| CPC F04D 29/601 (2013.01) [F04D 17/04 (2013.01); F04D 25/06 (2013.01)] | 9 Claims |
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1. A modular tower fan, comprising:
a fan module having a fan housing, wherein the fan housing comprises a blower fan and bearings supporting the blower fan for rotation within the fan housing, and a fan gear provided at a bottom of the fan housing for rotating the blower fan;
a drive module having a drive housing, wherein the drive module comprises a drive motor, control circuitry, wirings and other electrical components within the drive housing, and a drive gear at a top of the drive housing driven by the drive motor,
wherein the fan housing of the fan module is removably/detachably attached to the drive housing of the drive module with the fan gear operational coupled to the drive gear for rotation, and wherein the fan module is detachable from the drive module for cleaning mode, shipping or storage with the fan gear decoupled from the drive gear; and
a wireless control that communicates wirelessly with a receiver provided in a control module provided within the drive housing of the drive module, providing a user interface to activate various tower fan operation control functions,
wherein there is no separate user control interface communicating with the drive module other than the wireless control, and no electrical wiring in the fan module between the wireless control and the drive module, and no electrically conductive interface between the fan module and the drive module,
wherein the wireless control is removably/detachably attached to a top of the fan housing without any hard wiring to communicate control signals between the wireless control and the drive module, facilitating user control of operational functions of the drive module to control operations of the tower fan,
wherein a docking slot is provided at the top of the fan housing, which slot is sized to receive the wireless control, wherein the docking slot has a depth to accommodate thickness of the wireless control such that top surface of the wireless control is flush against the top of the fan housing, so as to blend in to appear as if the wireless control is part of exterior of the fan housing to a casual viewer, with the wireless control appearing to be a built-in user control interface provided at the top of the fan module,
wherein with the wireless control placed in the docking slot, a user can control the operations of the tower fan by activating buttons/switches on the wireless control, and
wherein the wireless control is magnetically attached to the top of the fan housing.
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