Ceiling Fan Height Adjustment for Safe Blade Cleaning Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ceiling fans are difficult to clean due to their height, often requiring large ladders and extendable poles, which poses safety risks and convenience issues.
Innovation Solution
A ceiling fan design featuring a base mountable to the ceiling with a multi-section shaft that can be lowered for cleaning and a pitch change mechanism allowing blade rotation, enabling users to clean the upper side of the blades without ladders or poles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the fan is mounted high on the ceiling, then the fan can effectively circulate air throughout the room, but the fan becomes difficult to clean and requires ladders and extendable poles
Solution Approach 1:
The fan assembly is made dynamically adjustable in height through an electric motor-driven shaft extension mechanism. The shaft can be extended to lower the fan assembly to a accessible height for cleaning, then retracted to raise the fan to its operational height on the ceiling, resolving the contradiction between high mounting effectiveness and cleaning accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
An electric motor and shaft extension mechanism serve as intermediaries between the fixed ceiling mounting and the fan assembly. This intermediary system enables controlled movement of the fan assembly to and from cleaning height, eliminating the need for ladders and poles while maintaining effective ceiling-mounted operation.
2Device complexity
If the fan blades are fixed in position, then the fan structure is simple and stable, but the blades cannot be rotated for effective cleaning of the upper side
Solution Approach 1:
The fan blades are made rotatable through a pitch adjustment mechanism that allows the blades to rotate to a horizontal or angled position. This dynamic adjustment enables access to the upper side of the blades for cleaning while maintaining structural simplicity through a straightforward mechanical pitch change system.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the fan assembly is fixed at ceiling height, then the installation is stable and secure, but the fan cannot be lowered to a safe cleaning height
Solution Approach 1:
The fan assembly transitions from a fixed ceiling-mounted position to a dynamically adjustable height system. The electric motor-driven shaft extension maintains stable installation at ceiling height while enabling controlled lowering to safe cleaning heights, resolving the contradiction between installation stability and height adjustability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables safe and convenient cleaning of ceiling fans by allowing the fan assembly to be lowered to a reachable height and adjusting blade pitch for effective cleaning, eliminating the need for ladders and poles.
Implementation Method 1
the base motor raises or lowers the fan assembly by moving the multi-section shaft between the collapsed position and the extended position
Implementation Method 2
the multi-section shaft being connected to the pulley of the base motor such that rotation of the pulley causes the multi-section shaft to move
Implementation Method 3
rotation of the pulley causes the multi-section shaft to move between the collapsed position and the extended position
Implementation Method 4
activation of the fan motor causes the at least one fan blade to rotate around a central axis of the multi-section shaft
Implementation Method 5
activation of the pitch change mechanism causes the at least one fan blade to rotate about a central axis of the at least one fan blade to change its pitch
Data Source
AI summary
A fan is disclosed. The fan includes a base mountable to a ceiling; a base motor contained in the base; a multi-section shaft operably connected to the base motor and moveable between a collapsed position and an extended position; and a fan assembly connected to the multi-section shaft and including a fan motor and at least one fan blade operably connected to the fan motor, wherein in response to a signal, the base motor raises or lowers the fan assembly by moving the multi-section shaft between the collapsed position and the extended position.