Patent Grant
11554476
This application is a 371 application of the International PCT application serial no. PCT/JP2018/044199, filed on Nov. 30, 2018, which claims the priority benefits of Japan Patent Application No. 2017-253411, filed on Dec. 28, 2017. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The present invention relates to a power tool in which a heat-generation member is accommodated in a handle portion, and relates to a technique for guiding air introduced from a cooling air introduction port into the handle portion.
A power tool that works while being gripped by an operator is equipped with a handle portion for the operator to grip. In particular, in a heavy power tool, a handle portion is arranged to extend from a housing that accommodates a motor or a power transmission mechanism, or a handle portion is formed in a part of the housing. An operation switch of the motor is arranged in the handle portion, and the operator operates the operation switch while gripping the handle. The conventional technique having the handle portion behind the housing is disclosed in patent literature 1 for example.
Patent literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-296803
Patent literature 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-119341
In a large-sized grinder as described in patent literature 1, a commercial AC power supply is used to drive a large-sized motor. A grindstone to be used is a large grindstone with an outer diameter of 180 mm or more and has a total weight exceeding 4 kg, and thus the operator works while gripping a handle portion located behind the grinder and a side handle located in front of the grinder. In recent power tools, a soft start function for suppressing a start current is used to prevent a large start current from flowing through the motor when a trigger lever is pulled. In order to realize the soft start function, a control circuit for controlling the rotation of the motor is arranged. A semiconductor switching element such as a triac or the like is used for the control circuit. In recent years, a switch unit has been proposed in which the control circuit including the switching element such as a triac or the like is arranged in a housing body of a switch mechanism arranged in the handle portion. Because the switching element generates heat due to the switching operation, overheating of the switching element may adversely affect the control circuit. In addition, because the position of the switching element, which is a heat-generation source, and the position of a site to grip in the handle portion are close to each other, there is also a possibility that the temperature of the handle portion increases and the operator feels uncomfortable.
One solution to prevent the temperature increase of the handle portion is to dispose an air window in the handle portion to guide cooling air for cooling the motor or the like into the handle portion, but the arrangement of the air window is difficult because the handle portion is too thin to arrange an air window having a sufficient size and is a part gripped and covered by the operator during work. In addition, the switch mechanism has a connection terminal for a commercial AC power supply that produces a high voltage, and the sucked air may blow against the connection terminal depending on the arrangement of the air window. In a power tool such as a grinder or the like that is assumed to be used in an environment where metal powder is scattered, the metal powder may accumulate near the terminal of the switch portion. Hence, this arrangement of the air window is not preferable. In addition, even in a relatively small grinder as described in patent literature 2, which uses the periphery of a motor accommodation part as a handle portion and accommodates the switch mechanism on the front side of a rear cover equipped with an air suction port at the rear part, it is necessary to devise cooling for the switch mechanism and the like so that dust does not accumulate at the connection terminal.
The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and an objective of the present invention is to provide a power tool configured so that it is possible to use cooling air to effectively cool a heat-generation member accommodated in a handle portion. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a power tool in which an inlay structure of a divided joining surface of the handle portion is used to configure a cooling air passage for guiding a part of cooling air for motor cooling taken in by a housing portion into a handle portion. Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a power tool configured so that a heat-generation member is accommodated in a switch unit in a handle portion and a heat-radiation plate is arranged in the switch unit, and cooling air guided into the handle portion effectively blows against the heat-radiation plate. Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a power tool configured so that it is possible to transmit air from an air suction port into a handle portion connected to a housing portion having the air suction port and an air discharge port, thereby cooling a heat-generation element accommodated in a part different from the housing portion.
Representative features of the invention disclosed in this application are described as follows.
According to one feature of the present invention, a power tool is provided which has a motor, a cooling fan that cools the motor, a housing that accommodates the cooling fan and the motor, and a handle portion connected to the housing; wherein a first air suction port is arranged in the housing, and a passage extending in a direction from the first air suction port to the handle portion and returning to the housing again through the handle portion is arranged; a flow of cooling air directed from the first air suction port toward the cooling fan is generated by the cooling fan to cool a heat-generation member arranged in the handle portion. A second air suction port is further arranged in the housing; a flow of second cooling air directed from the second air suction port toward the motor is generated by the cooling fan; and the first cooling air flowing through the first passage and the second cooling air are sucked by the cooling fan after merging with each other and are discharged to the outside from an air discharge port arranged in the housing. Here, the passage extending in the direction from the first air suction port to the handle portion is isolated from the flow of the second cooling air.
According to another feature of the present invention, a switch unit having a trigger lever and a switch main body is accommodated in the handle portion, the switch main body being operated by the trigger lever and turning on/off the motor, and the heat-generation member is arranged in the switch unit. A heat-radiation plate is arranged in the heat-generation member, and the heat-radiation plate is exposed to the flow of the cooling air directed from the first air suction port toward the cooling fan. The heat-radiation plate may be disposed so as to have a surface parallel to the flow direction of the cooling air directed from a return part of the first passage toward the cooling fan. Furthermore, a plurality of the first air suction ports and a plurality of the second air suction ports are arranged on the housing side other than the handle portion, and one of the second air suction ports is disposed adjacent to the front side or the lower side of the first air suction port. Furthermore, the opening area of the second air suction port disposed adjacent to the first air suction port is made smaller than that of an inlet of the first air suction port. Because the second air suction port is disposed adjacent to the first air suction port in this manner, it is possible to ensure that a large amount of dust reaching the vicinity of the first air suction port is sucked to the second air suction port side, and it is possible to prevent dust from entering the first air suction port.
According to still another feature of the present invention, the handle portion is formed by being divided in the left-right direction, and the first passage is formed so as to extend in one surface direction from a joining surface of the housing joined in a two-part shape. In order to form the first passage, a concave portion is formed on one of the division surfaces of the handle portion, and a convex portion or a protrusion portion shaped to block the concave portion from the other division surface is made to overlap the concave portion. At this time, by making the depth of the groove of the concave portion larger than the height of the peak of the convex portion or the protrusion portion, a space is generated between the concave portion and the convex portion, and thus the space can be used as the first passage. In addition, an electric power supply portion is arranged at an end of the handle portion far from the housing, and the position serving as a return part of the first passage is disposed closer to the cooling fan than a connection part connecting the electric power supply portion and the switch unit. In this manner, it is possible to form a configuration in which air is caused not to flow between the switch unit and the electric power supply portion as much as possible.
According to still another feature of the present invention, air is sucked into the housing from the air suction port by the rotation of the cooling fan in the housing provided with the air suction port and the air discharge port. In the housing, the sucked air forms, inside the handle portion, a U-turn-shaped passage for moving in a direction away from the air suction port with respect to the air discharge port and returning to the housing side again and cools the heat-generation element inside the handle portion in the return part of the U-turn passage. Thereafter, the cooling air returns to the housing again and is discharged from the air discharge port via the cooling fan. A control element that controls the motor is disposed in the middle of the U-turn passage. In addition, a switch capable of turning on/off the motor by the operation of an operator is accommodated inside the handle portion, and the control element is arranged in the switch. Furthermore, the air suction port includes a first air suction port and a second air suction port, and a flow of first cooling air in a direction away from the cooling fan is formed from the first air suction port, and a flow of second cooling air in a direction approaching the cooling fan is formed from the second air suction port.
According to the present invention, a part of the cooling air for cooling the motor can be transmitted to a part which is different from the housing and in which it is difficult to arrange an air window, for example, it is possible to transmit the cooling air to the heat-generation member accommodated inside the handle portion, and thus it is possible to realize a power tool capable of preventing the heat of the heat-generation member from being transmitted to the hand of the operator and capable of performing comfortable work. In addition, because the air suction port for the air guided into the handle portion is disposed on the housing side other than the handle portion, it is possible to reliably prevent the air suction port from being blocked by the hand of the operator, and it is possible to prevent the air suction port from being blocked due to the intrusion of foreign matter such as fibers of a protective glove of the operator. Furthermore, because the cooling air path is realized in the handle portion using the division surfaces of the handle portion configured in two parts, it is possible to realize a power tool having a handle portion in which the outer diameter can be prevented from becoming large and which is used as easily as before.
Hereinafter, examples of the present invention are described based on the drawings. Here, description is made using a grinder as an example of a power tool which has a handle portion for an operator to grip behind a housing that accommodates a motor and a power transmission mechanism and in which a trigger switch mechanism is arranged in the handle portion. In the following drawings, the same parts are denoted by the same reference signs, and the repeated description is omitted. In addition, in this specification, the front, rear, left, right, up, and down directions are described as directions shown in the drawings.
The rear cover 4 is attached to the rear side of the motor housing 2. The front side of the rear cover 4 serves as a large-diameter portion 5A and the rear side of the rear cover 4 serves as a small-diameter handle portion 5B for the operator to grip with one hand. The rear cover 4 is a molded product of a synthetic resin and is manufactured by being divided into two in the left-right direction by a vertical plane passing through a center axis A1. The grinder 1 of the example has a shape in which a housing portion is formed by the gear case 3, the motor housing 2, and a part (the large-diameter portion 5A) of the rear cover 4 and the handle portion 5B is connected to the rearward of the housing portion. A power cord 28 serving as an electric power supply portion is arranged at the rear end of the rear cover 4, and electric power is supplied to the motor 6 from a commercial AC power supply by the power cord 28. At the front end of the power cord 28, a power plug 29 to be mounted on a socket is arranged.
The gear case 3 is attached to the front opening of the motor housing 2 and is made of metal such as an aluminum alloy or the like. The gear case 3 accommodates a drive transmission part (described later in
The rotary shaft 7 of the motor 6 is supported by two bearings 14a and 14b, and a first bevel gear 31 is arranged at the front end of the rotary shaft 7. A spindle 33 of which the axial direction becomes an up-down direction is arranged inside the gear case 3, and a second bevel gear 32 that engages with the first bevel gear 31 is arranged in the spindle 33. The spindle 33 is rotatably supported by an upper bearing 34 of a metal-type and a lower bearing 35 formed by a ball bearing. The rotation of the motor 6 is transmitted to the spindle 33 in the manner of converting the rotation direction by 90 degrees by the first bevel gear 31 and the second bevel gear 32 and reducing the rotation speed. That is, the spindle 33 is driven to rotate by the motor 6. The axial direction of the spindle 33 is orthogonal to the rotary shaft 7 of the motor 6, and the lower end of the spindle 33 protrudes to the external space of the gear case 3, and the grindstone 80 is attached to the front end of the spindle 33. The grindstone 80 is fixed to the spindle 33 by a wheel washer 36 and a lock nut 37 and rotates integrally with the spindle 33.
A trigger switch mechanism for activating the motor 6 is arranged on the rear cover 4. The trigger switch mechanism includes a switch unit 60 having an elongated box shape, and a trigger lever 64 that swings by a small angle by a swing shaft 63 fixed to the rear side of the switch unit 60. The operator moves the trigger lever 64 upward while gripping the handle portion 5B of the rear cover 4, and pushes a plunger 62 upward. Thereby, the switch is turned on, electric power is supplied to the motor 6 and the motor 6 rotates. The switch unit 60 having an elongated box shape is a unit accommodating a switch or other electronic components in a housing body made of a synthetic resin, and a primary terminal 67 for connecting the power cord 28 is arranged on the rear side, and a secondary terminal 68 for wiring to the motor 6 side is arranged on the front side. Here, a single-phase alternating current is used as a power supply, and thus the primary terminal 67 and the secondary terminal 68 are configured by two metal terminals. The primary terminal 67 and the secondary terminal 68 are arranged on the rear side and the front side of the switch unit 60 and are sufficiently separated from each other.
When the trigger lever 64 arranged on the rear cover 4 is operated, electric power is supplied to the motor 6 and the motor 6 rotates. Then, the spindle 33 connected to the rotary shaft 7 via the first bevel gear 31 and the second bevel gear 32 rotates, and the grindstone 80 fixed to the spindle 33 rotates. Then, the cooling fan 8 arranged on the rotary shaft 7 also rotates, and thus air flows into the housing from the air suction ports 41, 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d and the like due to the rotation of the cooling fan 8. The flow of air is indicated by a black arrow in the drawing. The air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d are air windows arranged at substantially the same positions as those arranged in the conventional grinder, and the outside air taken in from the air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d flows to the front side in the direction of the central axis A1 as indicated by an arrow EX2 and cools the motor 6, and then reaches the cooling fan 8 from the vicinity of the center of a fan guide 9, that is, from a part near the rotary shaft 7. The cooling fan 8 is a centrifugal fan and blows air from the axial direction to the entire peripheral part on the outer side in the radial direction in which the air is sucked. A part of the air sent from the cooling fan 8 is discharged forward from the upper air discharge port 13a (see
The grinder 1 of the example has a so-called “soft start” function. The soft start function realizes a smooth start of the motor 6 by making the rising of the voltage and current slow when the switch mechanism is turned on. A triac is used for this soft start function. The triac is a type of semiconductor switching element and is widely used as an AC switch. In particular, the electric power supplied to the load can be controlled by changing an ON period for each half cycle of the alternating current. The triac is accommodated inside the switch unit 60, and a large heat-radiation plate 69 made of aluminum is arranged in the housing body of the switch unit 60 so that heat is generated along with the operation of the triac.
The grinder 1 further has a function for making sure that the motor 6 is not started when power is supplied with the trigger lever 64 pulled out first. This is a safety function for making sure that, when the operator inserts the power plug 29 into the socket and holds the trigger lever 64, the motor 6 does not rotate unless the trigger lever 64 is temporally turned off and then gripped again. By arranging this safety function, it is possible to prevent the motor 6 from suddenly rotating without an intention of the operator. The function is particularly useful for the occurrence of a power failure. When the power failure occurs while the operator pulls the trigger lever 64 to perform a polishing operation, and the power failure is recovered in the state that the operator does not return the trigger or an on-lock function for the trigger switch is set, the grindstone 80 can be prevented from suddenly rotating.
A control device, which realizes the “soft start” function or the function of preventing motor rotation upon recovery from power failure as described above, is mounted on a circuit board arranged independently of the switch mechanism in the conventional grinder. For example, the circuit boards for control circuit are mounted in internal spaces of the air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d in the conventional grinder. In this case, because the outside air sucked from the air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d blows against the control circuit boards, there is no problem in cooling of the heat-generation member mounted on the circuit boards. However, in recent years, these control circuits have been built in the switch unit 60, and thus there arise a problem of heat generation which has not been a problem in the conventional switch mechanism. In the example, the problem is solved by arranging the heat-radiation plate 69 in the switch unit 60. However, along with the arrangement of the heat-radiation plate 69, a part of the cooling air sucked into the housing portion by the cooling fan 8 is guided to the switch unit 60 side, and the cooling air actively blows against the heat-radiation plate 69. Here, air suction ports 41 are newly arranged in the large-diameter portion 5A of the rear cover 4, and the cooling air EX1 sucked via the air suction ports 41 is guided rearward through a dedicated passage 52 in the handle portion and is discharged to the upper part of the switch unit 60 through an opening 53. The passage 52 is formed using concave and convex parts of the inlay structure of the division surfaces of the rear cover 4 (4-1 and 4-2) (the detailed structure is described specifically in
The handle portion 5B of the rear cover 4 is subjected to concave-convex processing 4c to increase the contact resistance with the finger of the operator in order that the operator easily grips the handle portion 5B and slips difficultly. A terminal portion 4d slightly bent downward is formed at the end side sufficiently rearward of the handle portion 5B so as to prevent the gripping hand from shifting to the rear side. In addition, the handle portion 5B also has a guiding function so that the trigger lever 64 is difficult to be erroneously operated when the grinder 1 is placed on the floor. A through-hole 50 through which the power cord 28 passes is formed on the division surface at the rear end of the rear cover 4, and the power cord 28 is drawn out. The trigger lever 64 has a sufficient length occupying more than half of the handle portion 5B, and the front side of the trigger lever 64 swings up and down. On the front side of the trigger lever 64, a lock lever 65 for off-lock and/or on-lock is arranged.
The air sucked by the cooling fan 8 via the air suction openings 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d flows forward toward the cooling fan 8 as indicated by arrows EX2-1 to EX2-4. Similarly, the cooling air EX2-5 flows forward from the air suction ports 43 toward the cooling fan 8. The cooling air EX1-1 to 3, which temporally flows in the direction (rearward) opposite to the direction of the cooling fan 8 through the passage 52, flows from the opening 53 back to the direction of the cooling fan 8, merges with the cooling air EX2-1 and EX2-5 near the air suction ports 42a and 43 and flows to the motor housing 2 side. In this manner, when the outside air is sucked by the cooling fan 8, a so-called U-turn air path in which a part of the outside air flows rearward as shown by EX1-1 to EX1-3 and flows forward along the heat-radiation plate 69 attached to the switch unit 60 is formed in the handle portion 5B. Therefore, the heat-generation member or the heat-radiation member located in the U-turn air path can be effectively cooled. Besides, the cooling air (EX1-4 to EX1-6) in the return part of the U-turn air path is not limited to the upper part of the heat-radiation plate 69 and may flow to both side surfaces of the switch housing 61.
The heat-radiation plate 69 is formed so as to extend from the vicinity of the center of the switch housing 61, which is elongated in the front-rear direction, to the large-diameter portion 5A forming the housing portion across the front end of the handle portion 5B. However, the size of the heat-radiation plate 69 is arbitrary and may be appropriately set according to the size of the internal space in the rear cover 4. Because the front end of the heat-radiation plate 69 is bent downward, the flow of the cooling air from EX1-5 to EX1-6 is smoothly guided. In addition, the air suction ports 43 serving as openings of the flow of the second cooling air EX2-5 are arranged near the flow of the cooling air EX1-5. The air suction ports 43 are arranged to increase the effect that the cooling air EX1-5 is drawn by the flow of the air sucked into the housing from the air suction ports 43, and to make it difficult for the dust including metal powder to enter the U-turn air path side from the air suction ports 41. In the present invention, the opening area of the air suction port 43 is made sufficiently smaller than that of the air suction port 41, and thereby the flow velocity of the air entering the air suction port 43 is made faster than the flow velocity of the air entering the air suction port 41, and thus the dust floating near the air suction ports 41 is sucked into the air suction port 43. Thereby, it is possible to effectively prevent the metal powder and the like from entering the passage 52 via the air suction ports 41.
The switching element 70 is disposed inside the switch housing 61 together with other electronic elements such as a microcomputer and the like which are not shown. Here, because the opening 53 is opened above the switching element 70 serving as a heat-generation member, it is possible to effectively cool the particularly hot site of the switch unit 60 by the cooling air EX1 taken into the handle portion 5B. In addition, because the air suction port 41 serving as an entrance opening of the passage 52 is located forward of the handle portion 5B, the air suction ports 41 are not blocked no matter how the operator grips the handle portion 5B. In addition, when the handle portion 5B is gripped near the air suction ports 41 with a work glove or the like worn on, the fibers of the glove may be sucked inside. However, in the structure of this example, the air suction ports 41 are located forward of the handle portion 5B at sufficiently separated positions, and thus there is little worry.
A plurality of air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d is formed on the left and right sides near the center of the rear covers 4-1 and 4-2 when viewed in the up-down direction. The air sucked from the air suction ports 42a, 42b, 42c and 42d flows directly into the internal space 55 of the large-diameter portion 5A. Two air suction ports 41 are arranged at two sites on the left and right on the upper side of the rear cover 4. The internal spaces 51a and 51b communicate with each other in the left-right direction at the positions of the air suction ports 41, and the internal spaces 51a and 51b are isolated from the internal space 55 by being closed with a guide rib 44a which extends from the left-right direction toward the division surface on the lower side of the internal spaces 51a and 51b. In
As described above, according to this example, the air suction ports are arranged in the housing that accommodates the cooling fan and the motor, and the passage extending in the direction from the air suction ports to the handle portion connected to the housing and returning to the housing again through the handle portion is arranged. Thereby, it is possible to cool the heat-generation member arranged in the handle portion without arranging the air suction ports in the handle portion. In addition, the example has a configuration in which the electric power supply portion (the power cord) is arranged at the end of the handle portion opposite to the housing, and the return part of the passage is disposed at a position closer to the cooling fan than the connection part connecting the electric power supply portion and the switch unit. Thereby, it is possible to make it difficult for the cooling air to pass through the electric connection part (the connection terminal) between the electric power supply portion and the switch unit, and thus the influence caused by dust or the like mixed and intruding into the cooling air can be suppressed.
In addition, the dedicated passage 52 for causing the cooling air EX1 to flow toward a predetermined direction, particularly in an opposite direction separated from the cooling fan 8 of the housing portion is formed inside the handle portion, and the cooling air EX1 is directly guided to the vicinity of the switching element 70 serving as a heat-generation source. Because the heat-radiation plate 69 is directly or indirectly connected to the switching element 70, it is possible to efficiently cool the switching element 70 which is a heat-generation source by blowing the cooling air EX1 against the heat-radiation plate 69. In addition, by arranging the passage 52 between the heat source and the outer wall surface 40 of the handle portion 5B, the heat transmitted to the hand by the heat source can be blocked. Because the cooling performance of the switch housing 61 is remarkably improved by this example, it is also possible to accommodate a control circuit such as a micro-computer (microcomputer) inside the switch housing 61. If the microcomputer is mounted inside the switch unit 60, the performance of rotation control of the motor 6 is remarkably improved, and the manufacturing assemblability of the control circuit is improved, and the reduction in size of the power tool can also be achieved. Furthermore, the air suction ports 41, which are introduction ports of the first cooling air for cooling the switch unit 60, are disposed on the housing portion side excluding the handle portion 5B gripped by the operator, and thereby it is possible to prevent the air suction port 41 from being blocked by the hand of the operator and to effectively prevent the occurrence of the fiber suction phenomenon of a glove or the like.
Next, the structure of a rear cover 1044 of a grinder according to a second example of the present invention is described using
The shape of the second air suction ports 142c, 142d and the like of the rear cover 104-1 is different from the shape of the first air suction ports 42c, 42d and the like. However, this is due to a difference in design of the outer surface shape of the rear cover 104-1, and the operation principle and the effect are the same. Besides, the rear cover 104-1 is not provided with an air suction port corresponding to the air suction port 43 in the first example. However, it is evident that a similar air suction port may be arranged near the air suction port 141.
As described above, the gist of the present invention is that: the handle portion is connected to the housing portion which has the air suction ports and the air discharge ports and accommodates the motor and the fan for motor cooling, and the air from the air suction ports is transmitted into the handle portion in the manner of being separated from the air discharge ports, thereby cooling the heat-generation member (the object to cooled) accommodated in a part different from the housing portion. Accordingly, the heat-generation member can be cooled without arranging air windows at the accommodation site of the heat-generation member. In addition, when the motor and the fan are accommodated inside the housing portion and the motor is cooled by the fan inside the housing portion, the fan for motor cooling can be used to cool the heat-generation member accommodated in the handle portion or the like. Furthermore, it is possible to control the air path/air volume at the accommodation site of the heat-generation member; in other words, it is possible to easily separate a region in which the air flows from a region in which the air does not flow at the accommodation site of the heat-generation member. This is particularly effective in the following type of power tool in which the electric power supply portion (the power cord 28) is arranged at the rear end (one end side) of the handle portion 5B and the motor housing 2 (the housing portion) is arranged at the front end (the other end side) of the handle portion 5B as in the grinder 1 which is the example of the present invention. Because the air can flow only in a front region inside the handle portion 5B, it is easy to form a configuration that does not allow the air to pass through the connection part between the electric power supply portion (the power cord) behind the handle portion 5B and the switch in the handle portion.
The present invention has been described above based on the examples, but the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.
For example, in the above examples, the air suction ports 41 and 141 are arranged in the large-diameter portion 5A that is a part of the housing portion. However, the air suction ports 41 and 141 may also be arranged in the motor housing 2 or the gear case 3 that is also a part of the housing portion. If the air suction case 41 is arranged in the gear case 3, a passage directed from the air suction case 41 toward the handle portion 5B via the motor housing 2 and the large-diameter portion 5A may be arranged, and the same effect as that of the above examples can also be obtained in this case.
In addition, the configuration has been described in which the switching element 70 disposed in the handle portion 5B is cooled as a heat-generation member to be cooled, but the heat-generation member is not required to be disposed in the handle portion 5B. For example, in the case of a grinder as described in patent literature 2, the switch mechanism is accommodated in a front part of the rear cover. In the case of this example, for example, the air suction ports and the air discharge ports are arranged in the gear case, and the passage extending from the air suction ports toward the side opposite to the air discharge port and reaching the front part of the rear cover via the motor housing is arranged. Thereby, it is possible to allow the cooling air to flow only in the front part of the rear cover as in the above examples. In this case, the periphery of the switch mechanism can be locally cooled even in the grinder as disclosed in patent literature 2, and the air does not need to flow through the connection part (the connection terminal) between the power cord (the electric power supply portion) and the switch mechanism. In addition, patent literature 2 discloses a cordless power tool using a battery pack, but the present invention is also effective in this cordless power tool. That is, although the power supply is an AC power supply in the first example, the power supply may also be a rechargeable battery pack. Even in this case, according to the present invention, it is easy to form a configuration in which the air is caused not to pass through the connection part between the battery pack used as a power supply and the switch in the handle portion as much as possible.
In addition, the grinder is used as an example of the power tool to make description in the above examples, but the present invention can be applied to any power cool, in which the housing portion that accommodates a motor, a cooling fan or the like and has an air suction port and an air discharge port and the handle portion connected to the housing portion are formed, and which accommodates a certain heat-generation member in a part different from the housing portion, for example, the handle portion. In addition, the power tool in which the gripped part extends along the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical housing member is described in the above examples, but the present invention can also be applied to a power tool in which the gripped part having a D-shape in a side view is formed in the housing portion. In this case, the air suction port is arranged in the housing portion excluding the gripped part, the air introduced from the air suction port is drawn into the gripped part, and a U-turn is made for the cooling air drawn into the gripped part to return the cooling air to the housing portion side excluding the gripped part again. As long as the U-turn passage can be formed in the handle portion in this manner, the present invention can be applied to a power tool having a housing of an arbitrary shape.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2017-253411 | Dec 2017 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2018/044199 | 11/30/2018 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2019/130981 | 7/4/2019 | WO | A |
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| 20200331138 A1 | Oct 2020 | US |
