A VENTILATING SYSTEM FOR MOTOR VEHICLES

Technical Field

This invention relates to a ventilating system, especially for motor vehicles, that is to say, a system for conditioning the air and/or cooling engines in motor vehicles. These systems include a fan, usually of the axial type, designed to direct an air flow against a heat exchange device.

Background Art

As is known, fans used for this purpose comprise a casing, commonly known as shroud, shaped like a ring and externally defined by a cylindrical wall. The shroud has a plurality of radial arms that support an electric motor mounted at the centre of it. The motor output shaft is coaxial with the cylindrical wall. The free end of the motor shaft is integral with an impeller consisting of a plurality of vanes.

A cable connects the motor to an electrical power source inside the vehicle.

As is known, fans of this type are fixed to the inside face of a mounting wall, at an air opening in the mounting wall itself, the latter delimiting a closed space containing components that form part of the conditioning and/or cooling systems.

This means that the impeller, relative to the radial arms of the fan shroud, faces the air opening towards the outside, whilst the electric motor faces the inside of the closed space. Thus, the power cable of the motor follows a path inside the vehicle to connect up to the respective power source.

In practice, it has been found that this type of structure may lead to problems during installation, removal and maintenance of the axial fan on account of the confined spaces making work on the fan difficult and time-consuming.

Disclosure of the Invention

This invention has for an aim to propose a ventilating system, equipped with an axial fan, that is quick and easy to install and remove.

This invention accordingly provides a ventilating system, equipped with an axial fan, comprising the characteristics described in one or more of the appended claims.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention are more apparent in the detailed description below, with reference to a preferred, non-restricting, embodiment of an axial fan, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic side view, partly in cross section, of a part of a ventilating system equipped with an axial fan according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the axial fan of Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4 are scaled-up perspective views of a part of the axial fan of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a detail from figures 1 to 4;

Figure 6 is a lateral section view of a scaled-up detail from Figure 1.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Invention

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a ventilating system, especially for a motor vehicle, designed for example to be used for the vehicle' s air conditioning system and/or to cool its engine.

The system comprises an axial fan 2 mounted at an opening 3 made in a mounting wall 4 delimiting the top of a space 5 for housing the components of the system 1.

The fan 2 comprises a ring-shaped casing 6, whose axis is labelled X, which is externally defined by a cylindrical wall 7 and which constitutes a shroud for directing an air flow. The ring-shaped casing 6 has, at the top of it, a flange 8 and is

fitted in the opening 3 in such a way that it can be extracted and abuts with the lower edge of the flange 8 against the outside surface 9 of the wall 4.

The ring-shaped casing 6 has a plurality of radial arms or spokes 10 for supporting a motor 11 whose output shaft, which is coaxial with the axis X, mounts at the free end of it inside the space 5, an impeller 12 comprising a plurality of vanes 13 causing the conditioning and/or cooling air to flow from the outside to the inside of the space 5. It should be noted that the impeller 12 might, if necesary, cause the air to flow from the inside to the outside of the space

5.

The electric motor 11 is connected to an electrical power source (not illustrated) through a power cable 14 which, starting from an electrical power socket 15 located on the top cover 11a of the motor 11, outside the space 5, extends radially along a first path section above the spokes 10 and is held against them by a clip 16.

The cable 14 then passes through a U-shaped slot, labelled 17, in the flange 8 and runs along the cylindrical outside surface

18 of the ring-shaped casing 6.

Advantageously, the cable 14 is held in contact with the cylindrical surface 18 by fastening means labelled 19 in their entirety. Thus, the power cable 14 leading out of the socket 15 of the electric motor 11 passes through the fastening means 19 and either directly or indirectly reaches the electrical power source located inside the space 5, to which it can be connected through a connector 14a. The fastening means 19 comprise retaining means, labelled 20 in their entirety, integral with the ring-shaped casing 6, and a locking device 21 for holding the cable 14 securely against the outside surface 18.

The retaining means 20 consist of a pair of protrusions 22 parallel to the axis X and integral with the cylindrical surface

18 of the ring-shaped casing 6. The protrusions 22 are defined at the top by two surfaces 23 transversal to the axis X and, in a

direction parallel to the latter, have two longitudinal grooves 24 facing the outside.

The locking device 21, which is removably pressure fitted on the protrusions 22, forms, together with the latter, a passage 25 for the power cable 14.

More specifically, the locking device 21 comprises a bottom wall 26 and a pair of walls 27 and 28 parallel with each other and perpendicular to the bottom wall 26.

The walls 27 and 28 have respective ribs 29, extending in a direction parallel with the axis X, and which are pressure fitted inside the grooves 24 of the protrusions 22, in such a way as to form radial locking means of the locking device 21.

At a first end of it, the bottom wall 26 has a flexible portion 30 extending past the ends of the two walls 27 and 28. The portion 30 has, on the side of it facing the two ribs 29, a pair of shoulders 31, extending transversally to the axis X and which abut against the transversal surfaces 23 of the protrusions 22, in such a way as to form axial locking means of the device 21 itself. It should be noticed that the flexible portion 30 of the locking device 21 faces the U-shaped slot 17 made in the flange 8.

At a second end of it, the locking device 21 has an opening 32 defining an outlet from the passage 25 though which the power cable 14 leads out of the ring-shaped casing 6 inside the space 5. In this regard, it should be noticed that, at the opening 32, the wall 27 has a slot 33 designed to allow the cable 14 to be inserted and pulled out without having to remove the connector 14a.

To detach the locking device 21 from the fastening means 19 it is sufficient to manually bend the flexible portion 30 in such a way as to release the shoulders 31 from the transversal surfaces

23 of the protrusions 22 and slide the device 21 in an axial direction.

The invention achieves the aforementioned aims because the locking device 21 makes it possible to fasten the power cable 14 directly to the cylindrical outside surface 18 of the shroud, thus enabling the fan to be quickly and easily fitted to and removed

from the mounting wall 4 through the opening 3.

Furthermore, there is practically no interference between the power cable 14 and the impeller 12 since the power cable is attached to the ring-shaped casing 6, which means that the power cable moves as one with the fan when the latter is moved from its position.