Vibration Isolating Motor Mount

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to motor mounts. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a motor mount for attaching a motor support structure while providing vibration isolating capabilities.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Motor driven fans used in many ventilating and air conditioning devices often include a direct driven fan mounted on a motor shaft, a motor supporting frame and a panel or fan housing to which the frame is fastened. The panel and frame conventionally have an opening to accommodate the fan with the apparatus being mounted in an opening of an enclosure served by the apparatus, e.g., air conditioner, electrostatic precipitator, etc. While such a fan apparatus often involves attempts to secure a balance of the rotating parts, e.g., the fan and motor armature, those ventilating devices are frequently noisy in operation due mainly to vibration and oscillatory effects in the motor, fan, support frame and panel occasioned by the rapidly rotating and oscillatory parts. Conventional efforts to obviate this vibration problem have included a spring suspension of the fan motor on the motor supporting frame which have inherent limitations inasmuch as the springs must also maintain the motor and fan in a correct running position which substantially minimizing their vibration and noise absorbing capacity. Further, such supports are often of a substantial size which increases the space requirements for the motor support assembly. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a motor support having vibration isolating capabilities while maintaining a minimal size to minimize the space requirements within the motor support frame.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved motor mount having vibration isolating capabilities.

In accomplishing this and other objects, there has been provided, in accordance with the present invention a U-shaped motor mount having parallel legs extending between a motor support plate located at one end of a motor and a motor support frame with the ends of the legs of each of the motor mounts each having a right angle ear for attachment to the support plate and support frame respectively. The support plate and support frame are each perpendicular to the rotational axis of the motor with the legs of the motor mount being parallel and subtantially co-planar with the rotational axis of the motor.

A better understanding of the present invention may be had when the following detailed description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an example of a motor mount embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the motor and motor mount shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the attachment of one leg of the motor mount shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to a support frame.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of one of the motor mounts shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and

FIG. 5 is a pictorial illustration of the motor mount shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in a fan drive environment.

Referring to FIG. 1 in more detail, there is shown a side view of a motor mount embodying an example of the present invention for supporting an electrical motor 2 having a motor drive shaft 4 which may be connected to a motor driven apparatus by any suitable means (not shown). The motor 2 is connected by electrical wires 6 to a conventional means for energizing the electrical motor 2. A motor support plate 8 mounted on one end of the motor 2 perpendicular to the rotational axis of the motor 2 and has attached thereto a plurality of U-shaped motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16. The motor support plate 8 is connected to the motor 2 by a plurality of machine screws extending longitudinally from the motor 2 through the support plate 8 and fastened to the support plate 8 by respective ones of a plurality of nuts 20.

One of the parallel legs of each of the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 is attached to the periphery of the support plate 8 either by welding or other conventional means or by being integrally formed therewith by a suitable metal stamping process with a subsequent forming of the legs 10, 12, 14 and 16. In either case, the attached leg of each of the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 is arranged to have a first right angle ear extending from one of the motor mount legs, e.g., ear 24 on motor mount 10. The first right angle ear is utilized to position the corresponding leg of the respective motor mount at substantially a right angle with respect to the plane of the support plate 8, e.g., ear 24 of motor mount 10. Thus, the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 extend from the support plate 8 parallel to the axis of the motor 2, i.e., the longitudinal axis of the space 50 of each of the U-shaped motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 between the parallel legs thereof is parallel to the rotational axis of the motor 2 while in a preferred orientation the plane of the parallel legs of each of the U-shaped motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 is co-planar with the rotational axis of the motor 2. This orientation of the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 allows an angular vibration of the motor 2 to be isolated from a supporting surface of the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16. The end of the other one of each of the legs of U-shaped motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 is also terminated in substantially right angle second ears, e.g., ear 25, with each one of the second ears 25 having a hole 26 therein.

In FIG. 3, there is shown a cross-sectional view of the second ear 25 on the U-shaped motor mount 10 as attached to a support frame 27 to illustrate a typical mounting of the second ears of the motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16. The support frame 27 is arranged as a hollow box section which is separated from the second ear on the leg of the U-shaped mount 20 by a layered arrangement of a resilient ring 28 in contact with the ear 25 and a first spacing washer 30 between the resilient ring 28 and the mounting frame 27. A resilient bushing 32 is positioned in contact with the other side of the ear 25 from the ring 28 and includes a coaxial cylindrical extension extending through the hole 26 in the ear 25 to the mounting frame 27. A second spacing washer 34 is positioned on top of the resilient bushing 32 and is in contact with a thrust washer 36. A nut 38 and lock washer 40 are located on the other side of the thrust washer 36 from the spacing ring 34 and are mounted on the threaded end of a floating pin 42. The pin 42 has a head 44 at one end thereof located within the hollow frame 27 and overlying the hole 26 whereby the pin 42 serves as a guide for the rubber bushing 32 and thrust washer 36. Thus, the resilient bushing 32 and the resilient ring 28 are effective to isolate the ear 25 of the U-shaped mount 10 from the mount frame 27 while the pin 42 allows a degree of movement of the ear 25 and the bushing 32 to provide a further vibration isolation. The ring 28 and 32 may be made of any suitable resilient material, e.g. rubber.

In FIG. 4, there is shown an isometric view of a motor mount, e.g., motor mount 10, embodying an example of the present invention. The U-shaped configuration of the motor mount 10 includes a slot 50 and a hole 52 at the termination of the slot 50 defining the legs of the U-shaped motor mount with the legs terminating in a first mounting ear 24 and a second mounting ear 25. The ears 24 and 25 may be either substantially co-planar or non-co-planar to afford a desired mounting of the motor 2 on the plate 8 and the support frame 27. The motor mounts 10, 12, 14 and 16 may be made of any suitable material having a suitable resiliency and strength, e.g., spring type steel having a thickness of approximately 0.04 inches. In FIG. 6, there is shown a pictorial illustration of the motor mount of the present invention in a fan drive apparatus wherein the motor shaft 14 is arranged to drive a fan 55.

Accordingly, it may be seen that there has been provided, in accordance with the present invention, an improved motor mount having vibration isolating capabilities.