| 摘要 |
A variable speed fan drive (10) particularly suitable for a vehicle having an internal combustion engine is provided. The fan drive comprises an input shaft (11) driven by the output of an engine. The input drives a carrier (12) for planetary gears (13) which each orbit a sun gear (14) in an epicyclic gear arrangement. A fan (16) is coupled to the sun gear. A further gear arrangement (18,19,21), driven by the input shaft, delivers a variable output to input ratio, the output of which is coupled to a housing (17) of the epicyclic gear arrangement which is meshed with the planetary gears. The provision of the epicyclic gear arrangement in combination with the variable ratio allows the fan blade to operate in reverse. Advantageously, this can be exploited to provide a means to clean a radiator grille. |
