This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 109111702, filed on Apr. 8, 2020. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The invention relates to a fan module and an electronic device, and particularly relates to a fan module and an electronic device using the fan module.
Along with improvement of computing performance and increase of computing capacity of computers and servers, computers and servers generate a large amount of heat during operations. In order to quickly dissipate the heat out of the computers and the servers, the computers and the servers are mostly equipped with fan modules to dissipate hot air through operations of the fan modules, or send external cold air into the computers and the servers.
At present, hot-plugging technology has been widely applied in computers and servers to facilitate operations such as installation, removal, replacement, expansion or maintenance of personnel under a condition of continuous power supply. Regarding a hot-plugging fan module, a casing of the computer or the server is provided with a corresponding vent hole to facilitate the hot-plugging fan module to expel the hot air inside the casing of the computer or the server, or send the external cold air into the casing of the computer or the server. However, once the hot-plugging fan module stops operating or the hot-plugging fan module is removed from the casing, the personnel must immediately perform an operation of closing the vent hole, otherwise airflow may flow back into the casing of the computer or the server.
The invention is directed to a fan module and an electronic device, which is adapted to prevent airflow from flowing back.
The invention provides a fan module including a blade mechanism, a switch component and a fan. The blade mechanism includes a frame, a positioning bracket and a plurality of blades, wherein the positioning bracket is movably connected to the frame, and the blades are movably connected to the positioning bracket and the frame. The frame has a through hole. The switch component is connected to the positioning bracket. The fan is detachably disposed at one side of the through hole, and the positioning bracket and the blades are located at another side of the through hole. The switch component is located on an assembly path of the fan. In a first mode, any two of the blades adjacent to each other are stacked with each other to close the through hole. In a second mode, the fan pushes the switch component to drive the positioning bracket to drive the blades, such that the blades have a rotational degree of freedom relative to the positioning bracket, or the blades rotate relative to the frame to open the through hole.
The invention provides an electronic device including a casing and a fan module. The casing has an assembly space and a vent hole connected to the assembly space. The fan module is detachably assembled in the assembly space. The fan module includes a blade mechanism, a switch component and a fan. The blade mechanism includes a frame, a positioning bracket and a plurality of blades, wherein the positioning bracket is movably connected to the frame, and the blades are movably connected to the positioning bracket and the frame. The frame has a through hole aligned with the vent hole. The switch component is connected to the positioning bracket. The fan is detachably disposed at one side of the through hole, and the positioning bracket and the blades are located at another side of the through hole. The switch component is located on an assembly path of the fan, and the fan is detachably disposed between the vent hole and the through hole. In a first mode, any two of the blades adjacent to each other are stacked with each other to close the through hole. In a second mode, the fan pushes the switch component to drive the positioning bracket to drive the blades, such that the blades have a rotational degree of freedom relative to the positioning bracket, or the blades rotate relative to the frame to open the through hole.
Based on the above description, since the fan module and the electronic device of the invention are integrated with an anti-backflow design, when the fan stops running or the fan is removed from the casing, a path used for airflow ventilation in the casing is blocked immediately to prevent the airflow from flowing backward and prevent foreign matters from entering the casing.
To make the aforementioned more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The assembly space 11a is configured to accommodate the fan module 100, where the fan module 100 may be a hot-plugging fan module, but the invention is not limited thereto, and a number of the fan modules 100 may be adjusted according to actual needs. When the fan module 100 is mounted in the assembly space 11a and operates, hot air inside the casing 11 may be dissipated to the outside through the assembly space 11a and the vent hole 11b, or external cold air may be sent to the inside of the casing 11 through the vent hole 11b and the assembly space 11a. Since the fan module 100 is detachably assembled in the assembly space 11a, the fan module 100 may be entirely or partially moved away from the assembly space 11a according to actual needs, or the fan module 100 may be entirely or partially mounted in the assembly space 11a.
The fan 130 may be an axial-flow fan, and when the fan 130 stops running or the fan 130 is moved out of the assembly space 11a, the blade mechanism 110 located in the assembly space 11a may immediately block a path used for airflow ventilation in the casing 11 to prevent airflow from flowing backwards, and prevent foreign matters from entering the inside of the casing 11. For example, the vent hole 11b and the assembly space 11a may constitute a part of the path used for airflow ventilation in the casing 11.
For example, the blade mechanism 110 may be switched between a closed mode and an open mode, the blade mechanism 110 in the closed mode blocks the path used for airflow ventilation in the casing 11, while the blade mechanism 110 in the open mode may maintain the path used for airflow ventilation in the casing 11 to be unobstructed.
In detail, the positioning bracket 112 is configured to slide relative to the frame 111 along a first direction D1, where the positioning bracket 112 is a hollow structure, and the blades 113 are arranged on the positioning bracket 112 along the first direction D1. Each of the blades 113 includes a blade body 113a and a rotating shaft 113b, and the rotating shafts 113b are pivotally connected to the positioning bracket 112. Therefore, the blades 113 may slide relative to the frame 111 along with the positioning bracket 112, and the blade bodies 113a may be rotated relative to the positioning bracket 112 through the rotating shafts 113b. On the other hand, the frame 111 has a hollow structure, and has a through hole 111a aligned with the vent hole 11b. The fan 130 is detachably disposed at one side of the through hole 111a, and the positioning bracket 112 and the blades 113 are located at another side of the through hole 111a.
Particularly, a rotation reference axis of the rotating shaft 113b is parallel to a second direction D2, and the first direction D1 is perpendicular to the second direction D2.
For example, the positioning bracket 112 is provided with a convex portion 115 extending along the first direction D1, and one side of the frame 111 facing the positioning bracket 112 is provided with a sliding rail (not shown) corresponding to the convex portion 115, and the sliding rail (not shown) extends along the first direction D1. Based on the cooperation of the convex portion 115 of the positioning bracket 112 and the sliding rail (not shown) of the frame 111, it helps the personnel to install the positioning bracket 112 to a positioning position, or helps improving stability of the positioning bracket 112 when the positioning bracket 112 slides relative to the frame 111.
As shown in
In the embodiment, the frame 111 further has an assembly surface 111b and an assembly groove 111c opposite to the assembly surface 111b, where the assembly surface 111b faces the vent hole 11b, and the assembly surface 111b is connected to the assembly groove 111c through the through hole 111a. The fan 130 is detachably disposed on the assembly surface 111b, and is detachably disposed between the vent hole 11b and the through hole 111a. In the first mode, the fan 130 is moved away from the assembly surface 111b, and is moved out from a position between the vent hole 11b and the through hole 111a.
In the embodiment, each of the assembly holes 111d has a restriction region 111e and an active region 111f connected to the restriction region 111e, and each of the rotating shafts 113b may slide relative to the frame 111 along with the positioning bracket 112, so as to move between the restriction region 111e and the active region 111f. In the first mode, the rotating shafts 113b of the blades 113 are located at the restriction regions 111e of the assembly holes 111d, and the restriction regions 111e of the assembly holes 111d are structurally interfered with the rotating shafts 113b of the blades 113 to prevent the rotating shafts 113b of the blades 113 from rotating relative to the positioning bracket 112. In this way, each blade body 113a is temporarily unable to be rotated relative to the positioning bracket 112 through the rotating shaft 113b, such that any two of the adjacent blade bodies 113a are kept in a state of stacking with each other.
For example, each of the rotating shafts 113b has a locking protrusion 113c (as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Once the fan 130 stops running, the blade bodies 113a are rotated back to initial positions under the function of gravity. Finally, any two of the adjacent blade bodies 113a are again stacked with each other to immediately close the through hole 111a.
As shown in
For example, the switch component 120 protrudes out from the positioning bracket 112 and extends outward along a third direction D3 to pass through the opening 111g and protrude out from the assembly surface 111b. In particular, the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and the third direction D3 are perpendicular to each other.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Other embodiments are provided below, the same or similar design principles in the embodiments are not repeated, and differences between the embodiments are mainly described.
Referring to
Referring to
The positioning bracket 1121 has a groove 1121b facing the frame 1111, and a part of a switch component 1201 is located in the groove 1121b, and slidably leans against a bottom surface 1121c of the groove 1121b. Further, the groove 1121b is aligned with an opening 1111g, where a first end of the switch component 1201 is located in the groove 1121b, and slidably leans against the positioning bracket 1121. A second end of the switch component 1201 passes through the opening 1111g, where the second end of the switch component 1201 protrudes out from an assembly surface 1111b, and is located on an assembly path 1011 of a fan 1301.
For example, the first end of the switch component 1201 may adopt a structure design of a curved surface, a cambered surface, or an inclined surface, etc., so as to smoothly push the positioning bracket 1121. On the other hand, the second end of the switch component 1201 may adopt a structure design of a curved surface, a cambered surface, or an inclined surface, etc., so as to be smoothly pushed by the fan 1301, and the fan 1301 smoothly moves through a location where the switch component 1201 is located to avoid a situation that the fan 1301 is jammed by the switch component 1201.
In the embodiment, the bottom surface 1121c of the groove 1121b includes a slope section, and the first end of the switch component 1201 may slidably lean against the slope section. Further, a normal direction of the slope section is not parallel to the second direction D2 and the third direction D3, and when the switch component 1201 is moved along the third direction D3 and pushes against the slope section through the first end, the positioning bracket 1121 is driven to slide relative to the frame 1111 along a direction parallel to the normal direction of the slope section. As shown in
In the first mode, any two of the adjacent blade bodies 1131a are stacked with each other to close the through hole 1111a. Further, since any two of the adjacent blade bodies 1131a are stacked with each other, a path for external airflow flowing to the inside of the casing through the through hole 1111a is blocked by the blade bodies 1131a.
Referring to
The rotating shafts 1131b of the blades 1131 are aligned with the concave portions 1121e. In the first mode, the rotating shafts 1131b are located outside the concave portions 1121e. On the other hand, the convex portions 1121f lean against the blade bodies 1131a, or the blade bodies 1131a are located on a moving path of the convex portions 1121f.
Referring to
In the second mode, each blade body 1131a is pushed by the convex portion 1121f, and each rotating shaft 1131b is located in the concave portion 1121e, such that the state that any two of the adjacent blade bodies 1131a are separated from each other may be maintained.
In the embodiment, the blade mechanism 1101 further includes a spring 1141 and a reset component 1142, where the spring 1141 and the reset component 1142 are disposed in the assembly groove 1111c, and two ends of the spring 1141 respectively lean against the sidewall of the frame 1111 and the reset component 1142. The spring 1141 may be a compression spring, and the reset component 1142 leans against one of the blade bodies 1131a to ensure that the blade bodies 1131a are maintained in the state of stacking with each other.
When the blade bodies 1131a are rotated relative to the frame 1111 to separate any two of the adjacent blade bodies 1131a from each other, the blade body 1131a leaning against the reset component 1142 pushes the reset component 1142, such that the reset component 1142 slides along the second directions D2. At this time, the spring 1141 is pressed by the reset component 1142 to produce elastic deformation.
Once the fan 1301 is moved away from the blade mechanism 1101, an elastic force of the spring 1141 is applied to the reset component 1142 to drive the reset component 1142 to slide back to an initial position. At this time, the blade body 1131a leaning against the reset component 1142 is pushed by the reset component 1142 to rotate relative to the frame 1111, and is rotated back to an initial position. Meanwhile, the blade body 1131a leaning against the reset component 1142 drives the other blade bodies 1131a to rotate relative to the frame 1111, such that the other blade bodies 1131a are rotated back to initial positions. Finally, any two of the adjacent blade bodies 1131a are stacked with each other again to immediately close the through hole 1111a.
For example, one of any two adjacent blade bodies 1131a (which is referred to as a first blade body hereinafter) is located on a rotation path of the other one of the any two adjacent blade bodies 1131a (which is referred to as a second blade body hereinafter), and when the second blade body is rotated back to the initial position, the second blade body may be in mechanical contact with the first blade body and drives the first blade body to rotate back to the initial position.
It should be noted that the top wall and the bottom wall of the frame 1111 have a guide groove 1111k, where an extending direction of the guide groove 1111k is parallel to the second direction D2. On the other hand, the reset component 1142 has a protruding pin 1143, and the protruding pin 1143 is slidably disposed in the guide groove 1111k to determine a sliding direction of the reset component 1142.
In summary, since the fan module and the electronic device of the invention are integrated with an anti-backflow design, when the fan stops running or the fan is removed from the casing, the blade mechanism may immediately block a path used for airflow ventilation in the casing, so as to prevent the airflow from flowing backward and prevent foreign matters from entering the casing.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the invention covers modifications and variations provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210321532 A1 | Oct 2021 | US |