CN1630801A - Thermal convector with electrically adjustable deflector elements - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention concerns a heat convector for heating air in a closed environment comprising an air intake opening (2) equipped with an air filter (3), a heat exchanger (5) for heating the air (4), an air outlet opening (6) equipped with at least one adjustable deflector element (7), said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) being adjustable in a plurality of angular positions between a closed position and a fully open position and being actuated by an electric motor (8) through drive means (10), characterised in that said electric motor (8) is supplied by a battery (19) and is connected to switching means (11, 11a) suitable for switching the operating status of said electric motor (8).

Description

Thermal convector with electrically adjustable deflector elements

technical field

The invention relates to a heat convector with electrically adjustable deflection plate elements, in particular to a heat convector with deflection plate elements that can be adjusted by means of a DC motor.

Background technique

Thermal convectors equipped with a system for opening and/or closing one or more deflector elements or louvers or rollers are widely known and used. Such an opening and/or closing system is provided with means capable of controlling its movement by means of an electric motor powered by supply voltage and current.

Opening and/or closing systems incorporating means that can be manually controlled depending on the temperature detected by suitable detection means are also known.

US 5,505,379 (Wagner), US 2,698,570 (Feinberg), US 4,497,241 (Ohkata) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al.) disclose and actually exhibits an opening and/or closing system equipped with one or more rollers, with means adapted to move such rollers manually, otherwise controlled according to the detected temperature, or Or even a combination of both control methods.

In particular, US Patent US 5,505,379 (Wagner) discloses an air regulator incorporating the design of a commercially available register, equipped with a movable windshield. Windshield movement can be achieved manually or by means of a bimetallic strip type temperature sensor.

In the last case, the movement of the windshield is achieved by the thermomechanical deformation of the bimetallic sheet, that is, the deformation of the metal composing the sheet due to the temperature of the airflow.

US patent US 2,698,570 (Feinberg) presents a device for controlling the direction and distribution of air having a louver which is oscillated due to a bellows filled with a temperature sensitive gas. This system has some drawbacks, such as the impreciseness of adjusting the movement of the windshield depending on the detected temperature, or the impossibility of changing the temperature range according to the movement of the windshield.

On the other hand, U.S. Patents US 4,497,241 (Okada) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al.) disclose airflow direction control devices equipped with a plurality of louvers due to shape memory alloy type blades and/or Oscillation due to the presence of a spring. In these applications, the vanes drive the opening and/or closing of the louver according to the temperature of the airflow. Also in the last two patents the disadvantages have been clarified in the previous patents, namely the inaccuracy of adjusting the movement of the windshield according to the detected temperature and the impossibility of changing the temperature range depending on the movement of the windshield. In addition to this, US patents US 4,497,241 (Okada) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al.) have the additional disadvantage that the opening and closing of the drum is not proportional to the detected temperature but on/off type.

In patent application EP 837288 filed in the name of AERMEC S.P.A., a fan convector is disclosed with deflector elements between several positions, namely a closed position and a fully open position , adjustable around the axis. This is produced by a special drive controlled by an electric motor. The motor is powered by the mains voltage and is controlled in dependence on the temperature detected by the thermostat. The disadvantage of this solution is that construction works are required to provide the power supply to the motor, which obviously adds to the installation costs and requires more complex management of the motor control.

Thus, while the solutions articulated by US patents US 5,505,379 (Wagner), US 2,698,570 (Feinberg), US 4,497,241 (Okada) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al.) have no power connection and can therefore be better developed , but all known solutions do not provide features that are necessary for today's market, such as the possibility to change the temperature range when the movement of the deflector elements takes place, or the simple and fast installation of the thermal convector, or Versatility to use even without being connected to a power source.

Contents of the invention

In view of the above-mentioned state of the art, the scope of the present invention is to provide a thermal convector with electrically adjustable deflector elements which overcomes the disadvantages of known thermal convectors.

Another scope of the present invention is to provide a heat convector having independently adjustable deflector elements.

According to the invention, such a range is achieved by means of a heat convector for heating air in a closed environment according to claim 1 .

Thanks to the invention it is possible to realize that the heat convector for heating the air can be operated without being connected to a power source. Furthermore, thanks to the invention it is possible to vary the temperature interval according to the occurrence of opening and/or closing of the deflector element.

Description of drawings

The features and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the detailed description of the following embodiments, which are illustrated as non-limiting examples in the accompanying drawings, where:

Figure 1 shows a partial perspective view of a heat convector according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of a circuit diagram of a thermal convector according to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of another circuit diagram of a thermal convector according to the invention.

Figure 4 gives a perspective view of a first operating position of a first embodiment of a heat convector according to the invention.

Figure 5 gives a perspective view of a second operating position of the first embodiment of the heat convector according to the invention.

Detailed ways

Referring to Figure 1, a thermal convector, generally indicated by 1, comprises an air inlet 2 with an air filter 3 through which an airflow 4 is conveyed from the surrounding environment to a heat exchanger 5 due to the natural convection effect produced.

This is due to the thermal gradient created by the room temperature outside the thermoconvector 1 and the room temperature inside the thermoconvector 1 itself.

The heat exchanger 5 comprises a cooling coil (not illustrated in the figure) through which a hot fluid flows. The fluid is preferably water, but need not be water.

The air flow 4 obtained by the environment surrounding the thermal convector 1 is thus heated and conveyed towards the exhaust opening 6 via at least one adjustable deflector element 7 .

Such an adjustable deflector element 7 is controlled and driven by means of an electric motor 8 in a plurality of angular positions between the closed position and the fully open position.

The electric motor 8 can drive the deflection plate element 7 via a rotary reducer 9 connected to the drive 10 .

Furthermore, the electric motor 8 is also connected to switching devices 11 and 11 a, which are able to switch the operating state of the electric motor itself.

In the example shown in Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5, the drive unit 10 is an articulated quadrilateral and includes:

- disc crank 12, retracted on the axis of rotation X-X of the motor 8,

- the rocker arm 13, one end of which is retracted on the axis of rotation Y-Y of the adjustable deflector element 7, such that the center of rotation C of the rocker arm 13 coincides with the axis of rotation Y-Y of the adjustable deflector element 7, and

- A connecting rod 15 adapted to connect the free end of the rocker arm 13 with a point 12a of the disc crank 12 positioned off-centre by a predetermined distance E with respect to said axis of rotation X-X of the electric motor 8 .

It should be noted that the size of the rocker arm 13 is determined in such a way that the distance D between the center of rotation C of the rocker arm and the connection point of the rocker arm 13a and the link 15 is greater than the eccentricity E big.

The dimensions described allow the rocker arm 13 to rotate a predetermined angular displacement α about its center of rotation C per complete revolution of the disc crank 12 about the axis X-X.

Preferably, a rotation of the disc crank 12 by 180 degrees corresponds to an angular displacement α equal to 90 degrees, as does the deflection plate element 7 .

Therefore, every time the disc crank 12 rotates once, the deflector element 7 first rotates in one direction and then in the other direction, a total of 180 degrees, that is, rotates 90 degrees in the first direction and 90 degrees in the second direction. Rotate another 90 degrees.

Conveniently, the switching means 11a is slaved to the switching of the cam and cam follower assembly.

Preferably, the cam, or more precisely the cam lift curve, is defined by the profile 12b of the disc crank 12, which is suitably shaped to form a plurality of different profile portions which are mutually related. They are connected with rounded corners and have different eccentricity values about the rotation axis X-X.

The cam follower comprises a probe 18 which is brought into resilient contact with the contour 12b of the disc crank 12 by elastic means known per se (not shown in the figure).

As will become more apparent from the description below, the disc crank 12 has two distinct angular portions, each having a different value of eccentricity and extending an arc equal to approximately 180 degrees of a circumference. Basically, the profile of the cam 12b defined by the profile of the disc crank 12 has two discontinuities which, corresponding to the displacement of the probe 18, determine the switching position of the switching means 11a.

Advantageously, the probe 18 is positioned with respect to the disk crank 12 in such a way that when the deflector element 7 is in the closed or fully open position, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , the probe 18 detects the discontinuity of the cam profile 12b point.

It is also possible, as shown in Figure 2, that the switching means 11 described comprise a first single-pole redirecting means 16, which is adapted to switch between a first position 16a and a second 16b position depending on the air temperature . And said switching means 11a also comprise a second unipolar redirection means 17 adapted to be between a third position 17a and a fourth position 17b according to the angular position occupied by the deflector element 7 conversion.

In particular, the first single-pole reversing device 16 is, for example, a bulb-shaped thermostat, the temperature range of which can be adjusted by an adjustment knob (not shown) to suit the user. Such a bulb thermostat 16 operates in a completely conventional manner.

In particular, the angular position of the deflector element 7 depends on the position occupied by the probe 18 , which is determined by the cam profile 12 b of the disc crank 12 as described above.

Advantageously, the motor 8 of the present invention is powered by a battery 19 of nominal voltage, eg 9 volts or 12 volts.

The mode of operation of the thermal convector 1 as structurally described will now be explained.

Returning to Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5, it is assumed that the structure of the first redirection device 16 is a spherical thermostat, and the structure of the second redirection device 17 is as shown in Figure 2, that is, there is no conductive path and closed The position of the deflector element 7, the closed position as shown in Figure 4, when the room temperature drops below the set temperature value T1, the spherical thermostat switches from position 16a to position 16b to create a conductive path.

In this way, the electric motor 8 is powered by the battery 19 and opens the deflector element 7 to the fully open position, as shown in FIG. 5 .

In this way, the air flow 4 is heated by the heat exchanger 5 and the hot air is carried out and distributed into the surrounding environment by natural convection effect.

As soon as the probe 18 encounters a discontinuity in the cam profile 12b of the disc crank 12, the second deflection means is switched from position 17a to position 17b. This causes an interruption of the conductive path so that the motor 8 is switched off.

As soon as the room temperature reaches a second predetermined value T2, the bulb thermostat switches from position 16b to position 16a. With the deflection device 17 in position 17a, a conductive path is again created between the electric motor 8 and the battery 19, resulting in a rerotation of the electric motor 8 and thus the action of the deflector element 7.

In this case the probe 18 follows the cam profile 12b with a smaller eccentricity to reach the point of discontinuity.

At this point the second reversing device 17 switches from position 17b to position 17a, interrupting the power supply to the electric motor 8 . The result of this movement is that the deflector element 7 returns to the closed position, as shown in FIG. 4 .

The above-mentioned operation mode is repeated when the room temperature is lower than the temperature value T1 and/or exceeds the temperature value T2, that is, when the room temperature exceeds the temperature range ΔT, where ΔT=T2-T1.

For example, the temperature range ΔT can be set between 10°C and 30°C, with the optimum temperature in the center being 20°C.

Advantageously, thanks to the invention, the user has at his disposal a knob (not shown in the figure) that allows the desired adjustment of the temperature range ΔT, since this knob acts directly on the spherical thermostat.

The motor 8 is, for example, a DC motor capable of operating at a low voltage (voltage supplied from the battery 19 ) with a low sink current of several tens of mA.

Besides, for example, the speed reducer 9 allows the rotational frequency of the electric motor 8 to vary from about 1000 rpm to about 16 rpm.

Referring to the second embodiment, in Fig. 3 the same reference numerals of the elements already described have been given, and it should be noted that the motor 8 is directly connected to the deflector element 7 through the reducer 9 on one side, and connected to the deflector element 7 on the other side. to the circuit board 20.

In other words, the motor 8 is connected to the adjustable deflector element 7 without interposing the drive means 10 described in the first embodiment, so that the X-X axis of the motor 8 coincides with the Y-Y axis of the deflector element 7 .

The circuit board 20 is powered by a battery 19 and includes a temperature probe 21 .

In particular, the circuit board 20 causes the motor 8 to be controlled by current pulses in a manner known per se, for example by open loop control comprising amplifiers and bipolar full bridges, so that for each current pulse the motor 8 moves by a specific angle , the specific angle is a function of the temperature detected by the temperature detector 21 .

In other words, in the second embodiment, between the open position and the closed position, that is, on/off (on/off) type open/close, also between the closed position and the fully open position Between two angular positions, there is the possibility of opening and/or closing the deflector element 7.

Therefore, the type of motor is commonly known as a stepper motor.

Advantageously, thanks to the invention it is possible to achieve an adjustment of the opening/closing movement of the deflector element 7 , which is proportional to the temperature detected by the temperature detector 21 .

Claims (11)

1. A thermal convector for heating air in a closed environment, comprising an air inlet (2) provided with an air filter (3), a heat exchanger (5) for heating the air (4), with at least an air outlet (6) with an adjustable deflector element (7), said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) being adjustable in a plurality of angular positions between a closed position and a fully open position, And driven by the motor (8) through the driving device (10), it is characterized in that the motor (8) is powered by the battery (19) and connected with the conversion tool device (11, 11a), the conversion device is suitable for converting the The running state of the electric motor (8) described above. 2. The thermal convector as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said conversion device (11, 11a) comprises: a first unipolar redirection device (16), which is suitable for the temperature range (ΔT ) is shifted between a first position (16a) and a second position (16b); and a second direction changing device (17), suitable for a transmission group relying on a cam (12b) and a cam follower (18) Switches between the third position (17a) and the fourth position (17b). 3. The heat convector according to claim 2, characterized in that when the first position (16a) and the third position (17a) or the second position (16b) and the fourth Said battery (19) powers said electric motor when the position (17b) achieves a conductive path. 4. The heat convector according to claim 2, characterized in that said first unipolar redirection device (16) is a spherical thermostat. 5. The thermal convector according to claim 1, characterized in that the driving device (10) is a articulated quadrangular form, comprising: a disk-shaped crank contracted on the rotation axis (X-X) of the electric motor (8) (12); rocker arm (13), one end of which shrinks on the rotation axis (Y-Y) of said adjustable deflector element (7), so that the rotation center (C) of said rocker arm (13) coincides with the axis of rotation (Y-Y) of said adjustable deflector element (7); and a link (15) adapted to connect the free end of said rocker arm (13) to said disc crank (12) A point (12a) on said point (12a) positioned off-centre by a predetermined distance (E) with respect to said axis of rotation (X-X) of said electric motor (8). 6. The heat convector according to claim 2 or claim 5, characterized in that said cam (12b) transmission group is determined by the profile (12b) of said disc crank (12), and is shaped so as to form A plurality of different profile parts rounded together and having different eccentricity values with respect to the rotation axis (X-X) of said motor (8). 7. The heat convector according to claim 2, 5 or 6, characterized in that said cam follower (18) is held in contact with said disc crank (12) by elastic means on the contour (12b). 8. A heat convector according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said plurality of positions of said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) are a closed position and a fully open position. 9. The thermal convector according to claim 1, characterized in that said conversion device (11, 11a) is provided with a temperature detector (21) and a circuit board (20), and said temperature detector (21) is connected with The circuit boards (20) are connected together. 10. The thermal convector according to claim 9, characterized in that said circuit board (20) controls said motor (8) in a manner proportional to the temperature detected by said temperature detector (21) ), changing the angular value (α) of the position of said at least one deflecting plate element (7). 11. Thermal convector according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said battery (19) has a nominal voltage of 9 volts or 12 volts.

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