US20150003961A1

US20150003961A1 - Fan system

Info

Publication number: US20150003961A1
Application number: US13/933,080
Authority: US
Inventors: Sung-Hsiang Tsang; Yu-An Lin; Yi-Hong Liao
Original assignee: Asia Vital Components Co Ltd
Current assignee: Asia Vital Components Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-07-01
Filing date: 2013-07-01
Publication date: 2015-01-01

Abstract

A fan system includes a stator assembly and a monitoring and sensing module. The stator assembly is electrically connected to the monitoring and sensing module, and the latter includes at least one sensor unit, at least one monitoring unit and a signal processing unit. The sensor unit of the monitoring and sensing module senses an operating state of the fan system, and the signal processing unit processes the sensing results of the sensor unit and actively generates a warning in the event of an abnormal operating state of the fan system, so as to protect the fan system against an operation failure due to any abnormal operating state and thereby reduce the fan system's maintenance cost.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a fan, and more particularly to a fan system capable of actively generating a warning in the event of an abnormal operating state of the fan to avoid a fan operation failure and reduce fan maintenance cost.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known that electronic communication apparatuses and server appliances are normally enclosed in individual communication chassis and server cabinets, respectively. When the electronic elements in the communication apparatuses and the service appliances operate, they produce heat at the same time. Since the communication chassis and the server cabinets are closed enclosure, the heat produced by the electronic elements of the communication apparatuses and the server appliances during operation thereof tends to accumulate and gather at some particular areas in the communication chassis and the server cabinets. The accumulated heat results in a relatively high temperature at these areas and can not be easily dissipated from the closed communication chassis and server cabinets. When the temperature exceeds the range that can be tolerated by the electronic elements of the communication apparatuses and the server appliances, the reliability or service life of the communication apparatuses and the server appliances would be seriously adversely affected. However, for other areas in the communication chassis and the server cabinets farther away from the heat-producing electronic elements, the temperature is much lower than that in the areas closer to or contacting with the electronic elements. That is, the temperature distribution in the conventional communication chassis and server cabinets is extremely uneven to largely reduce an overall heat dissipation performance of the communication chassis and the server cabinets. The currently available solutions for the above problems generally include enlarging the internal space of the communication chassis and the server cabinets and improving the material for making the communication chassis and the server cabinets. However, these solutions would inevitably result in bulky and heavy communication chassis and server cabinets. It is therefore important to work out a way that can enhance the heat dissipation performance of the communication chassis and the server cabinets without increasing their dimensions and weight. Currently, cooling fans are employed as major means for dissipating heat from the communication chassis and the server cabinets.
However, the communication chassis and the server cabinets are tremendous in number and are widely distributed over different places. Under this situation, in the event of any damaged cooling fan in any of the communication chassis and the server cabinet, it would be difficult for a maintenance person to reach the site at once and replace the damaged fan with a new one. When any of the communication chassis or the service cabinets sounds a warning or becomes out of order due to failed heat dissipation thereof, it also means that the fan in the communication chassis or the server cabinet is no longer workable and the electronic communication apparatus or the server appliance in the chassis or the cabinet might have become damaged and require repair. Therefore, increased maintenance cost is required for the communication apparatuses and server appliances that are mounted in closed communication chassis and server cabinets that use conventional fans as the means of heat dissipation.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved fan system to overcome the problems and drawbacks of the conventional fans.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a fan system capable of monitoring fan operation and actively generating a warning in the event of any abnormal operating state of the fan, so as to avoid fan operation failure and reduce fan maintenance cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fan system that is able to sense an operating temperature of the fan and determine whether there is any abnormal operating state that endangers the fan's service life.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a fan system that is able to sense voltage and current flowing through electronic elements of the fan and determine whether there is any abnormal operating state of the electronic elements.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a fan system that is able to monitor a vibration state of the fan and determine whether there is any abnormal operating state of the fan.
To achieve the above and other objects, the fan system provided according to the present invention includes a stator assembly and a monitoring and sensing module. The stator assembly includes at least one magnetic sensor unit, a control unit and a rectifier unit. The magnetic sensor unit generates a sensing signal to the control unit, and the control unit is further electrically connected to the rectifier unit. The monitoring and sensing module includes at least one sensor unit, a monitoring unit and at least one signal processing unit. The sensor unit of the monitoring and sensing module senses the operating state of the stator assembly of the fan system, and the signal processing unit actively generates a warning in the event of an abnormal operating state of the fan system, so as to avoid a fan operation failure and to reduce the fan system's maintenance cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a fan system according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a first example of the fan system according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a second example of the fan system according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a fan system according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a fan system 1 according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the fan system 1 in the first preferred embodiment includes a stator assembly 2 and a monitoring and sensing module 3.
The stator assembly 2 includes a magnetic sensor unit 21, a control unit 22, a rectifier unit 23 and a plurality of electronic elements 24, and is provided with a bearing unit 25. In the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic sensor unit 21 is a Hall element and is electrically connected to the control unit 22; the control unit 22 is a microcontroller and is further electrically connected to the rectifier unit 23; and the rectifier unit 23 is a bridge rectifier circuit.
The control unit 22 receives a control signal and also receives a sensing signal that is generated by the magnetic sensor unit 21 when it senses a magnetic polarity shift. After the control unit 22 receives the control signal and the sensing signal, electric current flows to the rectifier unit 23 and is rectified thereat before being sent to the monitoring and sensing module 3. The monitoring and sensing module 3 includes at least one sensor unit 31, at least one signal processing unit 32, and a monitoring unit 33. The sensor unit 31 senses the electronic elements 24 of the stator assembly 2 and the bearing unit 25; and the signal processing unit 32 processes the sensing results of the sensor unit 31 and outputs relevant data for reading. The monitoring unit 33 monitors the bearing unit 25 of the stator assembly 2 and the whole fan system 1; and the signal processing unit 32 processes the monitoring results of the monitoring unit 33 and outputs relevant data for reading. Further, the signal processing unit 32 can generate a warning by triggering an alarm device (not shown).
FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a first example of the fan system 1 according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, in the first example, the electronic elements 24 in the stator assembly 2 include at least one transistor element 241.
Please refer to FIG. 2A along with FIG. 1. In the first example of the first preferred embodiment, the sensor unit 31 is a voltage and current sensor unit 311 for sensing the voltage and current flowing through the transistor element 241 of the stator assembly 2. For this purpose, the voltage and current sensor unit 311 uses a safe operation range of the transistor element 241 as a reference point. When it is sensed that the voltage and current flowing through the transistor element 241 exceeds the reference point, the voltage and current sensor unit 311 sends its sensing data to the signal processing unit 32, which records the number of times the voltage and current exceeds the reference point and outputs relevant data for reading. Further, in the first example of the first preferred embodiment, the monitoring unit 33 is a vibration monitoring unit 331. During fan operation, mutual vibration would occur between the bearing unit 25 and a blade assembly (not shown) correspondingly mounted thereto. The vibration monitoring unit 331 is able to sense such vibration of the fan system 1 and uses a cut-in vibration frequency of the fan system 1 as a reference vibration signal. More specifically, the vibration monitoring unit 331 monitors the vibration of the fan system 1 when the blade assembly mounted to the bearing unit 25 rotates, and compares the monitored operation vibration signal with the reference vibration signal to output relevant comparison data. Based on the comparison data, the vibration monitoring unit 331 determines whether the bearing unit 25 is in a normal use condition or not and sends the data obtained from the determination to the signal processing unit 32, which receives the data and outputs it for reading. In this manner, it is able to protect the fan system 1 against an operation failure due to any abnormal operating state and thereby reduce the fan's maintenance cost.
FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a second example of the fan system 1 according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, in the second example, the electronic elements 24 in the stator assembly 2 include at least one capacitance element 242, and the stator assembly 2 is provided with the bearing unit 25.
Please refer to FIG. 2B along with FIG. 1. In the second example of the first preferred embodiment, the sensor unit 31 is a temperature sensor unit 312 for sensing the temperature of the capacitance element 242 of the stator assembly 2. The capacitance element 242 in the stator assembly 2 has a service life in inverse proportion to its operating temperature. When the temperature sensor unit 312 senses the temperature of the capacitance element 242, the signal processing unit 32 periodically collects the temperature values sensed by the temperature sensor unit 312 and converts the temperature values into the service life of the capacitance element 242 through computation, and outputs relevant data for reading. In this manner, it is able to protect the fan system 1 against an operation failure due to any abnormal operating state and thereby reduce the fan's maintenance cost.
Further, in the second example of the first preferred embodiment, the monitoring unit 33 is a vibration monitoring unit 331. During fan operation, as having been mentioned above, mutual vibration would occur between the bearing unit 25 and a blade assembly (not shown) correspondingly mounted thereto. The vibration monitoring unit 331 is able to sense such vibration of the fan system 1 and uses a cut-in vibration frequency of the fan system 1 as a reference vibration signal. More specifically, the vibration monitoring unit 331 monitors the vibration of the fan system 1 when the blade assembly mounted to the bearing unit 25 rotates, and compares monitored operation vibration signal with the reference vibration signal to generate relevant comparison data. Based on the comparison data, the vibration monitoring unit 331 determines whether the bearing unit 25 is in a normal use condition or not and sends data obtained from the determination to the signal processing unit 32, which receives the data and outputs it for reading. In this manner, it is able to protect the fan system 1 against an operation failure due to any abnormal operating state and thereby reduce the fan's maintenance cost.
Please refer to FIG. 3 that is a block diagram of a fan system 1 according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the fan system 1 in the second preferred embodiment includes a stator assembly 2 and a monitoring and sensing module 3. The stator assembly 2 includes a magnetic sensor unit 21, a control unit 22, a rectifier unit 23 and a plurality of electronic elements 24, and is provided with a bearing unit 25. The control unit 22 receives a control signal and also receives a sensing signal that is generated by the magnetic sensor unit 21 when it senses a magnetic polarity shift. After the control unit 22 receives the control signal and the sensing signal, electric current flows to the rectifier unit 23 and is rectified thereat before being sent to the monitoring and sensing module 3. The monitoring and sensing module 3 includes at least one sensor unit 31 (also refer to FIG. 1) and at least one signal processing unit 32. The sensor unit 31 senses the electronic elements 24 of the stator assembly 2 and the bearing unit 25; and the signal processing unit 32 processes the sensing results of the sensor unit 31 and outputs relevant data for reading. Further, the signal processing unit 32 can generate a warning by triggering an alarm device (not shown).
In the second preferred embodiment, the electronic elements 24 of the stator assembly include at least one transistor element 241 and at least one capacitance element 242; the sensor unit 31 (also refer to FIG. 1) includes a voltage and current sensor unit 311 and a temperature sensor unit 312. The voltage and current sensor unit 311 senses and determines whether the voltage and current flowing through the transistor element 241 of the stator assembly 2 exceeds a preset reference point. The temperature sensor unit 312 senses the temperature of the capacitance element 242 of the stator assembly 2. When the temperature sensor unit 312 senses the temperature of the capacitance element 242, the signal processing unit 32 periodically collects the temperature values sensed by the temperature sensor unit 312 and converts the temperature values into the service life of the capacitance element 242 through computation, and outputs relevant data for reading. In the second preferred embodiment, the monitoring and sensing module 3 further includes an operating time counting unit 314 for counting the operating time of the fan system 1 when the latter operates. The signal processing unit 32 compares the fan system's operating time with a maximum service life preset for the fan system 1. When the fan system's operating time is found as being close to its maximum service life, the signal processing unit 32 outputs relevant data for reading. In the second preferred embodiment, the monitoring and sensing module 3 further includes a vibration monitoring unit 331 (also refer to FIG. 2B), which senses vibration of the operating fan system 1 and uses a cut-in vibration frequency of the fan system 1 as a reference vibration signal. More specifically, the vibration monitoring unit 331 monitors the vibration of the fan system 1 when a blade assembly mounted to the bearing unit 25 rotates, and compares monitored operational vibration signal with the reference vibration signal to generate relevant comparison data. Based on the comparison data, the vibration monitoring unit 331 determines whether the bearing unit 25 is in a normal use condition or not and sends data obtained from the determination to the signal processing unit 32, which receives the data and outputs it for reading. In this manner, it is able to protect the fan system 1 against an operation failure due to any abnormal operating state and to reduce the fan's maintenance cost.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A fan system, comprising:

a stator assembly including at least one magnetic sensor unit, a control unit, and a rectifier unit; the magnetic sensor unit generating a sensing signal to the control unit; and the control unit being electrically connected to the rectifier unit; and

a monitoring and sensing module being electrically connected to the rectifier unit and including at least one sensor unit, at least one monitoring unit, and at least one signal processing unit.

2. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor unit is a voltage and current sensor unit.

3. The fan system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stator assembly includes a plurality of electronic elements, among which there is at least one transistor element; and the voltage and current sensor unit sensing voltage and current of the transistor element.

4. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor unit is a temperature sensor unit.

5. The fan system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the stator assembly includes a plurality of electronic elements, among which there is at least one capacitance element; and the temperature sensor unit sensing a temperature of the capacitance element.

6. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring unit is a vibration monitoring unit for monitoring a vibration state of the fan system.

7. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor unit includes a voltage and current senor unit and a temperature sensor unit.

8. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring and sensing module further includes an operating time counting unit for counting operating time of the fan system.

9. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the magnetic sensor unit is a Hall element.

10. The fan system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit also receives a control signal.