Vehicle Blower Motor Layout for Easier Engine-Bay Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing vehicle air conditioner design restricts maintenance access to the blower, as it is located in the engine compartment with limited clearance, making maintenance from the engine compartment side difficult and requiring extensive work from the vehicle cabin side.
Innovation Solution
The blower is positioned within the engine compartment with a diagonally arranged rotating shaft (between 0° and 90° inclination) and a detachable motor configuration, allowing easier maintenance access and reduced workload by enabling upper-side attachment and detachment, along with a cover for protection and insulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the blower is disposed within the engine compartment to reduce vehicle cabin space occupation, then the vehicle cabin becomes more spacious, but the maintenance access to the blower becomes difficult due to narrow clearances
Solution Approach 1:
The blower is divided into separable components: the motor can be detached from the blower housing. This segmentation allows the motor to be removed and serviced independently from the blower assembly, enabling maintenance from the engine compartment side without requiring complete disassembly of the air conditioner system.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating shaft is arranged diagonally with an inclination angle between 0-90 degrees relative to the vertical direction, rather than being purely vertical or horizontal. This diagonal orientation creates an attachable/detachable direction toward the upper side, providing a new dimensional approach for maintenance access that accommodates the constrained engine compartment space while enabling easier motor removal.
2Length of stationary object
If the blower is disposed within the engine compartment, then the air conditioner body size in vehicle cabin is reduced, but the maintenance workload and time increase due to required disassembly of instrument panel and air conditioner parts
Solution Approach 1:
The motor is designed as a detachable component from the blower housing, allowing it to be removed independently. This segmentation eliminates the need to disassemble the instrument panel and other air conditioner parts located in the vehicle cabin, enabling direct access to the motor from the engine compartment side and significantly reducing maintenance time and workload.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor extraction design allows the motor to be taken out from the blower assembly for separate maintenance. This extraction capability means that motor maintenance can be performed without removing other components, directly addressing the time loss issue by enabling isolated motor service from the engine compartment.
3Device complexity
If the rotating shaft is arranged vertically or horizontally, then the structure is simple, but the maintenance access and ventilation performance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating shaft is arranged diagonally with an inclination angle between 0-90 degrees relative to the vertical direction, creating a three-dimensional orientation that is neither purely vertical nor horizontal. This diagonal arrangement provides an attachable/detachable direction toward the upper side, improving maintenance accessibility from the engine compartment while maintaining structural efficiency and optimizing ventilation performance by aligning with the air flow path.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C
AI summary
Mainly to make maintenance of a blower easier in the case that the blower is disposed in an engine compartment. A present disclosure relates to a vehicle air conditioner including a blower (7). At least the blower (7) is disposed within an engine compartment (2). The blower (7) includes a motor (12) that is configured to rotate a fan (11). A rotating shaft (13) of the motor (12) is diagonally arranged with an inclination angle (15) that is greater than 0 degree and less than 90 degrees with respect to a vertical direction. An attachable/detachable direction (16) of the motor (12) with respect to the blower (7) is an upper side thereof.