. Cl 415/54, 415/211, 415/206, 416/181, 416/231, 55/471 Int. '01....F04d'17/00, F04d 29/26, F04d 17/10 Field of Search 415/211, 54, 121 G, 231, 415/90; 416/186, 181; 261/91, 92; 277/53,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1909 Harder 415/90 2,655,310 10/1953 Schlumbohn 416/231 795,938 8/1905 Seymour, Jr 416/181 2,658,700 11/1953 Howell 1 415/54 3,018,896 l/l962 Gewiss 416/131 3,046,648 7/1962 Kelly 277/53 3,123,286 3/1964 Abbott 416/231 3,128,940 4/1964 McDonald 416/231 3,276,415 10/1966 Laing 415/54 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 383,594 11/1932 Great Britain... ..416/l8l 884,822 5/1943 France 415/211 Primary Examiner-I-lenry F. Raduazo Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Karl F. Ross; Herbert Dubno ABSTRACT 8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures I I t u I n l I PATENTEDAPR 16 874 SHEET 1 BF 2 BLOWER CONSTRUCTION Our present invention relates to a blower, of the centrifugal or cross-flow type, with a rotor comprising an annular array of generally radially oriented vanes.

In conventional, rotor construction, in which these vanes have the form of blades on a solid ring or between a pair of such rings, the number of vanes and therefore of fluid passages is limited by the need for avoiding excessive flow resistance. These relatively large passages are conducive to columnal oscillation of the air or other fluid passing through so, that the opera tion of such blowers generates considerable noise.

An important object of our invention is to provide an improved vane structure for a blower, especially for the rotor thereof, which can efficiently circulate air or other fluids in a quiet and substantially vibration-free manner.

Another object is to provide a rotor construction of light weight and centrally symmetrical configuration, requiring little or no balancing, which can be easily and inexpensively manufactured from starting materials currently available.

These objects are realized, pursuant to our invention, by utilizing a unitary element of annular cross-section with generally radial channels, the solid parts of this element constituting the vanes of the rotor or, if desired, those of an associated stator.

A radially channeled ring or sleeve of this description may consist, basically, of a honeycomb strip of limitedly flexible polymeric material, e.g. polyvinylchloride, cast integrally and bent into a cylinder whose edges are joined by thermal fusion or adhesive bonding. The strip may also be sliced from a larger block, provided that its channels or cells are sufficiently resistant to crushing or have been temporarily rigidified by a filler such as ice as is well known per se. Instead of being integrally molded, such a block or strip can also be composed of a bank of tubes, e.g. of polyethylene, fused or cemented to one another. The term honeycomb, as used herein, does not necessarily imply a hexagonal cell profile but designates more generally a multiplicity of parallel channels arrayed in several relatively staggered rows.

The channels, and therefore the intervening web portions constituting the blower vanes, need not be precisely radial but may be slightly skew to the shaft axis, as where a swirling motion of the generated flow is desired; in some instances, e.g. for greater structural rigidity, the rotor (or the stator) may comprise nested rings whose channels are mutually aligned but extend at different angles to the radial direction.

The above and other features of our invention will be described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view of a centrifugal blower embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line II--II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing a modification;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary axial view of a rotor and a stator in a blower according to our invention;

FIG. 5 shows part of a channeled strip from which the rotor of the preceding Figures may be formed;

FIG. 6 is an axial sectional view of a cross-flow blower according to the invention; and

FIGS. 7-9 are longitudinal sectional views of differ ent types of rotor for the blower of FIG. 6.

The centrifugal blower of FIG. 1 comprises a housing 1 in which a shaft 11 driven by a motor (not shown) supports a rotor 2 more fully illustrated in FIG. 2. This rotor comprises a cage 3 with an opening at one end for the entry of an air stream, the closed opposite end being integral with a hub 13 keyed onto the shaft 11. Cage 3, advantageously consisting of plastic material, has bars 3a supporting a ring 4 of similar material formed with a multiplicity of elongate radial channels 14 separated by webs 16. These webs may be considered as vanes directing the air radially outward as the ring rotates at high speed about its axis.

FIG. 3 shows a somewhat modified structure in which the cage 3 has been replaced by a disk 5 having a hub 15, the ring 4 being cemented to this disk.

FIG. 4 shows a stator 6 juxtaposed with the rotor 2, this stator consisting of a pair of nested rings 7 and 8 similar to and coaxial with the ring 4 of the rotor. The cage bars 3a are received in the annular clearance between the channeled bodies 4 and 6. The majority of the channels 17 of ring 7 are aligned with respective channels 18 of ring 8, the latter being skew to the axis of rotation 0 whereas the former are radial like the channels 14 of rotor ring 4. It will be apparent that the rotor 2 could also include a plurality of nested rings with different angular orientation of their respective channels.

The channeled body of rotor ring 4 or of stator ring 7, 8 may be derived from a honeycomb strip as partly shown in FIG. 5, the channels of the strip being defined by an array of juxtaposed resinous tubes bonded to one another. The inner diameter of these tubes should, of course, be large enough to prevent clogging by solids entrained by the circulating air stream.

In FIG. 6 we have shown a cross-flow blower 1' whose housing forms a disk 20 about a rotor 12 having the same basic structure as the rotor 2 of the centrifugal blower 1 shown in FIG. 1. Disk 20 narrows in the direction of rotation, whereby air or some other working fluid entering at an inlet port 21 is forced into the rotor body in the zone of convergence and is centrifugally discharged therefrom at an outlet port 22.

In FIG. 7 the body 4 of rotor 12 is a cylindrical sleeve cantilevered at one end on a supporting disk 9 which is mounted on drive shaft 11, the other end of this sleeve being bonded to a disk 9' having a central aperture for the introduction of a counterbearing. FIG. 8 shows the rotor body as axially split into several rings 4, similar to the rings of FIGS. 14, which are separated by disks 9" provided with peripheral flanges 19; the disks are spaced apart by tubes 10 mounted on the throughgoing shaft 11. According to FIG. 9, the rings 4 are separated by flat disks 9 similar to those of FIG. 7, only the first disk being bonded to shaft 11.

Naturally, the specific rotor and stator shapes given by way of illustration may be modified in accordance with particular requirements.

In FIG. 6, a line xx marks the meeting edges of a channeled strip which have been. bonded together to form the cylindrical body 4. With the channels of this body all skew to the rotor axis, the strip may have been formed by slicing a larger block along a plane intersecting the channels at an angle deviating somewhat from As clearly seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 7-9, the channels 14 of the cylindrically tubular element 4 are arrayed in a plurality of axially spaced peripheral rows. With a honeycomb pattern, such as that shown in FIG. 5, the channels of adjacent rows are relatively staggered.

We claim:

1. In a blower having an annular array of generally radially oriented vanes, the improvement wherein said vanes are constituted by the solid parts of at least one unitary resinous element of cylindrically tubular configuration provided with a multiplicity of generally radial elongate channels arrayed in a multiplicity of axially juxtaposed peripheral rows, said element comprising a plurality of coaxially nested rings rigidly interconnected with their respective channels substantially aligned but oriented at different angles to the radial direction.

2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said element is a flexible strip bent into a cylinder.

3. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein said strip has a honeycomb pattern of channels, the channels of adjacent rows being relatively staggered.

4. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said element forms part of a rotor, further comprising a rotary support for said element mounted on a shaft.

5. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support is an open-ended cylindrical cage surrounding said element.

6. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support is a disk bonded to said element.

7. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support comprises a plurality of axially spaced disks, said element being split into several coaxial rings separated by said disks.

8. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said element is spacedly surrounded by a stationary guide ring also provided with a multiplicity of generally radial

Claims (8)

1. In a blower having an annular array of generally radially oriented vanes, the improvement wherein said vanes are constituted by the solid parts of at least one unitary resinous element of cylindrically tubular configuration provided with a multiplicity of generally radial elongate channels arrayed in a multiplicity of axially juxtaposed peripheral rows, said element comprising a plurality of coaxially nested rings rigidly interconnected with their respective channels substantially aligned but oriented at different angles to the radial direction.

2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said element is a flexible strip bent into a cylinder.

3. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein said strip has a honeycomb pattern of channels, the channels of adjacent rows being relatively staggered.

4. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said element forms part of a rotor, further comprising a rotary support for said element mounted on a shaft.

5. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support is an open-ended cylindrical cage surrounding said element.

6. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support is a disk bonded to said element.

7. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said support comprises a plurality of axially spaced disks, said element being split into several coaxial rings separated by said disks.

8. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said element is spacedly surrounded by a stationary guide ring also provided with a multiplicity of generally radial channels.

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