This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan patent application number 112103918 filed on Feb. 3, 2023.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a fan frame, and more particularly, to an axial fan frame with electrical connection structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A fan is a common system heat dissipation device used in an electronic apparatus, such as a server or a computer, to provide the effect of forced cooling. Generally, the fan is internally provided with a power source and a circuit board for signal control and includes a power cord assembly having an electrical connector. The power cord assembly is extended to an outer side of a frame of the fan to electrically connect the electrical connector to a motherboard of an external electronic apparatus, so as to enable transmission of signal and power between the fan circuit board and the motherboard. The power cord assembly extended to the outer side of the fan frame must be manually organized to prevent it from interfering with the path via which air flow is blown out of the fan.

Further, the circuit board in the currently available fan is electrically connected to the power cord assembly by welding with bare hands. More specifically, the power cord assembly has a plurality of wire ends, which are correspondingly inserted into a plurality of welding holes on the circuit board with bare hands. Then, a solder is applied to and molten in each welding hole, so that the wire ends in the corresponding welding holes are molten and bonded to the welding holes and a welding spot is formed on each of the welding holes. The connection of the fan circuit board to the power cord assembly by welding with bare hands would consume considerable labor to increase manufacturing time and cost in the case of mass production. Beside, in the process of welding, wire ends of the power cord assembly tend to be overheated by the molten solder to cause softened or burnout wire sheath, which prevents the wire ends of the power cord assembly from being accurately welded in the welding holes easily to often result in poor contact or false welding at the welding spots. These situations would further cause poor contact or open circuit between the fan circuit board and the power cord assembly and accordingly, unstable power or signal transmission. In some worse condition, power interruption or signal transmission break would occur, leading to sudden inactive fan, followed by heat crash or overheating damage of electronic elements, such as central processing unit or graphics processing unit, in the electronic apparatus.

It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an axial fan frame with electrical connection structure, which can overcome the problems in the conventional fan that the fan power cord needs organization manually and that the connection of the fan circuit board to the fan power cord assembly requires welding with bare hands to consume increased labor and accordingly, increased manufacturing cost and time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the above-mentioned problems, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an axial fan frame with electrical connection structure to replace the fan power cord assembly connected to the circuit board of the conventional fan.

To achieve the above and other objects, the axial fan frame with electrical connection structure according to the present invention includes a circuit board and a frame. The circuit board has an arm outward extended from a periphery thereof, and the arm has a free end serving as a metal contact end. The frame defines two ends, namely, an air inlet and an air outlet. The frame includes a groove provided on an outer surface thereof for receiving an external cord assembly therein, a shaft holder provided at the air outlet and internally defining a receiving recess for receiving the circuit board therein, a plurality of stator blades connected to between the shaft holder and the frame, and a communicating passage located between the shaft holder and the frame to communicate them with each other. An end of the groove located at the air outlet is shaped to fitly receive an electrical connector provided on the external cord assembly, the communicating passage has two ends communicating with the receiving recess and the groove, respectively, and the arm of the circuit board is set in the communicating passage with its metal contact end extended into the groove to connect to the electrical connector of the external cord assembly.

With the axial fan frame with electrical connection structure according to the present invention, it is able to realize automated and quick assembling of the external cord assembly to the circuit board to save a lot of manufacturing labor, time and cost. In this manner, the external cord assembly can be electrically connected to the circuit board simply by plugging the electrical connector on the external cord assembly to the metal contact end of the arm of the circuit board without the need of welding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an axial fan frame with electrical connection structure according to the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are partially and fully assembled perspective views, respectively, of the axial fan frame of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described with a preferred embodiment thereof.

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B and 3. The present invention provides an axial fan frame with electrical connection structure, which mainly includes a frame 1 and a circuit board 2. The frame 1 and the circuit board 2 are now described in detail as below.

The frame 1 defines two open ends, which are an air inlet 11 and an air outlet 12. At the air outlet 12, there are provided a shaft holder 13 and a plurality of stator blades 16 that connect the shaft holder 13 to the frame 1. The shaft holder 13 is located at a central area of the air outlet 12 and internally defines a receiving recess 131 for receiving the circuit board 2 therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the receiving recess 131 is formed on a bottom of the shaft holder 13 and is closed by a cover 4 later to provide a closed chamber.

The frame 1 is provided on one of its outer surfaces with a groove 14, which is linearly and axially extended from the air inlet 11 to the air outlet 12 for receiving an external cord assembly 3 therein. More specifically, the groove 14 has a first end 141 and a second end 142 located at the air inlet 11 and the air outlet 12, respectively; and has a notch 1421 formed at the second end 142 in the vicinity of the air outlet 12.

The stator blades 16 are radially spaced between an outer side of the shaft holder 13 and an inner side of the frame 1.

A communicating passage 161a is formed between the shaft holder 13 and the frame 1 to communicate these two parts with one another. More specifically, the communicating passage 161a is located between the outer side of the shaft holder 13 and the inner side of the frame 1 with two open ends facing toward the shaft holder 13 and the frame 1, respectively. The end of the communicating passage 161a facing toward the shaft holder 13 is communicable with the receiving recess 131, while the other end of the communicating passage 161a facing toward the frame 1 passes through the notch 1421 to communicate with the groove 14. Alternatively, the communicating passage 161a can be formed on one of the stator blades 16, which is denoted by 16a herein. The communicating passage 161a has a top open side, which faces toward the air outlet 12 of the frame 1 and is also closed by the cover 4 later.

The circuit board 2 received in the receiving recess 131 can be, for example, a printed circuit board (PCB), but not a flexible circuit board (FPC) or other traditional cable lines, and includes an arm 22 outward extended from a periphery thereof. The arm 22 has an end connected to the circuit board 2 and another end being a free end provided with metal contacts 23 to serve as a metal contact end 221. The arm 22 of the circuit board 2 is set in the communicating passage 161a with the metal contact end 221 extended into the groove 14 via the notch 1421. The metal contact end 221 has an upper surface 2211 and a lower surface 2212. In some operable embodiments, at least one metal contact 23 can be selectively provided on one or both of the upper surface 2211 and the lower surface 2212. Preferably, as shown in the present embodiment, both of the upper and the lower surface 2211, 2212 are provided with the metal contact 23. In this case, the metal contact end 221 of the arm 22 can have a width reduced to one half of the metal contact end 221 that has metal contacts 23 provided on only one of the upper and the lower surface 2211, 2212 thereof. The metal contact end 221 with a reduced width allows for a more compact electrical connection structure to be formed on the frame 1.

The cover 4 is so shaped to include portions corresponding to the receiving recess 131 and the communicating passage 161a, so as to fitly close the receiving recess 131 and the communicating passage 161a at the same time. More specifically, the cover 4 includes a main portion for correspondingly covering and closing the receiving recess 131 and a projected portion 41 for correspondingly covering and closing the communicating passage 161a, so that the circuit board 2 and the arm 22 are protected from collision with external objects and becoming damaged.

The external cord assembly 3 includes an electrical connector 31 and a cord 32 having the electrical connector 31 connected to an end thereof. The cord 32 is fitted in the groove 14 to extend from the first end 141 to the second end 142 of the groove 14; and the electrical connector 31 is fitly received in the notch 1421 at the second end 142 of the groove 14 to connect to the metal contact end 221 of the arm 22. In an operable embodiment, the electrical connector 31 further includes at least one protruded portion 311 and the second end 142 of the groove 14 near the air outlet 12 is provided with at least one cavity 1422. The protruded portion 311 of the external electrical connector 31 and the cavity 1422 of the groove 14 can correspondingly engage with each other to form a mortise-tenon joint that provides enhanced connection strength between the external cord assembly 3 and the groove 14.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 to 3, when the circuit board 2 is placed in the receiving recess 131, the arm 22 of the circuit board 2 can be fitly set in the communicating passage 161a with the metal contact end 221 on the arm 22 extended into the groove 14. To electrically connect the external cord assembly 3 to the circuit board 2, simply align the electrical connector 31 with the notch 1421 at the second end 142 of the groove 14 and push the electrical connector 31 into the notch 1421. At this point, metal conductor wires in the electrical connector 31 are in contact with the metal contacts 23 on the metal contact end 221, and the protruded portion 311 on the electrical connector 31 is correspondingly engaged with the cavity 1422 on the groove 14, stopping the electrical connector 31 from moving out of the notch 1421 at the second end 142 of the groove 14.

In the present invention, since the circuit board 2 and the arm 22 thereof are not flexible like the traditional FPC or wire cords, respectively, they possess required rigidity to provide sufficient supporting strength, which allows the electrical connector 31 of the external cord assembly 3 to be directly plugged to the metal contact end 221 of the arm 22 without the need of welding. That is, the connection of the external cord assembly 3 to the circuit board 2 can be performed in an automated manner to enable largely increased production efficiency and reduced manufacturing cost. Further, the provision of the protruded portion 311 and the corresponding cavity 1422 not only provides a fool-proof effect, but also provides a positioning reference point for a visual identity system that is required in automated cord and circuit board assembling, and is therefore, highly contributable to the realization of automated cord assembling in the fan production.

In conclusion, the present invention provides the following advantages:

(1) It realizes automated cord assembling and fan production; (2) It overcomes the problem in the conventional fan production that fan cord connected to the fan circuit board requires organization manually; and (3) It enables the fan to have a compact electrical connection structure.

The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.