US20080286100A1

US20080286100A1 - Fan bracket and brackt set

Info

Publication number: US20080286100A1
Application number: US11/748,616
Authority: US
Inventors: Ze-Min Hu; Chun-Hung Lee
Original assignee: Mitac International Corp
Current assignee: Mitac International Corp
Priority date: 2007-05-15
Filing date: 2007-05-15
Publication date: 2008-11-20

Abstract

A fan bracket and a bracket set are respectively adapted to allow a cooling fan and cooling fans to be assembled therein. The cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove and the fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic positioning protrusion and at least one joint part, in which the bracket body is provided with at least one opening and used for allowing the cooling to be placed therein; the elastic positioning protrusion is disposed in the bracket body, corresponding to the positioning groove and used for lodging in the positioning groove to allow the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body; the joint part is disposed on one side face of the bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element to enable the bracket body to be connected with and fixed on the fixing element.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a fan holder structure of an electronic apparatus, and more particularly to a fan bracket and a bracket set formed by engaging the same fan brackets.

BACKGROUND

To increase the cooling efficiency, the number of the cooling fans is usually increased as well. As shown in FIG. 1A, the whole bracket of a conventional cooling fan is made of plastic as an integral and fastened with the fan therein through a screw or plastic rivet. Since the bracket is formed as an integral, it is only used one-to-one and lack of expansibility. For example, if a computer system needs three cooling fans to fulfill the cooling requirements of hardware specifications, space arrangement for the housing or mother board, the corresponding bracket will be designedly for the specific three fans. However, if the cooling requirements are changed due to system modifications of hardware specifications and space arrangement, and the fourth cooling fan becomes inevitable, the cooling fan bracket must be remolded to build another one that is dedicated for four fans. Therefore, the defect of such type of fan bracket is the poor expansibility that causes difficulties to satisfy the new requirements for modifications of the computer system.
FIG. 1B shows another conventional cooling fan bracket; a metal supporting frame A10 and spring pieces A20 on the bracket are used for fixing a cooling fan. Such type of fan bracket structure provides fixed supporting structure to allow adding/removing cooling fans and fulfill different cooling requirements. The manner to fix the cooling fan is to use the spring pieces A20 to press one end of the cooling fan; the opposite end will be propped against the metal supporting frame A10 to be fixed in the bracket. However, the elastic force of the spring piece A20 is very difficult to be controlled in a practical application, and the shock reduction for the cooling fan is also hard to achieve. Besides, the fan bracket structure occupies a certain space to allow configuring maximum amount of fans. If only few fans are fastened in part of the bracket, the rest of space in the bracket will become a waste, which is definitely a defect for a compact system. Another defect is that a common bracket or bracket set is designed for single type of cooling fan(s). Therefore, various type or amount of cooling fan(s) is not allowed to be selectively configured together.

SUMMARY

For improving the technical problems mentioned above, the present invention proposes a fan bracket and a bracket set that provides corresponding combination structures on lateral sides of each of the fan brackets to facilitate the combining operation between the fan brackets and increase convenience while forming the bracket set.
The present invention provides a fan bracket used for allowing a cooling fan to be assembled therein, the cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove, and the fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic protruded spot and at least one joint part, in which at least one opening used for allowing the cooling fan to be placed therein is disposed on the bracket body, the elastic positioning protrusion disposed in the bracket body and corresponding to the positioning groove is used for lodging in the positioning groove to enable the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body and the joint part disposed on a side face of the bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element allows the bracket body and the fixing element to be joined together to fix the bracket on the fixing element.
The present invention also provides a bracket set comprising a plurality of fan brackets and used for allowing a plurality of cooling fans to be assembled therein, each cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove, and each fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic protruded spot, a joint part and a joint portion, in which at least one opening used for allowing the cooling fan to be placed therein is disposed on the bracket body, the positioning protruded spot disposed in the bracket body and corresponding to the positioning groove is used for engaging in the positioning groove to enable the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body and the joint part disposed on a side face of the bracket body and the joint portion is disposed on another side face corresponding to the joint part, used for connecting with a joint part of another fan bracket and allows a opposing connection to be formed between each two adjacent fan brackets.
A different number of cooling fans can be combined together through the fan brackets of the present invention according to conditions of a computer system such as specifications, a housing space and a mother board occupied space. Therefore, the fan brackets of the present invention can be used on different housing and mother boards to satisfy cooling requirements for different systems. The single fan and double fan exchanging function can be attained by oppositely connecting single-fan bracket and dual-fan bracket, and a good expansibility can be easily achieved by allowing double fan and the single fan to be easily combined through the fan brackets.
Besides, the fan brackets proposed by the present invention allow no screw to be necessary to be adopted for fixing between either the fan and the fan bracket or the fan bracket and the fan bracket. Moreover, a shock absorption cushion can be installed on a bottom of the fan bracket so that the vibration generated when the cooling fan is rotating can be effectively absorbed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic view of a first conventional cooling fan bracket;

FIG. 1B is a schematic view of a second conventional cooling fan bracket;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view, showing a fan bracket of the first preferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view, showing a fan bracket of the second preferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view, showing a connection between a fan bracket and a fixing element according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view, showing a bracket set of the third preferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view, showing a bracket set of the fourth preferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view, showing a bracket set of the fifth preferred embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view, showing a combination of a dual-fan bracket and a single-fan bracket according to the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view, showing a combination of plural dual-fan brackets and plural single-fan brackets according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIGS. 2, a schematic view showing a fan bracket of the first preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The fan bracket mainly includes a bracket body 10, an elastic positioning protrusion 20 and a joint part 30.
The bracket body 10 is basically a rectangular housing with a holding space and used as a container for a cooling fan to be assembled therein. One opening 12 (or two, with the second located at the opposite side of the first) is disposed thereon to allow the cooling fan 40 to be placed into the bracket body 10. The elastic positioning protrusion(s) 20 is disposed on the inner surface(s) of the bracket body 10, corresponding to positioning groove(s) 42 of the cooling fan 40. The connection between the cooling fan 40 and the bracket body 10 can be achieved by lodging the elastic positioning protrusion 20 into the positioning groove 42 to fasten the cooling fan 40 in the bracket body 10. The combination between the fan and the fan bracket through the engagement of the elastic positioning protrusion 20 and the positioning groove 42 avoids the screw-based operation in the conventional technology so that the convenience of the combination between the fan and the fan bracket can be increased. Meanwhile, the cost of screws can be saved.
The bracket body 10 includes at least one airflow hole 14; the airflow holes 14 are positioned at two opposite sides of the bracket body 10. The main function of the airflow hole 14 is to allow air flow generated from the cooling fan 40 to flow through both the cooling fan 40 and the fan bracket. The number and the dispositions of the airflow holes 14 are not limited to what is shown in the figure.
Please refer to FIG. 3. As the figure shows, the location of the opening 12 is at the axial direction of the cooling fan 40. Therefore, in this case the bracket body 10 has the same hole to use as the opening 12 for inserting the cooling fan 40, as well as an airflow hole to allow the air flow to pass through. Similar to those mentioned in the first preferred embodiment, the connection between the cooling fan 40 and the bracket body 10 of the second preferred embodiment can still be done by lodging the elastic positioning protrusions 20 into the positioning grooves 42 to fix the cooling fan 40 in the bracket body 10. The difference between both embodiments is only the different locations of the elastic positioning protrusions 20 and the positioning grooves 42. Furthermore, the positioning groove 42 and the elastic positioning protrusion 20 can be disposed at any corresponding positions of the cooling fan 40 and the bracket body respectively, as long as each pair of the positioning groove 42 and the elastic positioning protrusion 20 may be correspondingly and oppositely engaged with each other to allow the cooling fan 40 to be fixed in the bracket body 10. The positioning groove 42 and the elastic positioning protrusion 20 should not be limited to the positions and the number shown in the figure.
Please refer to FIGS. 2 and 4. The joint part(s) 30 is disposed on one side of the bracket body 10 for connecting with a joint portion 60 of a fixing element 50. As shown in the figure, the joint part 30 may be disposed only at one of side of the bracket body 10, or a second joint part 30 be disposed at the opposite side the bracket body 10 to make a pair and provide clamping force between the two joint parts 30. The actual structure depends on different requirements. The bracket body 10 and the fixing element 50 are allowed to be connected with each other to fix the fan bracket by oppositely connecting the joint part 30 with the joint portion 60.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the joint part 30 can be a hook structure and the joint part 60 is an engaging hole corresponding to the hook structure. Furthermore, the fixing element 50 can be a sidewall, frame structure or partition wall of a computer housing, as shown in FIG. 4. Besides, the fixing element 50 can also be part of another fan bracket that has corresponding structures to engage several fan brackets together; such kind of combination between the fan brackets to form a bracket set will be further described in details as follows.
The joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 mentioned above can be other different pairs of corresponding structures, such as a pair of a combination block piece and a combination slot, or the pair of a boss and a through hole. Each pair has two corresponding structures to engage and connect with each other. Such kind of the connection is also detailed later in the description about the bracket set.
Please refer to FIG. 2 again. The fan bracket of the present invention further includes a ring portion 70 and a shock absorption cushion 80. The ring portion 70 is disposed on a bottom portion of the bracket body 10, and the shock absorption cushion 80 is installed inside the ring portion 70. The shock absorption cushion 80 can be made of elastic material (such as balata). A circular invert hook 82 matched up with the position and the size of the ring portion 70 is located around the middle section of the shock absorption cushion 80. The shock absorption cushion 80 can be a cone formed to be shallower at the top and wider at the bottom, or, simply a upside-down nail structure. The shape of the cushion plus the disposition of the invert hook 82 enables the shock absorption cushion 80 to be fixed more stably in the ring portion 70. When the ring portion 70 is matched up with the shock absorption cushion, the shock generated from the rotation of the cooling fan 40 can be absorbed. As shown in the figure, two pairs of the ring portions 70 and the shock absorption cushions 80 are respectively disposed on diagonal portions of the bracket body 10. The disposition positions and the number of the ring portion 70 and the shock absorption cushion 80 should are not limited to those disclosed in the embodiment.
Please refer to FIG. 5, a schematic view showing a bracket set of the third preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The bracket set includes plural fan brackets combined together to allow plural cooling fans 40 to be assembled therein. Two fan brackets illustrated in the figure are taken as an example. Every fan bracket in the bracket set has similar structure as the fan bracket mentioned above so that for the same elements the description of the connection relationship is omitted here. On each of the fan bracket 10, the joint part 30 is disposed at one side of the bracket body 10, and the joint portion 60 is disposed at another side face opposite to the joint part 30 and used for connecting with another joint part 30 on another fan bracket 10. Several fan brackets can be connected to each other by engaging the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 with each other to form a bracket set that is combined by connecting plural fan brackets together.
Please refer to FIG. 5 again. The joint portion 60 is an engaging cave structure (on a protrusive block or on the bracket body directly) and the joint part 30 is a hook structure. The engaging cave and the hook structures are corresponding to each other; the connection will be completed when the hook is lodged in the engaging cave. Please refer to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a bracket set with another kind of joint part 30 and joint portion 30 of a fourth preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The joint part 30 is a L-shaped combination block piece, and the joint portion 60 is a combination slot. The structures of the combination block piece and the combination slot are corresponsive to each other; the connecting combination between the fan brackets will be completed when the combination block piece is lodged in the combination slot of adjacent fan bracket.
Please refer to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a bracket set of a fifth preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The joint part 30 includes the hook and the combination block piece as mentioned above, and the joint portion 60 includes the engaging hole and the combination slot as mentioned above. The combination between two fan brackets is similarly completed by respectively lodging the hook and the combination block piece of one fan bracket into the engaging hole and the combination slot of the adjacent fan bracket. The joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 facilitate a non-screw locking mechanism, unlike those used in the conventional screw-based technology. So that the convenience of the combination between the fan brackets can be increased and the screw cost can be saved.
In addition, the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 of any embodiment mentioned above may further respectively includes a boss 32 and a through hole 62. The shapes and the positions of the boss 32 and the through hole 62 are corresponsive to each other. The combination stability between the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60, i.e. between the fan brackets can be elevated by inserting the boss 32 into the through hole 62.
Please refer to FIG. 8. What configured in the holding space of the bracket body 10 of the fan bracket may be two fans or one single fan. Namely, the corresponsive fan brackets will be a dual-fan bracket (the left in FIG. 8) and a single-fan bracket (the right in FIG. 8). With proper engaging structure (such as those mentioned above) the dual-fan bracket and the single-fan bracket can be connected and combined with each other. As the figure shows, the joint part 30 a of the single-fan bracket is similarly disposed at one side of the bracket body 10 a to match up with the size of the bracket body 10, the joint part 30 is a hook and a combination block piece; the joint portion 60 is disposed on another side face of the bracket body 10 opposite to the joint part 30, is corresponding to the joint part 30 and is a engaging hole plus a combination slot. The joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 of the dual-fan bracket are the same as the single-fan bracket structure as mentioned above, the difference is merely in that one more combination block piece and one more combination slot are respectively added in the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 of the dual-fan bracket because the size of the dual-fan bracket is larger. The number of the hooks and the combination block piece in the joint part 30 mentioned above and the number of the engaging holes and the combination slots of the joint portion 60 can be increased or decreased depending on requirements; it should not be limited this. Similarly, for elevating stabilization of the combination between the fan brackets, the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 can respectively include the boss 32 and the through hole 62 no matter what it is the single-fan bracket or the dual-fan bracket. The combination of the single-fan bracket and the dual-fan bracket can be completed by lodging the hook, the combination block piece and the boss 32 of the dual-fan bracket respectively into the hook, the combination slot and the through hole 62 of the single-fan bracket as the figure shows.
Please refer to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing combinations of dual-fan brackets and single-fan brackets according to the present invention. A user can arbitrarily combine a plurality of double fans, a plurality of single fans or single and double fans together to satisfy the cooling requirements of different systems according to different housings and mother boards and matching up with space capable of installing cooling fans through the fan brackets according to the present invention. The fan brackets are allowed to combine easily through the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 in the fan bracket to have a good expansibility. When the fan brackets after combination are to be separated, the user merely need pull the hook of the joint part 30 to the left to separate it from the engaging hole of the joint portion 60 and then withdraw the fan bracket rearward. Thereafter, the combination block piece and the boss 32 of the joint part 30 can then respectively separated from the combination slot and the through hole 62 of the joint portion 60. Therefore, either the combination or the separation of the fan bracket and the bracket set according to the present invention can be easily and conveniently completed.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A fan bracket, used for allowing a cooling fan provided with at least one positioning groove to be assembled therein and comprising:

a bracket body, provided with at least one opening and used for allowing said cooling fan to be placed in said fan bracket therethrough;

at least one elastic positioning protrusion, disposed in said bracket body, corresponding to said positioning groove and used for lodging in said positioning groove to fix said cooling fan in said bracket body; and

at least one joint part, disposed on one side face of said bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element to allow said bracket body to be connected with and fixed on said fixing element.

2. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein a direction of said opening is the same as an axial direction of said cooling fan and said opening is adapted to allow flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.

3. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said bracket body comprises at least one airflow hole used for allowing flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.

4. The fan bracket according to claim 3, wherein said airflow holes are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.

5. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a double fan.

6. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a single fan.

7. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint parts are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.

8. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion is an engaging hole and said joint part is a hook used for lodging in said engaging hole.

9. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion is a combination slot, and said joint part is a combination block piece used for lodging in said combination slot.

10. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion comprises a through hole and said joint part comprises a boss used for passing through said through hole.

11. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said fixing element is a wall face of a computer housing.

12. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said fixing comprises an accepting space used for allowing said cooling fan to be accepted therein.

13. The fan bracket according to claim 1, further comprising:

at least ring portion, disposed on a bottom of an outer part of said bracket body; and

a least one shock absorption cushion, installed in said ring portion and used for absorbing shock generated when said cooling fan is rotating.

14. The fan bracket according to claim 13, wherein said ring portions are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.

15. The fan bracket according to claim 13, wherein said shock absorption cushion is plastic, an invert hook used for allowing said shock absorption cushion to be fixed in said ring portion is put around said ring portion to match up therewith.

16. A bracket set, comprising a plurality of fan brackets and used for allowing a plurality of cooling fans to be assembled therein, each cooling fan being provided with at least one positioning groove and each said fan bracket comprising:

at least one elastic positioning protrusion, disposed in said bracket body, corresponding to said positioning groove and used for lodging in said positioning groove to fix said cooling fan in said bracket body;

a joint part, disposed on one side face of said bracket body; and

a joint portion, disposed on another side face or said bracket body opposite to said joint part and used for being connected with said joint part of another said fan bracket to enable said fan brackets to be oppositely connected to each other.

17. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein a direction of said opening is the same as an axial direction of said cooling fan and said opening is adapted to allow flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.

18. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said bracket body comprises at least one airflow hole used for allowing flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.

19. The bracket set according to claim 18, wherein said airflow holes are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.

20. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a double fan.

21. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a single fan.

22. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion is an engaging hole and said joint part is a hook used for lodging in said engaging hole.

23. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion is a combination slot, and said joint part is a combination block piece used for lodging in said combination slot.

24. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion comprises a through hole and said joint part comprises a boss used for passing through said through hole.

25. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein each said fan bracket further comprises:

at least one shock absorption cushion, installed in said ring portion and used for absorbing shock generated when said cooling fan is rotating.

26. The bracket set according to claim 25, wherein said ring portions are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.

27. The bracket set according to claim 25, wherein said shock absorption cushion is plastic, an invert hook used for allowing said shock absorption cushion to be fixed in said ring portion is put around said ring portion to match up therewith.