Centrifugal fan

• US 7,748,954 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Nakao, Mitsuhiro, Tominaga, Tetsuo, Eguchi, Tsuyoshi, Suzuki, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Kershteyn; Igor
• Application Number:
  US11/702,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20080095629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 415/119, 415/173.6, 415/204, 415/206, 415/208.1, 415/223, 416/183, 416/185, 416/186.R, 416/189, 416/192
• US Class Current: 415/119
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/162 of a centrifugal flow wheel
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/282 the leading edge of each vane being substantially parallel to the rotation axis

Abstract

A centrifugal fan includes a space in which the dimension between a shroud-facing wall and a shroud, from the outer peripheral side to the inner peripheral side of the shroud, is substantially uniform, wherein the shroud-facing wall includes a recess extending in the circumferential direction, the recess being disposed at the inner peripheral side of the outer peripheral end of the shroud-facing wall forming the space having the uniform dimension so that the recess forms a space larger than the other part.

Claims

1. A centrifugal fan comprising:

an impeller that is rotated around an axis;

a casing that accommodates the impeller, that includes a bellmouth forming a substantially circular gas intake whose axis is the same as the axis around which the impeller rotates, and that forms a spiral flow path at the outer peripheral side of the impeller; and

a driving unit that rotates the impeller,

wherein the impeller includes a bottom plate that is rotated by the driving unit around the axis, a plurality of vanes that are disposed on the outer periphery of the bottom plate, and a substantially annular shroud that is concentrically disposed so as to face the bottom plate, with the vanes disposed therebetween, and that connects an end of each of the vanes,

the shroud has a shape that is slanted with respect to the axis so as to approach the bottom plate from the inner peripheral side toward the outer peripheral side,

the casing includes a shroud-facing wall that forms a space in which the dimension between the shroud and the shroud-facing wall, from the outer peripheral side to the inner peripheral side of the shroud, is substantially uniform, and

the shroud-facing wall includes a recess extending in the circumferential direction, the recess being disposed at the inner peripheral side of the outer peripheral end of the shroud-facing wall that forms the space having the uniform dimension so that the recess forms a space larger than the other part of the space having the uniform dimension.

2. The centrifugal fan according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion protruding toward the shroud side is provided at the inner peripheral side of the recess.

5. The centrifugal fan according to claim 1, wherein a curved surface is provided on the inner peripheral edge of the downstream side of the bellmouth.

3. A centrifugal fan comprising:

an impeller that is rotated around an axis;

a casing that accommodates the impeller, that includes a bellmouth forming a substantially circular gas intake whose axis is the same as the axis around which the impeller rotates, and that forms a spiral flow path at the outer peripheral side of the impeller; and

a driving unit that rotates the impeller,

wherein the impeller includes a bottom plate that is rotated by the driving unit around the axis, a plurality of vanes that are disposed on the outer periphery of the bottom plate, and a substantially annular shroud that is concentrically disposed so as to face the bottom plate, with the vanes disposed therebetween, and that connects an end of each of the vanes,

the shroud has a shape that is slanted with respect to the axis so as to approach the bottom plate from the inner peripheral side toward the outer peripheral side,

the casing includes a shroud-facing wall that forms a space in which the dimension between the shroud and the shroud-facing wall, from the outer peripheral side to the inner peripheral side of the shroud, is substantially uniform, and

the shroud-facing wall includes a groove extending in the substantially radial direction, the recess being disposed from the outer peripheral end to the inner peripheral side of the shroud-facing wall.

4. The centrifugal fan according to claim 3, wherein the groove comprises an outer peripheral portion slanted in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the impeller and an inflection portion that is connected to the outer peripheral portion to change the direction of a flow path.

6. The centrifugal fan according to claim 3, wherein a curved surface is provided on the inner peripheral edge of the downstream side of the bellmouth.