Blower Unit for Vehicle

Abstract

A blower unit for generating air for cooling a heat exchanger includes a plurality of blowers, a single motor, a driving shaft, gears, gear boxes and a joint. The blowers are arranged in parallel with each other with respect to a flow of air passing through the heat exchanger. The driving shaft extends from the motor and is connected to rotation shafts of the blowers through the gears. The gear boxes house the gears therein and support the driving shaft and the rotation shafts of the blowers to be rotatable. The driving shaft is divided into a plurality of shaft parts in a longitudinal direction thereof. The adjacent shaft parts are connected to each other through the joint.

1 . A blower unit for generating air passing through a heat exchanger of a vehicle, the blower unit comprising:
 a plurality of blowers arranged in parallel with each other with respect to a flow of air passing through the heat exchanger, the blowers having rotation shafts;   a single motor;   a driving shaft extending from the motor, the driving shaft being divided into a plurality of shaft parts in a longitudinal direction thereof;   gears connecting the driving shaft and the rotation shafts of the blowers;   gear boxes housing the gears therein, the gear boxes supporting the driving shaft and the rotation shafts to be rotatable; and   a joint disposed between adjacent shaft parts and connecting the adjacent shaft parts in the longitudinal direction of the driving shaft.   
   
   
       2 . The blower unit according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the driving shaft has a connecting portion of the shaft parts at least one of between the motor and one of the blowers, which is located closer to the motor than the other, and between adjacent blowers.   
   
   
       3 . The blower unit according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the driving shaft has connecting portions of the shaft parts at locations adjacent to the gear boxes.   
   
   
       4 . The blower unit according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a fan shroud including a plurality of shroud ring portions aligned in the longitudinal direction of the driving shaft, wherein   the blowers are correspondingly disposed in the shroud ring portions,   each of the blowers has a first axial fan and a second axial fan,   the first axial fan has a first boss part and a plurality of first blades radially extending from the first boss part,   the second axial fan has a second boss part and a plurality of second blades radially extending from the second boss part,   the first axial fan and the second axial fan are opposed to each other with respect to the driving shaft, and   the gear box is disposed in a space provided between the first and second boss parts.   
   
   
       5 . The blower unit according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the driving shaft is divided into the shaft parts at a first location between the motor and one of the shroud ring portions, which is located closer to the motor than the other, and at a second location between adjacent shroud ring portions.   
   
   
       6 . The blower unit according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the driving shaft is divided into the shaft parts at a first location between the motor and a first shroud ring portion, second and third location, which are adjacent to the first and second boss parts of a first blower on axially opposite sides of the first and second boss parts within the first shroud ring portion, and a fourth location adjacent to the first and second boss parts of a second blower within a second shroud ring portion, the first blower being one of the plurality of blowers and located closer to the motor than the other, the second blower being another one of the plurality of blowers and located further from the motor than the first blower, the first shroud ring portion being one of the plurality of shroud ring portions and located closer to the motor than the other, the second shroud ring portion being another one of the plurality of shroud ring portions and located further from the motor than the first shroud ring portion.