FAN BRACKET AND BRACKT SET
A fan bracket and a bracket set are respectively adapted to allow a cooling fan and cooling fans to be assembled therein. The cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove and the fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic positioning protrusion and at least one joint part, in which the bracket body is provided with at least one opening and used for allowing the cooling to be placed therein; the elastic positioning protrusion is disposed in the bracket body, corresponding to the positioning groove and used for lodging in the positioning groove to allow the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body; the joint part is disposed on one side face of the bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element to enable the bracket body to be connected with and fixed on the fixing element.
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The present invention relates to a fan holder structure of an electronic apparatus, and more particularly to a fan bracket and a bracket set formed by engaging the same fan brackets.
BACKGROUNDTo increase the cooling efficiency, the number of the cooling fans is usually increased as well. As shown in
For improving the technical problems mentioned above, the present invention proposes a fan bracket and a bracket set that provides corresponding combination structures on lateral sides of each of the fan brackets to facilitate the combining operation between the fan brackets and increase convenience while forming the bracket set.
The present invention provides a fan bracket used for allowing a cooling fan to be assembled therein, the cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove, and the fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic protruded spot and at least one joint part, in which at least one opening used for allowing the cooling fan to be placed therein is disposed on the bracket body, the elastic positioning protrusion disposed in the bracket body and corresponding to the positioning groove is used for lodging in the positioning groove to enable the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body and the joint part disposed on a side face of the bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element allows the bracket body and the fixing element to be joined together to fix the bracket on the fixing element.
The present invention also provides a bracket set comprising a plurality of fan brackets and used for allowing a plurality of cooling fans to be assembled therein, each cooling fan is provided with at least one positioning groove, and each fan bracket includes a bracket body, at least one elastic protruded spot, a joint part and a joint portion, in which at least one opening used for allowing the cooling fan to be placed therein is disposed on the bracket body, the positioning protruded spot disposed in the bracket body and corresponding to the positioning groove is used for engaging in the positioning groove to enable the cooling fan to be fixed in the bracket body and the joint part disposed on a side face of the bracket body and the joint portion is disposed on another side face corresponding to the joint part, used for connecting with a joint part of another fan bracket and allows a opposing connection to be formed between each two adjacent fan brackets.
A different number of cooling fans can be combined together through the fan brackets of the present invention according to conditions of a computer system such as specifications, a housing space and a mother board occupied space. Therefore, the fan brackets of the present invention can be used on different housing and mother boards to satisfy cooling requirements for different systems. The single fan and double fan exchanging function can be attained by oppositely connecting single-fan bracket and dual-fan bracket, and a good expansibility can be easily achieved by allowing double fan and the single fan to be easily combined through the fan brackets.
Besides, the fan brackets proposed by the present invention allow no screw to be necessary to be adopted for fixing between either the fan and the fan bracket or the fan bracket and the fan bracket. Moreover, a shock absorption cushion can be installed on a bottom of the fan bracket so that the vibration generated when the cooling fan is rotating can be effectively absorbed.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:
Please refer to
The bracket body 10 is basically a rectangular housing with a holding space and used as a container for a cooling fan to be assembled therein. One opening 12 (or two, with the second located at the opposite side of the first) is disposed thereon to allow the cooling fan 40 to be placed into the bracket body 10. The elastic positioning protrusion(s) 20 is disposed on the inner surface(s) of the bracket body 10, corresponding to positioning groove(s) 42 of the cooling fan 40. The connection between the cooling fan 40 and the bracket body 10 can be achieved by lodging the elastic positioning protrusion 20 into the positioning groove 42 to fasten the cooling fan 40 in the bracket body 10. The combination between the fan and the fan bracket through the engagement of the elastic positioning protrusion 20 and the positioning groove 42 avoids the screw-based operation in the conventional technology so that the convenience of the combination between the fan and the fan bracket can be increased. Meanwhile, the cost of screws can be saved.
The bracket body 10 includes at least one airflow hole 14; the airflow holes 14 are positioned at two opposite sides of the bracket body 10. The main function of the airflow hole 14 is to allow air flow generated from the cooling fan 40 to flow through both the cooling fan 40 and the fan bracket. The number and the dispositions of the airflow holes 14 are not limited to what is shown in the figure.
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As shown in
The joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 mentioned above can be other different pairs of corresponding structures, such as a pair of a combination block piece and a combination slot, or the pair of a boss and a through hole. Each pair has two corresponding structures to engage and connect with each other. Such kind of the connection is also detailed later in the description about the bracket set.
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In addition, the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60 of any embodiment mentioned above may further respectively includes a boss 32 and a through hole 62. The shapes and the positions of the boss 32 and the through hole 62 are corresponsive to each other. The combination stability between the joint part 30 and the joint portion 60, i.e. between the fan brackets can be elevated by inserting the boss 32 into the through hole 62.
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Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A fan bracket, used for allowing a cooling fan provided with at least one positioning groove to be assembled therein and comprising:
- a bracket body, provided with at least one opening and used for allowing said cooling fan to be placed in said fan bracket therethrough;
- at least one elastic positioning protrusion, disposed in said bracket body, corresponding to said positioning groove and used for lodging in said positioning groove to fix said cooling fan in said bracket body; and
- at least one joint part, disposed on one side face of said bracket body and used for connecting with a joint portion of a fixing element to allow said bracket body to be connected with and fixed on said fixing element.
2. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein a direction of said opening is the same as an axial direction of said cooling fan and said opening is adapted to allow flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.
3. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said bracket body comprises at least one airflow hole used for allowing flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.
4. The fan bracket according to claim 3, wherein said airflow holes are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.
5. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a double fan.
6. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a single fan.
7. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint parts are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.
8. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion is an engaging hole and said joint part is a hook used for lodging in said engaging hole.
9. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion is a combination slot, and said joint part is a combination block piece used for lodging in said combination slot.
10. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said joint portion comprises a through hole and said joint part comprises a boss used for passing through said through hole.
11. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said fixing element is a wall face of a computer housing.
12. The fan bracket according to claim 1, wherein said fixing comprises an accepting space used for allowing said cooling fan to be accepted therein.
13. The fan bracket according to claim 1, further comprising:
- at least ring portion, disposed on a bottom of an outer part of said bracket body; and
- a least one shock absorption cushion, installed in said ring portion and used for absorbing shock generated when said cooling fan is rotating.
14. The fan bracket according to claim 13, wherein said ring portions are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.
15. The fan bracket according to claim 13, wherein said shock absorption cushion is plastic, an invert hook used for allowing said shock absorption cushion to be fixed in said ring portion is put around said ring portion to match up therewith.
16. A bracket set, comprising a plurality of fan brackets and used for allowing a plurality of cooling fans to be assembled therein, each cooling fan being provided with at least one positioning groove and each said fan bracket comprising:
- a bracket body, provided with at least one opening and used for allowing said cooling fan to be placed in said fan bracket therethrough;
- at least one elastic positioning protrusion, disposed in said bracket body, corresponding to said positioning groove and used for lodging in said positioning groove to fix said cooling fan in said bracket body;
- a joint part, disposed on one side face of said bracket body; and
- a joint portion, disposed on another side face or said bracket body opposite to said joint part and used for being connected with said joint part of another said fan bracket to enable said fan brackets to be oppositely connected to each other.
17. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein a direction of said opening is the same as an axial direction of said cooling fan and said opening is adapted to allow flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.
18. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said bracket body comprises at least one airflow hole used for allowing flow generated from said cooling fan to flow therethrough.
19. The bracket set according to claim 18, wherein said airflow holes are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.
20. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a double fan.
21. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said cooling fan accepted in an inner space of said bracket body is a single fan.
22. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion is an engaging hole and said joint part is a hook used for lodging in said engaging hole.
23. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion is a combination slot, and said joint part is a combination block piece used for lodging in said combination slot.
24. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein said joint portion comprises a through hole and said joint part comprises a boss used for passing through said through hole.
25. The bracket set according to claim 16, wherein each said fan bracket further comprises:
- at least ring portion, disposed on a bottom of an outer part of said bracket body; and
- at least one shock absorption cushion, installed in said ring portion and used for absorbing shock generated when said cooling fan is rotating.
26. The bracket set according to claim 25, wherein said ring portions are respectively disposed on two opposite side faces of said bracket body.
27. The bracket set according to claim 25, wherein said shock absorption cushion is plastic, an invert hook used for allowing said shock absorption cushion to be fixed in said ring portion is put around said ring portion to match up therewith.
Type: Application
Filed: May 15, 2007
Publication Date: Nov 20, 2008
Applicant: MITAC INTERNATIONAL CORP. (Gueishan Shiang)
Inventors: ZE-MIN HU (Gueishan Shiang), Chun-Hung Lee (Gueishan Shiang)
Application Number: 11/748,616
International Classification: F04D 29/40 (20060101);