Field of Invention:
This invention relates to a cost effective mechanically operated reversible radiator fan assembly and a method to rotate/tilt the fan-blades through a mechanical actuator which can be used to regulate the direction of air blow and to clean the choked radiator of the Agri-Machineries, especially for tractors while performing the field operations.
Background/Prior Art:
Now a days the machines which performs their operation in the dusty and husky fields like; agricultural tractors performs tilling operation in muddy fields, threshing operations and earth moving machines perform digging in the presence of dust and husk, these machines have a device named radiator which cools the engine by exchanging the heat of engine with the help of circulating water through radiator. This heat exchange is done by a forced convection of air through radiator walls by means of a fan. This fan, assembled in front of radiator, extracts the ambient air to support the heat exchange at the fins/perforations or wall of the radiator.
Incoming air to the radiator also brings dust and husk particleswhich are trapped between the spaces of radiator walls. It results in choking of the effective operation of the radiator. Once the radiator is choked it does not cool down the hot water coming from the engine and the temperature of the engine keeps increasing and thus the engine gets seized.
In case there is some mechanism available with the radiator of the machine, mounted within the engine cabinet in a complex installation therein, to be operated mechanically to remove dust and husk material from the fins/perforations or wall of the radiator then it will be a great booster to the effective functioning of the radiator as well as machine’s engine assembly. Due to any such effective provision towards mechanically removing the dust and husk on regular interval the maintenance of radiator and the engine assembly will become much easy for the operator and cost effective.
The conventional radiator fans which readily come with agri-machines, like tractor, are provisioned to pull air unidirectional towards the radiator. There are few devices which come with this objective to reverse the direction of air blow by reversing the blades of the fan, however they are very costly as they are highly complicated in construction and their installation with the agri-machine is also difficult towards maintenance. Any such blade reversal means in a fan is generally created by involving pneumatic or hydraulic mechanism, which is very complex and non-practical solution.
Objective of the Invention:
The prime objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanically operated reversible radiator fan assembly which is capable to rotate the direction of its blades through a mechanical actuator and provide economic significance over existing technologies to reverse the blades in agri-machineries.
Another object of the invention is to provide a reversible radiator fan assembly with a suitably designed mounting bracket, suitable for mounting with the radiator of a tractor or any other similar vehicle requiring support for heat exchange at radiator and also for removing/flushing out dirt and husk and cleaning said radiator body, using air-blow of said reversible fan.
Another objective of the said invention is to provide a cost effective reversible radiator fan assembly which will help the industry to implement a low cost reversible fan and will increase its sales.
Another objective of this invention is to provide an easy design of the installed mechanism which can be easily manufactured.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a novel mechanism design which removes the complication of installation on the machines like in other products the problem is faced and results in a high cost.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method to operate proposed reversible radiator fan assembly which increases the efficiency of the engine by not letting the radiator get chocked.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method to mechanically operate proposed reversible radiator fan assembly which allows the operator to alter the pitch as per the air blow requirement.
Summary of the Invention:
One of the prime embodiments of the present invention is a mechanically operated reversible radiator fan assembly whose blades can be reversed by giving a mechanical actuation to clean the choked radiator of the Agri-Machineries especially for tractors while performing the field operations.
The proposed mechanically operated reversible radiator fan assembly is basically a novel arrangement of three sub-assemblies: A Hub assembly, A Fan Blade Assembly and a Mounting Bracket Assembly; wherein a novel method is involved herein to reverse the blades through a mechanical actuator and allows the operator to provide the variable pitch according to the air blow required.
The furthermore description, which follows, it is to be understood that the forthcoming explanation only describes a particular form of this invention. However, such a particular design is only an illustrative incarnation, without intending to imply any limitation on the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the description is to be understood as an illustrative incarnation and understanding of the invention and not intended to be taken restrictively.
Brief Description of the Accompanying Drawings:
Preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 depicts the isometric view of the proposed Reversible Radiator Fan for Agri-Vehicles (101) showing an assembly of components such as bearing (1), Dowell Pin (2), Bearing Hub (3), a Mounting Bracket (4), a Lever (5), a Fork (6), a Shifter (7), a Hub Rear Cover (8), a Hub Front Cover (9), and a Fan Blade Assembly (10) containing a number of Blades accompanied with its Studs.
Figure 2 depicts the sectional view of said Reversible Radiator Fan for Agri-Vehicles (101) showing an arrangement of its internal parts which mainly includes bearing (1), Bearing Hub assembly (3), Mounting Bracket (4), Fork (6), Shifter (7), Hub Rear Cover (8), Hub Front Cover (9), Fan Blade Assembly (10), plurality of Springs (11) and a Crank Link (12).
List of numeric references used herewith:
Numeric symbol Particulars
101 Fan with reversible blade assembly
1 bearing
2 Dowell Pin
3 hub assembly
4 Mounting Bracket assembly
5 Lever
6 Fork
7 Shifter
8 Hub Rear Cover
9 Hub Front Cover
10 blades
(or blade assembly)
11 Springs
12 crank link

Description of the Invention with the help of accompanying drawings:
The following is a detailed description of exemplary embodiments to illustrate the principles of the invention. The embodiments are provided to illustrate aspects of the invention, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalent; it is limited only by the claims.
Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.
The present invention is a novel mechanically designed reversible radiator fan assembly (101) to be used with the radiator of the engine-assembly in the agri-machineries, more particularly, in tractors wherein blades (10) of said reversible fan assembly (101) are reversed by giving a mechanical actuation, particularly by the operator/driver of the tractor. As discussed in prior art, previous reversible fan had either pneumatic or hydraulic actuation to revert the blades direction, which makes the whole setup to cost high and complicated in installation as well as in maintenance. In the present embodiment of the invention, the blade’s direction can be reversed by mechanical actuation provided by the operator/driver.
The proposed reversible radiator fan assembly (101) comprises three sub-assemblies. Hub assembly (3), the Fan Blade assembly (10) and the Mounting Bracket assembly (4). Hub assembly (3) contains the Hub Front Cover (9) and the Hub Rear Cover (8). Assembling these three sub-assemblies make a final Reversible Fan assembly (101), as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Said reversible radiator fan assembly (101) with a suitably designed mounting bracket (4), is suitable for mounting with the radiator of a tractor or any other similar vehicle requiring support for heat exchange and also for removing/flushing out dirt and husk, using air-blow of said fan, from said radiator assembly thereof. Said Fan blade assembly (10) is an integral assembly of blade and its stud with the bearing (1) and crank link (12). In said fan (101) a number of blades can be utilized, more particularly, 10 blades are used herein for performing better air blow operation.
The main part of said reversible radiator fan assembly (101) is the Shifter (7) whose shape is polygon with number of sides 20. In the most preferred embodiment of the said fan assembly (101), said shifter (7) requires only 14mm of axial travel to flip the blades (10) by 90 degree. Hub assembly containing said Hub Front Cover (9) and said Hub Rear Cover (8), said Shifter (7) and said Crank Link (12) completes the Slider-Crank mechanism of the present invention. Said Crank Link (12) is constraint to rotate because of the sliding motion of the said Shifter (7). Said Crank Link (12) has said Dowell Pin (2) of 3mm diameter which is constraint in the groove of said shifter (7). On the end of said shifter (7) there is step turning on which said Bearing (1) is mounted which is further inserted in said bearing Hub (3) with a 6mm wide slot for the said Fork (6) Dowell Pin (2). This shifter bearing is used to give the relative motion between the whole fan (101) and the bearing hub (3).
For positioning said fan blade (10) in its cooling mode, i.e. in its normal mode of blade assembly (10), said springs (11) are provided inside the hub assembly in a preloading condition as shown in Figure 2. The preloaded springs (11) push said shifter (7) towards the rear direction of the hub and said crank link (12) rotates to keep said blades (10) at an initial angle of 45 degree. Till said bearing (1), said fan assembly (101) has its rotating parts after that the static parts are assembled which are used to give the axial motion to said bearing (1). As shown in the Figure 1, said Fork (6) has been used to give the axial motion to said bearing hub (3) which is hinged about said Mounting Bracket (4) by means of said lever (5).
A twisting motion can be provided to said lever (5) by means of any mechanical linkage and can be transmitted by the operator. When the operator will provide the actuation, it will pull said lever (5) in downward direction, which will further rotate said fork (6) by some angle. Rotational motion of said fork (6) will give the translational motion to the stationary bearing hub (3) in which the outer race of said bearing (1) is resting. Thus, the translational motion of said bearing (1) will push said shifter (7) against the set of said springs (7) till 14 mm. This 14mm axial motion of said shifter (7) will rotate said crank link (12) of said blade assembly (10) by an angle of 90 degree approx. As said crank link (12) is directly fixed on the stub link of said blade, so said blades will also rotate by same angle of 90 degree. Thus, whole blade assembly (10) will get reverted by the same angle simultaneously and therefore the air-blow direction will get reversed.
Due to provision of changing/reversing the air-blow direction by changing/reversing the blade assembly (10), easily by actuation through a mechanical actuation means, said fan with reversible blade assembly (101) is not only capable of being used with radiator for dissipating heat with its air-blow to said radiator, but it is also be able to remove dust, husk and other such debris material from the radiator body, particularly by reversing the air-blow direction therein.
Once mounted at a particular position in front of the radiator of the agri-machine, namely tractor, said fan with reversible blade assembly (101), in normal condition of its blade assembly (10) is capable of dissipating/throwing-out heat with the inward-blow of air. Whenever it is required to clean dust, husk and other similar debris from the radiator body, the operator/driver of the tractor will simply give an actuation through the provisioned mechanical actuation means and put the blade assembly (10) in reversed condition and consequently the said fan (101) will start blowing in reversed direction, leading to cleaning of the said radiator body.
Such operation of the reversible radiator fan assembly (101) in mechanical manner, without involving any pneumatic or hydraulic means, is not only easy and cost effective solution for cleaning the radiator of a tractor or any other seminal vehicle, but it is also easy in installation and maintenance thereafter.
Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will at once be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention includes advantages and features over and beyond the specific illustrated construction.

We Claim:
1. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101) for tractor and agri-machines and method of its working thereof, wherein said fan assembly (101) comprises three subassemblies: namely the bearing hub assembly (3), the fan blade assembly (10) and said mounting bracket assembly (4); wherein said fan assembly (101) is characterized in dissipating/throwing-out heat with the inward-blow of air in normal condition of its blade assembly (10), and in reversed condition of said blade assembly (10) said fan assembly (101), actuated by mechanical actuation means provisioned with said fan assembly (101), it blows air in reversed direction towards removing and cleaning dust, husk and other similar debris from the radiator body of the vehicle.
2. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101) for tractor and agri-machines and method of its working thereof, as claimed in claim 1, with said fan assembly (101) comprises a mounting bracket assembly (4) for the installation of said fan assembly (101) with the radiator of the tractor/agri-machine, requiring support for heat exchange and also for removing/flushing out dirt and husk, using air-blow of said fan, from said radiator assembly thereof.
3. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101) for tractor and agri-machines and method of its working thereof, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fan assembly (101) is characterized in mechanically tilting/ reversing the blades of the blade assembly (10) by giving a mechanical actuation through the mechanical actuation means provisioned with the said fan assembly (101) and consequently changing/reversing the direction of air-blow upto certain optionally selected direction or in reversed direction.
4. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claim 1 wherein Fan blade assembly (10) is an integral assembly of plurality of blades and its stud with the bearing (1) and crank link (12).
5. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claims 1 to 4 wherein bearing hub assembly (3), comprises of the Hub Front Cover (9), the Hub Rear Cover (8), the Shifter (7) and the Crank Link (12); wherein said bearing hub assembly (3) is characterized in the Slider-Crank mechanism of the said fan with reversible blade assembly (101).
6. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claims 1 to 5, wherein the bearing hub assembly (3) is preferably hinged about the Mounting Bracket (4) by means of the lever (5).
7. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claims 1 to 6, wherein the shifter (7) is shaped as polygon, preferably with 20 sides, and it is characterized in its requirement of only 14mm of axial travel for flipping the blade assembly (10) by 90 degree.
8. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claims 1 to 7, wherein the Crank Link (12) comprises of Dowell Pin (2) of 3mm diameter, which is constrained in the groove of said shifter (7) and wherein said Crank Link (12) is constraint to rotate because of the sliding motion of the said Shifter (7); and
wherein on the end of said shifter (7) there is step turning on which the bearing (1) is mounted, which is further inserted in said bearing Hub (3) having a 6mm wide slot for the Fork (6) with Dowell Pin (2); enabling the bearing (1) to give the relative motion between the whole fan (101) and the bearing hub assembly (3).
9. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101), as claimed in claims 1 to 8, wherein actuation of blades of the blade assembly (10) through the mechanical actuation means include following major steps:
i. positioning of blades of the blade assembly (10) in its cooling mode (or in the normal mode of the fan), wherein the springs (11) are provided inside the bearing hub assembly (3) in a preloading condition;
ii. the preloaded springs (11) push said shifter (7) towards the rear direction of the bearing hub assembly (3);
iii. said crank link (12) rotates to keep said blades (10) at an initial angle of 45 degree;
iv. Fork (6) has been used to give the axial motion to said bearing hub (3) which is hinged about said Mounting Bracket (4) by means of said lever (5).
10. Reversible radiator fan assembly (101) for tractor and agri-machines and method of its working thereof, as claimed in claims 1 to 9, are characterized in:
i. A twisting motion provided to said lever (5) by means of any mechanical linkage, preferably transmitted by the operator;
ii. the actuation the operator pulls said lever (5) in downward direction which further rotates the fork (6) by some angle;
iii. Rotational motion of said fork (6) gives translational motion to the stationary bearing hub assembly (3) in which the outer race of said bearing (1) is resting;
iv. the translational motion of said bearing (1) pushes said shifter (7) against the set of said springs (11) till 14 mm;
v. the 14mm axial motion of said shifter (7) rotates said crank link (12) of said blade assembly (10) by an angle of 90 degree approx.;
vi. said crank link (12), directly fixed on the stub link of said blade, drive said blade to rotate by same angle of 90 degree;
vii. consequently, simultaneous tilting or reversal of whole blade assembly (10) by the same angle is realized.