Vehicle seat blower unit with a motor mounted within a scroll housing and a cooling motor attachment bracket
First Claim
1. A blower unit, adapted to be mounted in a flat space between a seat and a floor of a vehicle for blowing air from a seat surface of the seat, the blower unit comprising:
- a unit case for defining therein a scroll air passage, the unit case having a suction port on a first end surface facing the floor from which air is sucked to be blown toward the seat surface through the scroll air passage;
a centrifugal fan rotating in the unit case around an axis to blow air sucked from the suction port radially outside in the air passage;
a motor for rotating and driving the fan;
a motor drive circuit for controlling a rotation speed of the motor, the motor drive circuit having a heat-generating member which generates heat when being operated; and
a motor attachment bracket for attaching the motor to the unit case, the motor attachment bracket extending in a radial direction of the motor along a second end surface of the unit case outside the unit case, the second end surface being opposite to the first end surface, wherein;
the second end surface of the unit case has a through hole through which the motor and the motor driving circuit are attached into the unit case;
the heat-generating member of the motor drive circuit is disposed to contact the motor attachment bracket;
the fan is a centrifugal fan having a plurality blades around an axial direction of the centrifugal fan, the centrifugal fan being disposed such that air sucked in the axial direction is blown toward a radial outside;
the unit case includes a scroll casing for accommodating the centrifugal fan, the scroll casing having a nose portion from which a scroll shape of the scroll casing starts;
the centrifugal fan has a fan height (H) in the axial direction, and a ratio (H/D) of the fan height to a fan diameter (D) of the centrifugal fan is equal to or lower than 0.5;
the centrifugal fan is disposed in the scroll casing to have a dimension between the centrifugal fan and the nose portion of the scroll casing in a radial direction, the dimension being equal to or larger than 0.08 times of the fan diameter (D);
the scroll casing has a suction port from which air is sucked in the axial direction, and a protrusion provided along an entire radial outer peripheral side of the centrifugal fan to protrude toward the centrifugal fan; and
the protrusion has a protrusion end at a position corresponding to an end portion of the blades of the centrifugal fan.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a flat-type blower unit disposed in a narrow space between a bottom portion of a front seat and a vehicle floor in a vertical direction, a motor-attachment bracket part for attaching a fan motor is integrally formed with a drive circuit cover part for covering a motor drive circuit to construct a motor attachment bracket having heat-generating components which generate heat when being operated. The motor attachment bracket is disposed to protrude radial outside from the fan motor, so that a dimension of the motor attachment bracket in the vertical direction can be reduced.
41 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A blower unit, adapted to be mounted in a flat space between a seat and a floor of a vehicle for blowing air from a seat surface of the seat, the blower unit comprising:
-
a unit case for defining therein a scroll air passage, the unit case having a suction port on a first end surface facing the floor from which air is sucked to be blown toward the seat surface through the scroll air passage;
a centrifugal fan rotating in the unit case around an axis to blow air sucked from the suction port radially outside in the air passage;
a motor for rotating and driving the fan;
a motor drive circuit for controlling a rotation speed of the motor, the motor drive circuit having a heat-generating member which generates heat when being operated; and
a motor attachment bracket for attaching the motor to the unit case, the motor attachment bracket extending in a radial direction of the motor along a second end surface of the unit case outside the unit case, the second end surface being opposite to the first end surface, wherein;
the second end surface of the unit case has a through hole through which the motor and the motor driving circuit are attached into the unit case;
the heat-generating member of the motor drive circuit is disposed to contact the motor attachment bracket;
the fan is a centrifugal fan having a plurality blades around an axial direction of the centrifugal fan, the centrifugal fan being disposed such that air sucked in the axial direction is blown toward a radial outside;
the unit case includes a scroll casing for accommodating the centrifugal fan, the scroll casing having a nose portion from which a scroll shape of the scroll casing starts;
the centrifugal fan has a fan height (H) in the axial direction, and a ratio (H/D) of the fan height to a fan diameter (D) of the centrifugal fan is equal to or lower than 0.5;
the centrifugal fan is disposed in the scroll casing to have a dimension between the centrifugal fan and the nose portion of the scroll casing in a radial direction, the dimension being equal to or larger than 0.08 times of the fan diameter (D);
the scroll casing has a suction port from which air is sucked in the axial direction, and a protrusion provided along an entire radial outer peripheral side of the centrifugal fan to protrude toward the centrifugal fan; and
the protrusion has a protrusion end at a position corresponding to an end portion of the blades of the centrifugal fan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
the unit case is disposed between a seat cushion of a seat and a floor of the vehicle, in such a manner that air in the air passage is introduced into a seat surface of the seat cushion of the seat; and
the unit case, the motor drive circuit and the motor attachment bracket are disposed to have a dimension smaller than a predetermined value in a vertical direction.
-
-
7. The blower unit according to claim 6, wherein the motor attachment bracket is disposed under the seat cushion, and the motor drive circuit is disposed under the motor attachment bracket.
-
8. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein:
-
the motor drive circuit includes circuit components including the heat-generating member for controlling the operation of the motor, and a circuit board on which the circuit components are mounted;
the circuit board is extending in a surface;
the circuit components are disposed to protrude from the circuit board in a perpendicular direction perpendicular to the surface to have a maximum protrusion height;
the motor attachment bracket protrudes from the circuit board in the perpendicular direction by a protrusion height that is lower than the maximum protrusion height; and
the motor attachment bracket has a surface area that is approximately equal to that of the circuit board of the motor drive circuit.
-
-
9. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein:
-
the fan includes a bottom plate to which a rotation force of a rotation shaft of the motor is transmitted, and a plurality of blades disposed at an outer peripheral portion of the bottom plate at equal intervals;
the bottom plate has a boss portion at a center portion, into which the rotation shaft of the motor is fastened to fix the bottom plate to the rotary shaft; and
the center portion of the bottom plate having the boss portion is depressed inside with respect to an outer peripheral portion so as to reduce a protrusion amount of the motor protruding from the unit case to an outside.
-
-
10. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein:
-
the motor includes a stator having polyphase armature windings, and a rotor having a permanent magnet;
the rotor is disposed to be rotatable relative to the stator; and
the heat-generating member includes a plurality of switching devices for passing electrical current through the polyphase armature windings in sequence so that a rotating magnetic field is generated in the motor.
-
-
11. The blower unit according to claim 10, wherein:
the motor drive circuit includes an inverter circuit having the switch devices, a position detection unit for detecting a relative rotation position of the rotor relative to the stator, and a motor control circuit for controlling operation of the switch devices based on a detection value of the position detection unit.
-
12. The blower unit according to claim 11, wherein:
the motor drive circuit is electrically connected to one of a computer for sending a digital signal for controlling the rotation speed of the motor to the motor drive circuit, and a variable resistor for sending an analog signal for controlling the rotation speed of the motor to the motor drive circuit.
-
13. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein the centrifugal fan has an outlet angle that is in a range between 80°
- and 160°
.
- and 160°
-
14. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein:
-
the centrifugal fan defines a center space located radially inward from the blades; and
the motor is disposed within the center space to be partially overlapped with the centrifugal fan in the axial direction.
-
-
15. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein:
-
the centrifugal fan includes a bottom plate that has a fan boss portion protruding toward the floor of the vehicle at a center space of the bottom plate;
the bottom plate is disposed to define the center space;
the motor has a rotary shaft and is disposed in the center space such that the rotary shaft is inserted into the fan boss portion to be fixed to the fan boss portion;
the bottom plate is disposed to cover a part of an outer periphery of the motor; and
the blades are connected to an outer periphery portion of the bottom plate.
-
-
16. The blower unit according to claim 1, further comprising:
-
a motor attachment portion and a cover attachment portion provided in the unit case around the through hole, wherein;
the motor attachment bracket includes a drive circuit cover portion for covering the motor drive circuit;
the motor attachment portion is disposed for attaching the motor and the motor driving circuit to the unit case; and
the drive circuit cover portion is disposed on the cover attachment portion to cover the motor drive circuit.
-
-
17. The blower unit according to claim 1, wherein the motor attachment bracket extends approximately horizontally.
Specification