Minebea Company, Limited

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.p.

Minebea Co., Ltd. (Minebea)

Yousef M Jarrah

Hanson Situ

John P Franz

Wade David Vinson

Gregory Martin Chrysler

Mark A Meltser

Ronald L James

Nigel Strike

John B Ruhl

Patrick H Harper

Shen Zhao

Glen Meadows

Thang V Nguyen

Hirofumi Shoji

Christopher Best

Christian König

Desmond Riedel

Hirofuni Shoji

Kevin Wackerly

Thang Ngugen

John Herzberger

An axial-flow fan structure is disclosed, having a localized area expansion between the rotor (i.e. front rotating impeller) and stator blades (i.e. rear stationary or fixed blades, sometimes called de-swirl vanes). The area expansion is provided by utilizing an impeller having a (slightly) falling tip contour (FTC).

Fan with area expansion between rotor and stator blades

A cooling fan having motor and an impeller. The cooling fan may comprise a three-phase DC motor. The impeller may comprise a hub to house the three-phase DC motor and a plurality of blades extending from the hub. Each blade may have a height that is at least 25 % of the impeller diameter.

Cooling fan for electronic device

In accordance with at least some embodiments, a computer system includes an enclosure () configured to hold at least one resource unit (). The computer system also comprises a plurality of mixed-flow ducted fans units () selectively attached to the enclosure (). Each mixed-flow ducted fan unit () comprises a duct () having an intake diameter, a bellmouth diameter, and an exhaust diameter. The bellmouth diameter is less than the intake diameter and the exhaust diameter.

Mixed-flow ducted fan

Disclosed is a compact and integrated fan, pump, and heat exchanger system where air-cooling is performed via the fan, liquid cooling is performed via a pump, and heat exchange fins in thermal contact with a fluid channel act as a heat exchanger. Heated fluid is carried inside the fluid channel, where heat therein is conducted to the fins. The air flows around the outside surfaces of the fins so that the heat transfers from the heated fluid into the air stream.

Compact air-plus-liquid thermal management module

According to embodiments of the invention, an impeller includes a hub, and a plurality of radial blades for drawing the air inflow axially through the hub and delivering the drawn air radially towards the outside. A ring is attached to one or more tips of the plurality of radial blades to block a portion of the tip toward the inlet side of the impeller. The preferred blockage factor, which is the ratio of a height of the ring to a height of the tip, is approximately in a range between 30% and 40%. By blocking a portion of the tip toward the inlet side of the impeller, the low-momentum flow zone toward the inlet side of impeller is blocked, while the high-momentum flow zone toward the back side of impeller is enhanced. As such, the performance of the impeller is enhanced.

Blower impeller with partial tip blockage

Disclosed is a compact and integrated fan, pump, and heat exchanger system where air-cooling is performed via the fan, liquid cooling is performed via a pump, and the drilled pump diffusers act as a heat exchanger. The pump has drilled diffusers through which liquid passes into the volute, the drilled diffusers are streamlined and thus act as fan stator blades. Hot liquid is centrifuged and carried inside the drilled diffusers while air flows around the outside surfaces of the drilled diffusers. A heat transfer occurs where heat transfers from the hot liquid into the air stream.

Integrated fan with pump and heat exchanger cooling capability

Wavy fan blade

A fan housing is provided with slots formed in the enclosure of the fan housing. The slots are sized appropriately to filter the noise generated during operation of the cooling fan; e.g., tonal noise produced by the rotation of the blades. The slots may either be vented to the outside of the enclosure or closed off.

Slots in fan housing to reduce tonal noise

A fluid delivery device for an electrochemical conversion assembly. In one embodiment, the electrochemical conversion assembly is a fuel cell system. The device includes one or more fluid-manipulating components combined into a housing to minimize weight, size and complexity. In one form, the device may include a compressor, heat exchanger and a water vapor transfer unit, at least the latter two of which are located within a chamber defined by the housing. A controller can be used to monitor and selectively vary the extent to which at least one of these components modifies properties a fluid (such as air) that can be used as a reactant in the electrochemical conversion assembly. In a particular form, the heat exchanger and water vapor transfer unit can cooperate to promote the hydration of the reactant.

Integrated air supply with humidification control for fuel cell power systems

Coin-shaped fan blade assembly

Pipe-shaped compressor blades design

An air foil includes a leading edge, a trailing edge, a hub contour, and a tip contour, whereby the hub contour and tip contour extend between the leading and trailing edges to define a blade surface therebetween. A localized thick spot is disposed between the leading edge and the trailing edge and extends from a first point on the hub contour to a second point on the tip contour. The localized thick spot includes a generally sheared profile and is operable to provide the air foil with a desired strength while concurrently providing desired aerodynamic properties.

Compressor impeller thickness profile with localized thick spot

A centrifugal fan and a rotor for a centrifugal fan comprising axial blades, straight blades, and a hub having a radius that increases as a function of distance from the fan inlet.

Growing community of inventors

Henrietta, NY, United States of America

Yousef M Jarrah