JP2003254061A - Fan shroud device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance cooling performance of a heat exchanger. <P>SOLUTION: This fan shroud device 16 interposed between a radiator as the heat exchanger and a cooling fan comprises: a box member 16A of an approximately box-like shape connected to one end of the radiator; and a cylinder member 16B in which a part of the cooling fan is stored. On an inner surface of the box member 16A opposite to the radiator, a plurality of stiffening ribs 16C is mounted which rises approximately perpendicularly from the inner surface and extends in a longitudinal direction of a connection body 18 comprised of the box member 16A and the cylinder member 16B, namely, in a direction along a stream line direction of a cooling wind. By making the stiffening ribs extend along the stream line direction of the cooling wind, a cooling wind passage resistance is considerably reduced and the cooling wind is rectified, thereby enhancing the cooling performance of the radiator through an increase of a cooling wind amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fan shroud device, and more particularly to a technique for improving the cooling performance of a heat exchanger.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to improve the cooling performance of a radiator, there is known a technique of mounting a fan shroud device on the radiator, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-2127. By the way, in recent years, in order to reduce the weight of the vehicle, a resin fan shroud device is often used instead of the metal fan shroud device. Resin fan shroud device 1
Since it has a lower rigidity than that made of metal, a plurality of reinforcing ribs 2 extending along the radial direction of the cooling fan were attached to the inner surface of the cooling air passage as shown in FIG. Further, even in the fan shroud device made of metal, the radiator becomes large in size as the engine output is improved, and the reinforcing rib may be necessary.

[0003]

However, the cooling air inside the fan shroud device is
Since it flows along the longitudinal direction, the reinforcing rib extending along the radial direction of the cooling fan becomes a resistance, and the cooling performance of the radiator may be deteriorated due to the reduction of the cooling air volume. Such a problem is caused by insufficient know-how regarding the correlation between the reinforcing ribs and the cooling performance.

In view of the conventional problems as described above, the present invention uses the reinforcing ribs extending substantially along the streamline direction of the cooling air to significantly reduce the cooling air passage resistance and reduce the amount of cooling air. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fan shroud device in which the cooling performance of a radiator is improved by increasing the number.

[0005]

Therefore, in the invention according to claim 1, the box member connected to one end of the heat exchanger and the cooling air introduced into the heat exchanger are connected to the box member. A fan shroud device including a cylindrical member for accommodating a cooling fan, and a reinforcing rib attached to an inner surface of the box member facing the heat exchanger so as to extend along a substantially streamline direction of cooling air. It is characterized by being configured.

According to this structure, the cooling air that has passed through the heat exchanger is guided to the cooling fan via the box member and the cylindrical member. At this time, since the reinforcing ribs extending along the substantially streamline direction of the cooling air are attached to the inner surface of the box member facing the heat exchanger, the cooling air flow is rectified while significantly reducing the cooling air passage resistance. To be done. Then, due to the synergistic effect of reducing the cooling air passage resistance and rectifying, the amount of cooling air flowing through the fan shroud device increases, and the cooling performance of the heat exchanger is significantly improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing rib extends along the longitudinal direction of the connecting body formed of the box member and the cylindrical member. With this configuration, the reinforcing ribs can be attached along the substantially streamlined direction without analyzing the flow of the cooling air in the fan shroud device, and, for example, the design can be simplified.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing ribs are separate from the box member. According to such a configuration, with respect to the existing fan shroud device,
By retrofitting the separate reinforcing ribs, the cooling performance of the heat exchanger is further improved while improving the rigidity thereof.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an internal combustion engine equipped with a fan shroud device according to the present invention. Between the radiator 10 as a heat exchanger and the cooling fan 14 driven to rotate by the internal combustion engine 12, for example, a resin fan shroud device 16 manufactured by injection molding is interposed. The fan shroud device 16, as shown in FIG.
Box member 1 having a substantially box shape connected to one end of the radiator 10.
6A and a substantially cylindrical cylindrical member 16B in which a part of the cooling fan 14 is housed. Box member 16
A has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape with one end surface opened, and a communication hole a communicating with the cylindrical member 16B is formed in the other end surface.

The box member 1 facing the radiator 10 is also provided.
On the inner surface of 6A, while standing almost vertically from there,
A plurality of reinforcing ribs 16C extending along the longitudinal direction of the connecting body 18 including the box member 16A and the cylindrical member 16B are attached. That is, in the illustrated fan shroud device 16, the connecting body 18 including the box member 16A and the cylindrical member 16B has a rectangular cross-sectional shape that is long in the up-down direction, so that the inner surface of the box member 16B extends in the up-down direction. Reinforcing ribs 1
A plurality of 6Cs are attached. In addition, reference numeral 16D in the drawing
Are reinforcing ribs extending radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 16B so as to reinforce the cylindrical member 16B and prevent the cooling fan 14 from coming into contact with the cylindrical member 16B due to vibration or the like.

Next, the operation of the fan shroud device 16 will be described. When the cooling fan 14 is driven to rotate, the cooling air passes through the radiator 10 and heat is exchanged with its core (not shown) to cool the cooling medium in the radiator 10. At this time, inside the fan shroud device 16, as shown in FIG. 3, the cooling air flows along the axial direction of the cylindrical member 16B, and at the same time, in the longitudinal direction of the box member 16A (that is, the longitudinal direction of the connecting body 18). Cooling air flows along the direction. The cooling air flows along the longitudinal direction of the box member 16A because the cooling air passing through the radiator 10 hits the surface of the box member 16A facing the radiator 10 and is sucked by the cooling fan 14 housed in the cylindrical member 16B. This is because.

Therefore, if the reinforcing ribs 16C extending along the longitudinal direction of the box member 16A, which faces the radiator 10, that is, the substantially streamline direction of the cooling air, are attached, the flow of the cooling air is impeded. Instead, this is rectified, and the cooling air passage resistance is greatly reduced. Then, due to the synergistic effect of reducing the cooling air passage resistance and rectifying, the amount of cooling air flowing inside the fan shroud device 16 increases, and the cooling performance of the radiator can be improved. For this reason, when equivalent cooling performance is required, a radiator 10 smaller than the conventional radiator 10 can be used, and weight reduction and the like can be promoted.

In the fan shroud device 16 having no reinforcing rib 16C, the rectifying effect due to the reinforcing rib 16C is not exerted and turbulent flow is generated, so that the cooling performance is inferior to that of the above-described structure. Therefore, the fan shroud device 16 according to the present invention has the best cooling performance. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a reinforcing rib 16 formed separately from the metal fan shroud device 16 is provided.
The C may be retrofitted by, for example, the rivet 20. In this way, the existing fan shroud device 1
While improving the rigidity of No. 6, it is possible to further improve its cooling performance.

Further, the cooling fan 14 is not limited to the configuration of being rotationally driven by the internal combustion engine 12 as in the present embodiment, but may be of the configuration of being rotationally driven by a hydraulic motor or an electric motor, for example.

[0015]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing rib extending along the substantially streamline direction of the cooling air is attached to the inner surface of the box member facing the heat exchanger. Therefore, it is possible to rectify the cooling air while significantly reducing the cooling air path resistance. Then, due to the synergistic effect of reducing the cooling air passage resistance and rectifying, the amount of cooling air flowing through the fan shroud device increases, and the cooling performance of the heat exchanger can be significantly improved. For this reason, when equivalent cooling performance is required, a heat exchanger smaller than conventional heat exchangers can be used, and weight reduction can be promoted.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing ribs along the streamline direction can be attached without analyzing the flow of the cooling air in the fan shroud device. According to the third aspect of the present invention, by additionally attaching the reinforcing ribs to the existing fan shroud device, the rigidity can be improved and the cooling performance of the heat exchanger can be further improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an internal combustion engine including a fan shroud device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows details of the fan shroud device of the above,
(A) is a side view, (B) is a front view

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a direction in which cooling air flows in the fan shroud device.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the fan shroud device according to the present invention, (A) is a perspective view, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view,
(C) is an enlarged view of the main part

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a conventional fan shroud device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 radiator 14 Cooling fan 16 Fan shroud device 16A box member 16B cylindrical member 16C reinforcement rib 18 connected body

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A box member connected to one end of a heat exchanger, a cylindrical member which is connected to the box member and accommodates a cooling fan for introducing cooling air into the heat exchanger, and the heat exchanger. A fan shroud device, comprising: a reinforcing rib attached to an inner surface of the facing box member so as to extend along a substantially streamlined direction of the cooling air. 2. The fan shroud device according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib extends along a longitudinal direction of a connecting body formed of the box member and the cylindrical member. 3. The fan shroud device according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing rib is separate from the box member.