US20090047158A1

US20090047158A1 - Self-cooling back-connect driver motor assembly

Info

Publication number: US20090047158A1
Application number: US11/837,590
Authority: US
Inventors: Lei-Shung HSING; Hong-Zhin Lin
Original assignee: Delta Electronics Inc
Current assignee: Delta Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2007-08-13
Filing date: 2007-08-13
Publication date: 2009-02-19

Abstract

A self-cooling back-connect driver motor assembly includes a motor, a centrifugal fan and a driver. The motor includes a motor body and a spindle pivotally connected to the motor body and having its front and rear ends protruded from the motor body. The centrifugal fan is installed at a distal end of the spindle for driving the motor. The driver having a casing is installed on the motor body and sheathed onto the centrifugal fan, and the sidewall of the casing has air holes including air inlet holes disposed farther from the motor body and air outlet holes disposed nearer to the motor body. When the motor spindle is rotated, the centrifugal fan is used for dissipating the heat inside the motor driver.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a rotary motive power apparatus, and more particularly to a motor having a back-connect driver that drives a centrifugal fan to rotate for providing an air current to the driver for the heat dissipation of the motor.
2. Description of Prior Art
At present, equipments such as motor drivers or driving devices generally use a heat dissipating structure with heat dissipating fins to dissipate heat for the equipments. For example, a “Motor driver heat dissipating structure” disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. No. M301458 is one of these heat dissipating structures.
However, the technical measure taken by aforementioned patent for solving the heat dissipation problem of a motor driver is to increase the number of heat dissipating fins in order to achieve the desired heat dissipating effect, and thus the motor will come with larger overall volume and weight, and the air dissipating effect will be poor because the hot air inside the motor driver cannot be dissipated effectively to the outside. If an air current is provided by an external fan for dissipating the heat produced by the motor driver, then an additional power supply will be needed for the operation of the external fan, and the installation of the external fan requires more spaces. Obviously, the foregoing arrangement is not convenient for use.
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention provides a reasonable and feasible design in accordance with the present invention to overcome the foregoing shortcomings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly, and the motor assembly mainly connects a centrifugal fan to a rear end of a spindle of the motor, and the spindle is protruded from front and rear ends of the motor, such that when the motor spindle rotates, the centrifugal fan provides a heat dissipating effect for the interior of the motor driver.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly, and the motor assembly includes a motor, a centrifugal fan and a driver; wherein the motor includes a motor body and a spindle pivotally connected to the motor body and having its front and rear ends protruded from the motor body. The centrifugal fan is installed at a distal end of the spindle for driving the motor. The driver with a casing is installed on the motor body and sheathed onto the centrifugal fan, and a sidewall of the casing has air holes including air inlet holes disposed farther from the motor body and air outlet holes disposed nearer to the motor body. When the motor spindle is rotated, outside air current is sucked and entered through the air inlet holes of the casing of the driver, and then driven by the centrifugal fan to blow towards the interior of the driver, and finally discharged from the air outlet holes of the casing to the outside, so as to achieve a thermal exchange effect by forming a convection between the outside and the interior of the driver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a motor and a centrifugal fan of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a section view of an interior of a driver of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a motor and a centrifugal fan in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a section view of an interior of a driver in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The technical characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided for reference and illustration only, but not intended for limiting the present invention.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 for an exploded view and a perspective view of the present invention respectively, the invention provides a self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly, comprising a motor 1, a centrifugal fan 2 and a driver 3.
The motor 1 is a rotary motive power apparatus having a motor body 10, and the motor body 10 comprises components such as a stator and a rotor disposed therein for driving a spindle 11 pivotally coupled to the motor body 10 to rotate. The spindle 11 is protruded from front and rear ends of the motor body 10, and its front end further drives a desired component or module (not shown in the figure), and its rear end drives the centrifugal fan 2 to rotate synchronously.
Referring to FIG. 3, the centrifugal fan 2 is installed at a distal end of the spindle 11 of the motor 1 for driving the spindle 11 of the motor 1 to rotate synchronously and driving the air current around to flow. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the spindle 11 has a ring slot 110 disposed at an end of the spindle 11, such that after the centrifugal fan 2 is sheathed onto the end of the spindle 11, a C-shaped retaining ring 111 is latched onto the ring slot 110 for fixing the centrifugal fan 2 onto the spindle 11.
The driver 3 is provided for controlling the operation and the rotation speed of a stator/rotor of the motor body 10, and installed at a rear end of the motor body 10. The driver 3 has a casing 30 covered onto the centrifugal fan 2 and installed at a rear end of the motor body 10, and the casing 30 includes an electronic component module for controlling the operation and the rotation speed of a stator/rotor of the motor 1, such that after a circuit board 31 is integrated, a connecting base 310 can be extended into the motor body 10 for transmitting a control signal to the motor 1 for controlling the operation of the motor 1. This portion is similar to the prior art, and thus will not be described here.
Referring to FIG. 4, the invention comprises upper and lower rows of air holes 32 disposed on a sidewall of the casing 30 sidewall, wherein a row of air holes 32 disposed farther from the motor body 1 are a plurality of air inlet holes 320 arranged transversally on a row, and another row of air holes 32 disposed nearer to the motor body 1 are a plurality of air outlet holes 321 arranged transversally on another row. The centrifugal fan 2 is installed directly at an end of the spindle 11 of the motor 1, so that the operation of the centrifugal fan 2 does not require another power supply, but it is rotated simply by the spindle 11 of the motor 1. When the centrifugal fan 2 is operated in the casing 30 of the driver 3, an external air current is sucked from the air inlet holes 320 of the casing 30 of the driver 3, and then driven by the centrifugal fan 2 to blow axially and sideway. The air current is guided to each vane of the centrifugal fan 2, and then sucked sideway along the vanes of the centrifugal fan 2 by an effect of centrifugal force, and blown towards the interior of the driver 3, and finally discharged to the outside from the air outlet holes 321 of the casing 30, so as to achieve a thermal exchange effect by forming a convection between the outside and the interior of the driver 3 for dissipating the heat produced by the driver 3.
With the aforementioned structure, a self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly in accordance with the present invention can be achieved.
In FIGS. 5 and 6, the casing 30 of the driver 3 further comprises a baffle 203 sheathed onto the centrifugal fan 2 and secured at a rear end of the motor body 10 for dissipating heat from a certain specific high heat generating component such as a driver chip 33 in the driver 3. The baffle 203 includes an air inlet 200 disposed at the top of the baffle 203 and corresponding to the centrifugal fan 2 for allowing air current to enter from the air inlet 200, and an air outlet 201 disposed on a wall of the periphery of the baffle 20 with its opening aligned towards the driver chip 33, so that the air current entering from the air inlet 200 is driven by the rotation of the centrifugal fan 2, guided to the air outlet 201, and blown towards the driver chip 33 for the heat dissipation of the driver chip 33.
The present invention is illustrated with reference to the preferred embodiment and not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. Various substitutions and modifications have suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A self-cooling back-connect driver motor assembly, comprising:

a motor, having a motor body, and a spindle pivotally coupled to the motor body and protrude from front and rear ends of the motor body;

a centrifugal fan, installed at a distal end of the spindle of the motor, and driven by the motor; and

a driver, having a casing, and installed on the motor body and sheathed onto the centrifugal fan, and a sidewall of the casing having a plurality of air holes disposed thereon, and the air holes including a plurality of air inlet holes disposed farther from the motor body, and a plurality of air outlet holes disposed nearer to the motor body;

thereby, the centrifugal fan is rotated in the casing of the driver to suck external air current from the air inlet holes of the casing of the driver, and the air current is driven by centrifugal fan to blow towards the interior of the driver, and discharged to outside from the air outlet holes of the casing, so as to achieve a thermal exchange effect by forming a convection between the outside and the interior of the driver.

2. The self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the spindle of the motor comprises a ring slot disposed at an end of the spindle, and a C-shaped retaining ring latched onto the ring slot, for fixing the centrifugal fan onto the spindle.

3. The self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the casing of the driver includes a baffle disposed therein and sheathed onto the centrifugal fan, and the baffle includes an air inlet disposed at the top of the baffle, and an air outlet disposed on a wall around the periphery of the baffle, such that the air outlet is aligned towards a heat generating component for heat dissipation.

4. The self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly as recited in claim 3, wherein the baffle is installed at a rear end of the motor body.

5. The self-cooling back connect driver motor assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the air holes of the driver are disposed on upper and lower rows, and the air inlet holes are arranged transversally along one of the rows, and the air outlet holes are arranged transversally on another one of the rows.