Patent Application
20140102675
The present disclosure relates generally to a fan shroud adapted for use within a cooling system in a machine and more particularly related to a design of the fan shroud for attaining low noise and maximum air flow.
A cooling system is provided for cooling an engine of a machine. The fan induces cooling air flow to pass through the core of the radiator for engine cooling purposes. EP Patent Number 645,543 discloses a cooling system for use with an internal combustion engine, the cooling system including a fan defining a central axis, a radiator asymmetrical in shape about the central axis, and a fan shroud disposed about the fan and defining a flow path for directing cooling flow across the radiator. The fan shroud includes a radially converging inlet portion, a radially diverging outlet portion and a cylindrical transition portion there between. The radially converging inlet portion and the radially diverging outlet portion are axisymmetrical in shape about the central axis and are substantially symmetric with one another about an imaginary plane constructed normal to the central axis. The geometry of the fan shroud, the alignment of the fan shroud relative to the fan, and the fan spacing relative to the radiator are determined according to dimensionless numbers relating the various geometries to the fan diameter and the projected axial fan chord. However, there is still room for improvement in the art.
In an aspect, a cooling system is provided for use in a machine. The cooling system includes a fan having a hub and a plurality of evenly spaced blades connected with the hub, and a shroud partially surrounding the fan. The shroud includes a flat surface having an opening of a predetermined diameter is centrally disposed on the flat surface. Further, the shroud includes a circular sidewall having of a predetermined width extending in a substantially perpendicular direction from the flat surface and encompasses the opening, such that the circular sidewall partially covers the blades.
Other features and aspects of this disclosure will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure relates to a fan shroud adapted for use within a cooling system of a machine.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the cooling system 100 may include a fan 122, a shroud 124, and a heat exchanger 126 adjacently positioned along an axial direction XX′. The fan 122 may include, for example, but not limited to, an axial flow fan. The fan 122 may include a hub 128 and a plurality of evenly spaced blades 130 connected with the hub 128. In an embodiment, the blades 130 may include about 4 to 12 aerodynamically contoured blades. Further, the blades 130 of the fan 122 may have a predetermined width W1.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the hub 128 is connected to a fan drive pulley 132. The fan drive pulley 132 is driven in a conventional manner by a drive belt 134 rotated by an engine driven drive pulley 136 as illustrated in
Furthermore, the shroud 124 includes a circular sidewall 142 having a predetermined width W2, which extends in a substantially perpendicular direction, along the axial direction XX′, from the flat surface 138 and encompasses the opening 140. In an aspect of the present disclosure, the circular sidewall 142 is configured to partially cover the blades 130 in the axial direction XX′, such that a ratio of circular sidewall of predetermined width W2 and the fan blade of predetermined width W1 may be about 0.67. In various other aspects of the present disclosure, ratio of circular sidewall of predetermined width W2 and the fan blade of predetermined width W1 may be in a range of about 0.5 to 0.8. Further, the flat surface 138 and the circular sidewall 142 may be connected by a curved surface 144. In an embodiment, the circular sidewall 142 may be connected to the flat surface 138 by welding or alternatively manufactured integrally with the flat surface 138 by casting. Moreover, the shroud 124 may be made of a glass reinforced polymer, which may impart high impact toughness in addition to high strength.
A plurality of first fastening means 146 are configured to connect the shroud 124 to the heat exchanger 126. In an embodiment, the first fastening means 146 may include, for example, but not limited to, threaded fasteners, to releasably connects first mounting flange portions 148, of the shroud 124, to the second mounting flange portions 150, of the heat exchanger 126. As illustrated, the first fastening means 146 are configured to pass through a set of apertures 152 provided in the first mounting flange portions 148 and securely attach within a set of threaded holes 154, substantially aligned with the set of apertures 152, provided in the second mounting flange portions 150, to releasably connect the shroud 124 with the heat exchanger 126. Likewise, a plurality of second set of fastening means 156 are configured to connect a protective shield 158 to the shroud 124. The protective shield 158 may be fabricated of a spaced wire formed into a domed configuration, and is positioned to substantially cover the fan 122. The protective shield 158 is configured to allow airflow and block entrance of objects of a substantial size. In various other embodiments, various other possible methods including, welding, riveting may be used to connect the shroud 124 and the protective shield 158.
The industrial applicability of the shroud 124 for attaining low noise and maximizing air flow described herein will be readily appreciated from the foregoing discussion. Although the machine 102 shown as the articulated truck, any type of machine that performs at least one operation associated with, for example, mining, construction, and other industrial applications may embody the disclosed fan shroud 124. The machine 102 may also be associated with non-industrial uses and environments, such as, for example, but not limited to, an off-highway truck, on-highway truck, a backhoe loader, an industrial loader, a skidder, a wheel tractor, an excavator, a wheel dozer, an wheel loader, a asphalt paver, a cold planer, a compactor, a feller buncher, a forest machine, a forwarder, a harvester, a motor grader, a hydraulic shovel, a road reclaimer, a tele-handler, a mining machine or the like.
With reference to the above-described
In an aspect of the present disclosure, the flat surfaces 138 provided in the shroud 124 may direct airflow through a transition of the rectangular cross section of the core of the heat exchanger 126 to a circular cross section of the fan 122. Further, the flat surfaces 138 are parallel to the core of the heat exchanger 126, which may prevent excess restriction of the airflow coming from corners of the core of the heat exchanger 138, thereby noise may be reduced attaining maximum airflow. These factors of low noise and maximum airflow may increase efficiency of the shroud 124.
As described above, the shroud 124 may be made of a glass-reinforced polymer, which may provide a highly smooth surface finish even when glass or mineral reinforcement is added. This smooth surface finish helps reduce the frictional loss while air passing through the fan 122, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the cooling system 100.
It will be appreciated that the foregoing description provides examples of the disclosed system and technique. However, it is contemplated that other implementations of the disclosure may differ in detail from the foregoing examples. All references to the disclosure or examples thereof are intended to reference the particular example being discussed at that point and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure more generally. All language of distinction and disparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate a lack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from the scope of the disclosure entirely unless otherwise indicated.
Accordingly, this disclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
