Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
260 words
An axial flow fan comprising a hub rotatable on an axis and blades extending in a generally radial direction from said hub to a circular band connecting tips of said blades, each of said blades terminating at a leading edge which is forwardly swept at least in the region defined by r/R>0.90 where r=radial position and R=fan radius, and each of the blades having a trailing edge which is forwardly swept in that region, and each of the blades being characterized in that: a) in an axial projection of the blade, a line defined by the points of maximum camber (f max ) as a function of changing radial position (r) is on the leading edge side of the mid-chord line M CL at the root of the blade, said f max radial function being less forwardly skewed than the leading edge, the mid-chord line, and the trailing edge of said blade; b) the blade is raked forwardly so that the trailing edge of the tip of the blade is axially forward of the trailing edge at the root; the absolute value of said rake (k) increases monotonically as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R, where R is the fan radius; c) the blade has a pitch (ratio (P/D)) of at least 0.6 (where P=pitch and D=fan diameter) generally throughout the extent of the blade; and d) the rake (k) where r/R>0.75 is a linear function of the midchord axial displacement (AD MC ) at radius r expressed in degrees is corrected to reflect the chordwise position of maximum camber.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
260 words
An axial flow fan comprising a hub rotatable on an axis and blades extending in a generally radial direction from said hub to a circular band connecting tips of said blades, each of said blades terminating at a leading edge which is forwardly swept at least in the region defined by r/R>0.90 where r=radial position and R=fan radius, and each of the blades having a trailing edge which is forwardly swept in that region, and each of the blades being characterized in that: a) in an axial projection of the blade, a line defined by the points of maximum camber (f max ) as a function of changing radial position (r) is on the leading edge side of the mid-chord line M CL at the root of the blade, said f max radial function being less forwardly skewed than the leading edge, the mid-chord line, and the trailing edge of said blade; b) the blade is raked forwardly so that the trailing edge of the tip of the blade is axially forward of the trailing edge at the root; the absolute value of said rake (k) increases monotonically as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R, where R is the fan radius; c) the blade has a pitch (ratio (P/D)) of at least 0.6 (where P=pitch and D=fan diameter) generally throughout the extent of the blade; and d) the rake (k) where r/R>0.75 is a linear function of the midchord axial displacement (AD MC ) at radius r expressed in degrees is corrected to reflect the chordwise position of maximum camber.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
30 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that the chord length C of each blade increases monotonically with respect to increasing radius as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The fan of claim 2 further characterized in that the first derivative of chord length with respect to increasing radius (dC(r)/dr) increases monotonically with increasing radius as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
39 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that the absolute value of the angular displacement of the mid-chord of each blade (AD MC ) increases monotonically with respect to increasing radius as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
38 words
The fan of claim 4 further characterized in that the first derivative of the absolute value of the mid-chord angular displacement with respect to r (AD MC (r)/dr) increases monotonically with as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that absolute value of the overall (from root-to-tip) mid-chord angular displacement (AD MC ) of each said blade is at least 0.25·the blade spacing (360°/N, where N=number of blades).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that the absolute value of the leading edge sweep angle (S LE ) is at least 50° at a point between r=0.9R and r=R.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
19 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that the maximum blade camber to chord ratio (f max /C).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
43 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that absolute value of the rake k is substantially a linear function of midchord skew S corrected for the chordwise position of the maximum chamber (X fmax ) according to the function k(r n )=A+B-E.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
30 words
The fan of claim 9 further characterized in that first derivative of the absolute value of rake with respect to r(dk(r)/dr) increases mononically as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
The fan of claim 1 further characterized in that the pitch ratio (P/D) decreases monotonically as r increases from 0.75R to 1.0R.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
15 words
The fan of claim 1 wherein the pitch ratio (P/D)>0.8 at all values of R.