US3666219A

US3666219A - Motor assembly

Info

Publication number: US3666219A
Application number: US92441A
Authority: US
Inventors: Heinz Baus
Original assignee: Heinz Baus
Current assignee: Altura Leiden Holding BV
Priority date: 1969-12-01
Filing date: 1970-11-24
Publication date: 1972-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 1989-05-30
Also published as: DE1960197C3; DE1960197A1; DE1960197B2; FR2072962A5; CH534306A; BE759632A; GB1286019A

Abstract

A motor is accommodated with some clearance in a tubular housing axially spaced end portions of which respectively extend beyond the motor. A pair of mounting elements are provided each being located at one of the end portions and each including a ring portion secured to the housing and having a diameter slightly larger than the motor and a pair of arms of one piece with the ring portion and each semi-circularly curved circumferentially of the housing and having a free end. Cooperating fastening portions are provided on the free ends and on the motor for fastening the latter to the mounting elements.

Description

D United States Patent 1151 3,666,21 9 Baus 14 1 May 30, 1972 [541

MOTOR ASSEMBLY

3,3 1 7,166 5/1967 Janssen ..248 35& R [72] Inventor: Heinz Bans, Am Oberen Luisenparlc 28, FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS Mannheim, Germany 481,970 3/1938 Great Britain ..85/8.8 I 24! 717,857 9/1965 Canada 5243/ [2 n Appl- 92,441 656,930 1/1965 Belgium ....248/l8 5l9,687 6/l933 Germany ..248/26 [30] Foreign Application Prim! Primary ExaminerMarion Parsons, Jr.

Dec 1, 1969 Germany ..P 19 601 97.9 AHOmPyMiChad Striker 52 us. 01 ..248/l5, 248/18. 310/91 ABSTRACT [51] Cl F16! 5/04 A motor is accommodated with some clearance in a tubular [58] new of Send 1 2 6 housing axially spaced end portions of which respectively ex. /8 0/ 5] tend beyond the motor. A pair of mounting elements are provided each being located at one of the end portions and each [56] References Cited including a ring portion secured to the housing and having a UNITED STATES PATENTS diameter slightly larger than the motor and a parrot arms of I one piece with the ring portion and each semi-circularly Franklln curved circumferentially of the housing and having a free end 1 1 7/ I 955 Lundgm" "85/83 Cooperating fastening portions are provided on the free ends 2. 5/1960 Copeland and on the motor for fastening the latter to the mounting ele 3,145,910 8/1964 .1611 ....248 18 mm 3 233,497 2/l966 McC0rmick.. .....85/8.8 3,246,836 4/1966 Ayling ..248/l 5 10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MOTOR ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a motor assembly, and more particularly to a motor assembly for utilizing small motors.

In certain applications, motors, especially small motors such as are used in ventilators or the like, are to be mounted in a tubular housing. For this it is known from the prior art to use mounting elements in fonn of semi-circular arms two of which are associated with each end of the motor and are fastened radially outwardly on the motor itself, being also connected to the tubular housing. The distance in transverse direction between the free ends of the respectively associated two arms is approximately equal to the diameter of the motor itself, which means that if the radial width of the arms is taken into account, the diameter of the entire assembly is approximately triple that of the motor itself. In many applications, however, this is undesirable for various reasons, including the obvious one that insufficient space may be available for such a large assembly. It is therefore often desirable to reduce the overall diameter of the assembly, an approach which is impossible to carry out in the known prior-art construction beyond a certain limit, because the vibration damping effect of the motor mounting elements utilized in that construction is based upon the requirement that the arms be able to oscillate within the housing with a certain amplitude.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages ofthe prior art.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved motor assembly of the general type under discussion, which may have a smaller diameter than what is known from the art without, however, being any less effective and efficient in its primary purpose than the prior-art constructions.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such an improved motor assembly which is simple in its construction and can be readily assembled and disassembled.

In pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a motor assembly which comprises, briefly stated, a motor and a tubular housing surrounding the motor with clearance and having axially spaced end portions which respectively extend beyond the motor. A pair of mounting elements are each provided at one of the end portions and each include a ring portion secured to the housing and having a diameter slightly larger than the motor, and a pair ofarms of one piece therewith and each semi-circularly curved circumferentially of the housing and having a free end. Cooperating fastening portions are provided on the free ends and on the motor for mounting the latter on the former.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is an axial section taken on line II of FIG. 2 and showing an embodiment of the invention, with one arm being illustrated only fragmentarily for the sake ofclarity;

FIG. 2 is a bottom-plan view of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view of an assembly embodying the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, it will be seen that FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a single motor mounting element for purposes of explanation. It is composed of a ring portion 2 and two arms 4 and 16 of which is of one piece with the ring portion 2 and is semi-circularly curved. The arms are preferably, but not necessarily, of substantially L-shaped cross section and are provided on their free ends with portions 6 and 12, respectively, which carry coupling or fastening projections 8 and 14, respectively. It is pointed out that in FIG. 1 the arm l6which is visible in FIG. 2has been omitted for the sake of clarity, only the portion 12 having been illustrated to show its relationship with reference to the portion 6.

The projections 8 and 14 interengage for mounting purposes in corresponding openings provided in the motor 10 shown in FIG. 3.

As seen in FIG. 2, the radial width of the arms 4 and 16 decreases in the direction from their connected ends-that is where they are connected with the ring portion 2to their free ends and the portions 6 and 12, respectively. The purpose of this is to make it possible for the arms to dampen various different frequencies of motor vibrations. The axial extension of the arms 4 and 16, that is their thickness in axial direction of the ring portion 2, may also decrease, and in any case it is advantageous if it is less than their radial width.

As shown in FIG. 3, a motor 10 is accommodated in the housing H and is mounted on two mounting elements of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. One of these mounting elements has the ring portion 2 as identified before in FIGS. 1 and 2 and is provided with the an'ns 4 and 6. The other mounting element is similar to the first one and has a ring portion 18 provided with the

arms

20 and 22. The free ends of the arms are again provided with the fastening portions, as illustrated, and these interengage with corresponding openings provided in the motor 10. The

ring portions

2 and 18 are of course secured to the housing in the illustrated manner.

The arms, of which each ring portion has two, are of one part with the respective ring portion as illustrated in particular in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The roblem which the present invention solves, namely to make it possible to reduce the radial dimension of motor assemblies of the type under discussion, is found particularly in radiaLfIow blowers, but the invention is of course applicable in other areas also. Explaining the purposes and advantages of the present invention with respect to radial-flow blowers, it is pointed out that here it is desirable to locate the motor within the tubular air-guidance housing. Especially if this type of blower is used for ventilating electronic equipment, the housing must have a small diameter because of the small amount of space which is available for its installation. The invention is, however, also applicable to other types of constructions, for instance in larger radial-flow blowers or others which may for instance be mounted in an outer wall of a building above the windows thereof for providing ventilation of rooms or the like.

As the drawing shows in FIG. 3, the diameter of the respective ring portion is only slightly smaller than the diameter of the motor itself, and according to the invention, the ring portion and its associated arms is made of elastically yieldable synthetic plastic material of which various types are suitable. In particular, thermoplastic synthetics have been found especially advantageous, such as polyvinylchlon'de, styrol mixed polymerisate, styrol acrylnitrile copolymerisate or a condensation product of epsilon-aminocapron acid. Utilizing synthetic plastic material has been found especially advantageous for vibration-damping purposes, and particularly more so than highly elastic material such as metal which is known from the prior art. On the other hand, by having the free end portions of the respective arms connected at the axial ends of the motor, radial securing of the arms to the motor is unnecessary and this of course saves space in radial direction. Moreover, by securing the free ends of the arms at the axial ends of the m0- tor, and thus necessarily having the ring portion axially spaced from the motor, assures that the arms will undergo not only bending stresses but also torsional stresses-contrary to what is known from the artwhereby it is possible to make the diameter of the ring portionwhich is simply pushed into the tubular housing-only slightly smaller than the diameter of the motor itself.

The mounting elements may be mass produced by injection molding or the like because they are of one piece, and are therefore inexpensive. An additional advantage of the construction according to the present invention is the fact that it requires no screw or other connections for securing the mounting elements to the motor.

It is particularly advantageous in terms of obtaining highly effective vibration damping if the general plane of the respective ring portion is axially spaced from the general plane in which the fastening portions on the associated arms are located, by a distance which is smaller than half the transverse distance between the fastening portions on the associated arms. In this manner, the torsion-spring characteristic of the anns is most advantageously utilized and axial displacement of the motor due to vibrations is counteracted in such a manner that the radial dimensioning of the mounting elements can be particularly small.

It is advantageous, according to the present invention, if the transverse distance between the mounting portions on the free ends of the two arms on their respective mounting element is approximately equal to the diameter of the motor itself because this has been found advantageous in dampening vibrations of the motor tending to tilt the same about an axis normal to the axis of the motor, in that such dimensioning makes the construction of the respective mounting elements more stable. Also, this measure makes it possible to reduce the radial dimensions of the respective mounting elements.

As already pointed out before, tapering the thickness of the respective arms in direction from their connected ends to their free ends, that is to the motor connected therewith, provides for advantageous damping in the various frequency ranges. This also counteracts excessive vibrations of the motor which would make necessary a greater radial dimensioning of the motor mounting elements in order to prevent contacting of the vibrating motor with the tubular housing. As already pointed out, it is advantageous to make the cross section of the arms substantially L-shaped, but generally speaking, it may be angular. Advantageously, the thickness of the arms as seen in axial direction of the respective ring portions, is smaller than their radial dimension.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful applica tion in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a motor assembly, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis. the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. A motor assembly, comprising a motor; a tubular housing surrounding said motor with clearance and having axially spaced end portions which respectively extend beyond said motor; a pair of mounting elements each provided at one of said end portions and each including a ring portion secured to said housing and having a diameter slightly larger than said motor, and a pair of arms of one piece therewith and each semi-circularly curved circumferentially of said housing and having a free end; and cooperating fastening portions on said free ends and said motor for mounting the latter on the former.

2. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said free ends is provided with at least one of said fastening portions.

3. A motor assembly as defined in claim 2, wherein said fastening portions on said free ends are transversely spaced from one another by a distance corresponding substantially to the diameter of said motor.

4. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting elements are of elastically yieldable synthetic plastic material.

5. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, each of said arms also having a connected end circumferentially spaced from the respective free end; and wherein the thickness of said arms decreases from the respective connected end to the associated free end.

6. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein the thickness of said arms in axial direction of the respective mounting elements is smaller than the width of said arms in radial direction of the respective element.

7. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each free end of the respective arms of each element is provided with at least one of said fastening elements, with the latter being located in a general plane at least substantially parallelling the general plane of the associated ring portion and axially spaced from the same by a distance at most approaching half the distance between said fastening elements.

8. A motor assembly as defined in claim 4, wherein said synthetic plastic material is a thermoplastic material.

9. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said arms are of substantially L-shaped cross section.

10. A motor assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said fastening portions comprise coupling projections on said free ends, and recesses provided in said motor and each adapted for receiving one of said coupling projections in interlocking relationship.