Attachment structure of blower
A blower is attached to a heat exchanger through an attachment member. One of the heat exchanger and the attachment member has at least one engagement portion which is detachably engaged by an elastic deformation with a hole portion provided in other one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member. At least one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is deformed before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion, and is deflected and reformed when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion. Accordingly, a counteractive force due to a deflection is applied to the attachment member, to be pressed to the heat exchanger. Therefore, a relative movement between the attachment member and the heat exchanger can be restricted, even if a gap is formed therebetween when the attachment member is attached to the heat exchanger.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-363476 filed on Oct. 23, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to an attachment structure for attaching a blower to a heat exchanger. The blower is provided to blow air to the heat exchanger, for example, a radiator in a vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONGenerally, a blower is attached to a radiator of a vehicle through an attachment member such as a shroud. Protruding portions provided in the radiator are inserted into U-shape grooves provided in the shroud at lower attachment positions of the shroud, so that the shroud is attached to the radiator (for example, refer to JP-A-11-229878). The shroud is fixed to the radiator (i.e., heat exchanger) by using bolts at two upper attachment positions.
The shroud is disposed to shroud a gap between the blower and the radiator, thereby restricting an air flow induced by the blower from bypassing the radiator. Therefore, a cooling capacity of the radiator can be increased.
However, in the attachment structure referring to JP-A-11-229878, fastening members such as the bolts and nuts are necessary in addition to the radiator, the blower and the shroud. As a result, it takes longer time for attaching the blower and for classifying the attachment structure of the blower when being recycled. Therefore, a recycling performance of the attachment structure is deteriorated.
An attachment structure, in which the blower is attached to the radiator without using the bolts or the nuts, is proposed in JP-A-2002-4861. In this attachment structure, protruding portions, which protrude from the radiator, fit with recessed portions provided in the shroud, so that a vertical load (i.e., self-weight) applied to the blower is received by the shroud. Furthermore, engagement protruding portions, which protrude from the radiator, engage with engagement hole portions provided in the shroud, so that a horizontal load (i.e., exciting force) applied to the blower is received by the shroud. However, in this attachment structure, a gap may be formed between the engagement protruding portion and the engagement hole portion due to a dimension difference of the engagement protruding portion, when the shroud is attached to the radiator. In this case, the shroud may be moved relative to the radiator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an attachment structure for attaching a blower to a heat exchanger (e.g. radiator) through an attachment member (e.g. shroud) while a relative movement between the attachment member and the heat exchanger can be restricted.
According to the present invention, an attachment structure includes a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between air and a fluid therein, a blower for blowing air to the heat exchanger, and an attachment member through which the blower is attached to the heat exchanger. In the attachment structure, one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member has at least one engagement portion, and the engagement portion is detachably engaged by an elastic deformation with a hole portion which is provided in other one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member. In addition, at least one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is deformed before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion, and is deflected and reformed due to deformation when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion.
Alternatively, in an attachment structure of the present invention, the heat exchanger has a fitting surface that is arranged opposite to a fitting surface of the attachment member when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion, and one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is bent to be tilted with respect to other one of the fitting surfaces before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion.
Accordingly, when the attachment member is attached to the heat exchanger, at least one of the attachment member and the heat exchanger has a deflection, so that a counteractive force is applied to the one of the attachment member and the heat exchanger. As a result, the one of the attachment member and the heat exchanger is pressed to the other one of the attachment member and the heat exchanger. Accordingly, even if a gap is formed between the engagement portion and the hole portion when being assembled, the attachment member is not removed from the heat exchanger.
Preferably, when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion, at least one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is deflected and reformed so that the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member becomes approximately parallel to each other.
For example, at least three the engagement portions are arranged in a line in an arrangement direction perpendicular to an air flowing direction of the heat exchanger, and the one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is bent to have a convex shape at an approximate middle area in the arrangement direction before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion. The one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member can be bent to have a v-shape or a wave shape before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion.
Further, the one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member can be provided on the attachment member. In addition, the engagement portion can be provided in the heat exchanger, and the hole portion can be provided in the attachment member.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSOther objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described referring to
In this embodiment, the radiator 10 is a heat exchanger for radiating heat to air. The radiator 10 is provided with at least one heat-exchanging core and header tanks 11. Each of the heat-exchanging cores includes plural tubes (not shown) and plural wave-shape fins (not shown). Engine-cooling water circulates in an internal-combustion engine (i.e., vehicle driving source for traveling) to recover heat from the engine, and flows through the tubes to radiate the heat to air. The plural fins are disposed between the adjacent tubes for improving the heat exchanging performance between air and the engine-cooling water. The header tanks 11, communicating with each of the tubes, are disposed at two end sides of the tubes in a longitudinal direction of the tubes, and extend in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tubes.
In this embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the tubes is arranged to correspond to a vertical direction of the vehicle. Moreover, a longitudinal direction of the header tank 11 is arranged to correspond to a horizontal direction of the vehicle. The engine-cooling water flows from the upper one of the header tanks 11 to each of the tubes in which the engine-cooling water is heat-exchanged, and thereafter is collected in the lower one of the header tanks 11 from each of the tubes.
The tubes and the fins are made of metal (e.g., aluminum in this embodiment). Each of the header tanks 11 includes a core plate (not shown) which is made of metal (e.g., aluminum in this embodiment) to be bonded with the tubes by brazing, and a tank body 11a made of resin. That is, the core plate and the tank body 11a are connected to form an inner space of the header tank 11. A part of the core plate of the header tank 11 is plastically deformed to be assembled with the tank body 11a using a seal member such as a packing (not shown).
Here, the brazing is a bonding technology where the bonding is performed by using a brazing metal or a solder while a base material is not melted, as described in, for example, Connection and Junction Technology (Tokyo Electrical Machinery University Publishing Company).
Generally, the brazing is referred when the bonding is performed by using a metal material with a melting point beyond 450° C., and this metal material is called as the brazing material. In contrast, a soldering is referred when the bonding is performed by using a metal material with a melting point below 450° C., and this metal material is called as the solder.
The blower 20 includes an axis-flow fan 21 for inducing an air flow, and an electric motor 22 for driving and rotating the fan 21.
The fan shroud 30 shrouds a gap between the radiator 10 and the blower 20 to define an air passage (i.e., duct for an air flow) therebetween, so that the blower 20 is restricted from drawing air from the downstream air side with respect to the radiator 10. Accordingly, the air flow induced by the blower 20 does not bypass the radiator 10.
At least one blower 20 (e.g., two as shown in
Next, the attachment structure of the blower 20 to the radiator 10, that is, the attachment structure of the fan shroud 30 to the radiator 10 will be now described.
As shown in
As shown in
Moreover, at each of the upper attachment positions P1-P3, a flexible engagement protruding portion 13 is provided to protrude from the tank body 11a between the pair of protruding portions 12, and an engagement hole portion 33 is provided in the fan shroud 30 at a bottom of the inner wall defining the recessed portion 32, as shown in
An engaging nail portion 13a is integrally formed with the engagement protruding portion 13 at a tip portion of the engagement protruding portion 13, so that a disengaging of the engagement protruding portion 13 from the engagement hole portion 33 can be restricted.
In the attachment structure according to this embodiment, the protruding portion 11b of the radiator 10 is firstly inserted into the U-shape groove 31 of the fan shroud 30 at each of the lower attachment positions P4 and P5 as shown in
In this embodiment, when the fan shroud 30 is not engaged with the radiator 10, one (i.e., fitting surface 30a in this embodiment) of the fitting surfaces 11d and 30a is beforehand deformed by bending, and thereby offsetting from the other (i.e., fitting surface 11d in this embodiment) at two end sides of the arrangement line in which the three engagement protruding portions 13 are arranged. That is, a slant angle between the fitting surface 30a and the fitting surface 11d is set at 1.5°, for example, in this embodiment. At an approximate middle part of the arrangement line, the fitting surface 30a is beforehand bent to protrude to the side of the fitting surface 11d in the air flowing direction (i.e., vehicle front-rear direction). Therefore, the fitting surface 30a has a slight bent shape such as a large-angle V-shape, as shown in
Therefore, when the engagement protruding portion 13 of the radiator 10 engages with the engagement hole portion 33 of the fan shroud 30, the fan shroud 30 is reformed and deflected. That is, as shown in
In this embodiment, the fan shroud 30 is beforehand deformed by bending to have approximately the large-angle V-shape in the fitting surface 30a. When the fan shroud 30 is engaged with the radiator 10, the fan shroud 30 is reformed and deflected, so that a counteractive force due to the deflection is applied to the fan shroud 30 by the engagement protruding portion 13. As a result, the fan shroud 30 is pressed to the tank body 11a (i.e. side of radiator). Accordingly, a relative movement between the engagement protruding portion 13 and the engagement hole portion 33 can be restricted, even if a gap is formed therebetween when being mounted.
When any one of the fitting surfaces 11d, 30a is not deformed (bent) beforehand as shown in
(Other Embodiment)
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the fitting surface 30a of the fan shroud 30 is beforehand bent to be slant with respect to the flat fitting surface 11d of the radiator 10. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The fitting surface 11d, or both of the fitting surfaces 11d and 30a can be bent to be deformed.
According to the present invention, in order to restrict the relative movement between the attachment member (shroud) and the heat exchanger (radiator), at least one of the fitting surfaces is deflected and reformed when being assembled. In the above-described embodiment, the shroud 30 is deflected and reformed in the assembly because the fitting surface 30a of the shroud 30 is deformed by bending before the assembly. Instead of the bending, other method can be also used such that the shroud 30 is deflected and reformed when being attached to the radiator 10.
Moreover, a set value of the slant angle between the fitting surface 30a and the fitting surfaces 11d can be changed according to the size, material and rigidity of the fan shroud 30, and is not limited to the above-described value.
Moreover, the shape of the engagement protruding portion 13, which is the engagement portion in the present invention, is not limited to that described in the above-described embodiment.
Moreover, in the above-described embodiment, the engagement protruding portion 13 is provided in the radiator 10, and the engagement hole portion 33 is provided in the shroud plate 30 to engage with the engagement protruding portion 13. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the engagement protruding portion 13 can be also provided in the shroud plate 30, and the engagement hole portion 33 can be also provided in the radiator 10.
Moreover, in the above-described embodiment, the attachment structure at the lower attachment positions P4 and P5 is different from that at the upper attachment positions P1-P3. However, the attachment structure at all of the attachment positions can be the same as that at the upper attachment positions P1-P3.
Moreover, in the above-described embodiment, the shroud plate 30 is beforehand bent to protrude to the side of the radiator 10 to have approximately the large-angle V-shape. However, the shroud plate 30 can be also beforehand bent to protrude to a contrary side of the radiator 10 to have approximately the large-angle V-shape. Furthermore, the shroud plate 30 can be also beforehand bent to have a wave shape.
Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. An attachment structure comprising:
- a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between air and a fluid therein;
- a blower for blowing air to the heat exchanger; and
- an attachment member through which the blower is attached to the heat exchanger, wherein:
- one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member has at least one engagement portion, the engagement portion being detachably engaged by an elastic deformation with a hole portion which is provided in other one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member; and
- at least one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is deformed before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion, and is deflected and reformed due to deformation when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion.
2. An attachment structure comprising:
- a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between air and a fluid therein;
- a blower for blowing air to the heat exchanger; and
- an attachment member through which the blower is attached to the heat exchanger, wherein:
- one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member has at least one engagement portion, the engagement portion being detachably engaged by an elastic deformation with a hole portion which is provided in other one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member;
- the heat exchanger has a fitting surface that is arranged opposite to a fitting surface of the attachment member when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion; and
- one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is bent to be tilted with respect to other one of the fitting surfaces before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion.
3. The attachment structure according to claim 2, wherein
- when the engagement portion engages with the hole portion, at least one of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is deflected and reformed so that the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member becomes approximately parallel to each other.
4. The attachment structure according to claim 2, wherein:
- at least three the engagement portions are arranged in a line in an arrangement direction perpendicular to an air flowing direction of the heat exchanger; and
- the one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is bent to have a convex shape at an approximate middle area in the arrangement direction before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion.
5. The attachment structure according to claim 4, wherein the one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is bent to have a wave shape before the engagement portion is engaged with the hole portion.
6. The attachment structure according to claim 2, wherein the one of the fitting surfaces of the heat exchanger and the attachment member is on the attachment member.
7. The attachment structure according to claim 6, wherein the attachment member is made of resin.
8. The attachment structure according to claim 1, wherein:
- the engagement portion is provided in the heat exchanger; and
- the hole portion is provided in the attachment member.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 20, 2004
Publication Date: May 26, 2005
Inventor: Toyoaki Kobayashi (Kariya-city)
Application Number: 10/969,199