WO1988005890A1

WO1988005890A1 - Economical direct fresh non returnable air for breathing and body cooling or warming

Info

Publication number: WO1988005890A1
Application number: PCT/AU1988/000026
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kullapat Kuramarohit
Original assignee: HALIDAY RONALD ARTHUR
Current assignee: HALIDAY RONALD ARTHUR
Priority date: 1987-02-04
Filing date: 1988-02-01
Publication date: 1988-08-11
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-04

Abstract

An air-flow means for conditioning a room or a section of a room. The air flow means comprises a fresh air compartment having an inlet and an outlet for fresh air, and an air impeller which moves the fresh air from the inlet through the outlet and into the room or portion of the room to be conditioned. Additionally, spent air venting means may be provided for venting air to the exterior of the room. An air flow guide may be used to redirect the flow of the air.

Description

ECONOMICAL DIRECT FRESH NON RETURNABLE AIR FOR

BREATHING AND BODY COOLING OR WARMING This invention relates to air-flow means for air conditioning a room or a part thereof. There are basically two methods for artificially air conditioning a room. One is to provide a centrally located impeller fan which extends downwardly from the ceiling. The fan draws air in from an open window or door, circulates the air and expels the air through the same opening. The disadvantages of such an arrangement are that a large fan with an equally large motor and power consumption is required, it is noisy - not only due to the fan itself but the fact that one must have an open window or door to the exterior and neighbourhood noises are let in - and it is not particularly efficient.

The second method involves the use of an air conditioning unit. Non-evaporative type air conditioning units generally require the room to be completely sealed for efficient operation and they operate by recirculating the same air within the room. The disadvantages of these conditioning units is that they are vary noisy, they operate on the same air thereby giving rise to more and more contamination due to non-removal of body odours and the like, and they require a relatively large amount of power. Evaporating type air conditioning units operate by blowing moisture laden air into the room and are not desirable in high-humidity environments or where additional moisture is undesirable.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an air-flow means for air conditioning a room which alleviates or at least minimises the aforementioned disadvantages.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an air flow means which is adapted to condition only that portion of the room which is occupied. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided air-flow means for conditioning a room or portion of a room, said means comprising an air compartment having a fresh air inlet and a fresh air outlet, and an air impeller arranged so as to move fresh air from the inlet through the outlet into the room or portion of the room to be conditioned.

By "fresh air" is meant air derived from the exterior of the room or portion of the room to be conditioned, which is less polluted and/or cooler than the air within the room.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioning system for a room or portion of a room comprising:-

(i) an air compartment; (ii) fresh air inlet means to said air compartment; (iii) fresh air outlet means from said air compartment to said room or portion of room to be air conditioned;

(iv) at least one air impeller in parallel or series arranged to move fresh air through said air compartment from the fresh air inlet means to the fresh air outlet means; and (v) spent air venting means for venting air to the exterior of the room. Preferably, the spent air venting means comprises two parts, one of which is located at or near the lowermost region of the room and the other of which is located at or near the highermost region of the room. The ports are independently sealable so as to provide air venting for either warm or cold air, depending on the ambient temperature and the air conditioning requirements. The lowermost port is thus adapted to vent cold air when open and the uppermost port is adapted to vent hot air when open. Usually, both ports will not be open at the same time. The air compartment will be adapted in size and shape to the area of the room or portion of the room to be air conditioned and to the particular degree of air conditioning required. Thus, it may vary in size from that of a relatively small box to that of the entire ceiling area of the room. In this latter instance, the compartment may conveniently be constructed by arranging a "false ceiling" below the true ceiling of the room: the space between the two ceilings acting as the air compartment. Alternatively, the compartment may comprise the adjacent wall of the room or portion of the room to be air conditioned. In another embodiment, the air compartment may take the form of a duct which may be insulated against noise if required. Furthermore, such a duct may include a rainwater trap and heater and/or cooler means for the fresh air passing therethrough. The fresh air inlet may comprise a simple opening in the wall of the air compartment to allow ingress of fresh air. The opening may include one or more insect screens and/or dust filters and/or grills to prevent unwanted contaminants entering the air compartment. Additionally, a closure means may be provided to seal off the inlet when the air-flow means is not in use.

In a preferred aspect, the fresh air inlet includes an air inlet chute so that fresh air may be taken in from an area spaced above the true ceiling height of the room. The purpose of such a chute is to ensure that the cleanest air in the immediate exterior vicinity of the room is taken in. Such chutes will be particularly desirable in multi-storey constructions or where ground level pollution - such as caused by unmade dusty roads - is a problem. In this latter instance, dust filters will obviously be a useful addition also. Preferably, the fresh air inlet comprises a single opening or structure as described above, but it may also comprise multiple openings when a relatively large volume of fresh air is required. Multiple inlet openings may also be necessary in high wind areas in which case independent operation to enable the closure of one or more openings which do not face a prevailing wind direction, while maintaining the others open, is particularly useful.

It may furthermore be necessary to close one or more of the openings in adverse weather conditions.

The air outlet, like the air inlet, may be a simple opening in the wall of the air compartment and may, if deemed necessary, include screening to prevent insects from passing therethrough when the air-flow means is not in use. Preferably, the air outlet has an associated air flow guide. The purpose of such a guide is to concentrate and/or directionalise the flow of air from the air compartment to the room. The air flow guide may be located within the air compartment immediately before the air outlet or it may be located exteriorly of the air compartment on the outer side of the air outlet.

Preferably, the air outlet and/or the air flow guide is arranged to direct the flow of fresh air in a downward direction. In the embodiment where the air flow guide is located within the air compartment, it may conveniently comprise a shortened constricted passageway optionally including air vanes. A similar air flow guide to this may also be located on the exterior of the air compartment, about the air outlet. Another form of exteriorly mounted air flow guide comprises a plurality of boxes with tapered outlets. The boxes are mounted to one horizontal wall of the air compartment - usually the lowermost wall when the air compartment is formed in the ceiling of the room. Each box is provided with a through opening, one end of which opens into the air compartment and the other end of which has the tapered outlet into the room. Closure means are provided in one or more of the boxes to seal the interior of the air compartment from the room. The closure means may comprise a sliding cover plate, a diaphragm or the like, and are preferably adapted to separate operation. By the provision of such an arrangement, air flow to various parts of the room may be regulated.

Alternatively, the exteriorly mounted air flow guide may simply comprise a hood-type canopy or a curtain. A hood-type canopy is particularly useful when the air outlet is in a wall of the room and it is desired to direct the flow of air downwardly from the air outlet. The hood-type canopy may then take the form of an elbow ducting. Another effective way of achieving substantially the same result is to arrange a flexible curtain over the air outlet in the wall. The flexibility of the material used should be such as to be readily displaceable by the movement of air from the outlet. suitable material may be cloth, sheet plastics material, and the like. All these air flow guide arrangements are particularly suitable for personal air conditioning, that is, for providing a supply of fresh air to a person or persons in a particular area of the room. Areas envisaged include work areas, recreation areas and sleep areas. This latter area has proved to be most beneficial as will become more apparent from the following description.

A still further embodiment envisages an air flow guide in the form of a flexible duct fabricated from cloth, sheet plastics material, or the like. The duct is adapted for attachment over the head of a person and has appropriate openings and fixing means to achieve this. It may, for instance, include straps for attachment around the upper torso or shoulders of a person, or domes for securing to appropriately fashioned clothing.

The air impeller may be in any location of the air compartment which can effect movement of fresh air from the fresh air inlet to the fresh air outlet. Typical examples include fans such as radial fans and centrifugal fans, reciprocating pumps, screw air pumps, vibrating diaphragms, and the like. Preferably fans, and most preferably radial fans, are employed. The size and number of the fans and their energy requirements will naturally be chosen on the basis of the number of occupants who are intended to occupy the portion of the room to be air conditioned but will, in any case, be substantially smaller in size and energy requirements as compared with known recirculating air fans in common use in homes in hot regions. Thus for instance, for an average sized room of 4m × 4m × 2.5m, a large bladed recirculating fan utilizing 300 watts may be required to effectively circulate the air whereas the flow means of the present invention could effectively aerate a desired area within the room using a small radial fan operating at only about 15 watts per person. Considerable energy and cost savings are thus achievable.

Preferably, the air impeller has a capacity which is such as to provide sufficient fresh air for a single person within the room in which it is located.

The air impeller is preferably located in the outlet of the air compartment and, in the case of a radial fan, will preferably occupy the entire outlet opening. If it does not take up the entire outlet opening, provision should be made to ensure that there can be no "back draught" from the room to the air compartment. To this end it may be necessary to provide an annular collar extending from the opening into the air compartment so as to lie close to the tip of the radial fan blades. The air impeller may comprise a single unit or a plurality of units as required dependant upon the number of occupants in the room and the most frequently used locations in the room.

The air flow will preferably be such that there are essentially no eddies of spent air produced in the portion of the room to be conditioned. The air conditioning system is particularly adapted to localise conditioning of a room, that is, it will be adapted so as to condition only that portion of the room which is occupied.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

FIG 1 is a cut-away perspective view of a room fitted with an air-flow means according to the invention;

FIG 2 is a side on cross section of a room fitted with another form or air-flow means;

FIG 3 is a perspective view of a personal air-flow means;

FIG 4 is a perspective view of an air-flow means illustrating one form of air-flow guide arrangement; FIG 5 is a perspective view of another form of air-flow guide arrangement; and

FIG 6 is a perspective view of an air-flow unit adapted for fitting to a window opening.

Referring to FIG 1, a rectangular room is depicted at 1. The room includes a false ceiling 2 spaced from a true ceiling 3 and defining therebetween an air compartment 4. A fresh air inlet 5 is formed in a side wall of the air compartment and an inlet chute 6 extends therefrom to a height at which fresh air is available. The inlet chute conveniently has an opening 7 in a side wall through which fresh air may be drawn. To separate rainwater, a cyclone may be employed.

The air compartment 4 includes an air outlet 8 and a radial fan 9 (motor and mechanism not illustrated for the sake of clarity). A pull cord 10 for turning the fan 9 on and off is provided.

Spent air venting means 11 and 12 are provided to respectively vent hot air and cold air. Shutters, not shown, will usually be associated with the venting means. In operation, turning the fan 9 on by pull cord 10 will cause fresh air to be sucked into the air compartment 4 via fresh air inlet 5 and opening 1 . The fresh air will then be expelled through the outlet 8 into the room in a substantially downward pattern as illustrated by the dotted lines, and exhausted from the room via either air venting means 11 or 12.

The downward flow of air in a selected area of the room, air conditions that space alone and provides a very economical arrangement since large air flows are not required and air conditioning of unnecessary spaces is avoided. A dust filter and/or an insect screen can be added at inlet 7; heating or cooling devices may be provided at outlet 8.

Referring now to FIG 2, there is illustrated a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG 1 in which a larger radial fan is employed. The room, indicated at 20, comprises an air compartment 21 having inlets 22, 23 at each end as well as in the front and rear ends which are not shown. A radial fan 24 is supported by the true ceiling 25 and extends into the outlet 26 of a false ceiling 27. The blades of the fan are such as to extend across the entire outlet opening but in view of the size of the fan and to ensure that there is no back draught, an annular collar 28 surrounds the outlet. A spent air venting means is shown at 29. The operation is substantially the same as the previous embodiment but because of the large size of the fan, the entire room is air conditioned. Air circulates as indicated by the arrows.

Referring to FIG 3, a personal air-flow means is depicted. This comprises an air compartment in the form or a chute 30 having a fresh air inlet 31 covered by an insect screen 32 and dust screen 33. A rainwater drain is provided at 34.

The chute 30 extends through the wall 35 of a building and has an outlet 36 in which a radial fan 37 is located. A heating and cooling arrangement 38 is provided within the chute immediately preceding the outlet. The arrangement is completed by an air flow guide 39 in the form of a flexible canopy, i.e. curtain, which changes the direction of air flow from a horizontal to a downward direction. In use, the air-flow means is located in a position to provide fresh air to a person 40 lying on a bed. The proximity of the outlet to the person means that only a very small power radial fan is required to completely saturate the head and upper part of the body of a person with fresh air. Furthermore, the small size of the fan and the provision of sound deadening material within the chute walls, means that a very quiet form of air conditioning is provided. The air flow is depicted by the broad arrows shown in the drawing. The embodiment of FIG 4 depicts box-type air-flow guides 41 arranged to depend from the air compartment 45. Two only are depicted for clarity but a multiplicity are included in the arrangement in the positions indicated by the arrows 42. The air-flow guides 41 have tapered openings 43 and sliding shutters indicated generally at 44. Independent operation of the shutters to open or close a desired array of the air-flow guides permit localised air conditioning of areas within the room. Opening or closing can be achieved either manually, semi-automatically or automatically. In the embodiment of FIG 5, a personal air-flow guide is illustrated. This comprises a chute 50 of flexible material having an opening 51 which passes over a person's head. The chute is attached by ribbons 52 about the shoulders of the person.

The arrangement permits a cheap form of personal air-conditioning using a very low volume of fresh air.

Referring finally to Fig. 6, a personal air-flow means for attachment to a sliding window opening, is depicted. This comprises a rectangular base plate 61 having substantially the same thickness and height as the sliding window 62 but of slightly less width. A radial fan 63 is arranged in outlet 64 of fresh air compartment 65. The air compartment has a downwardly depending L-configuration and includes a dust and insect screen at 66. A heating and/or cooling device 67 may be provided adjacent the outlet 64 if deemed necessary.

The arrangement includes a curtain 68 which directs the flow of air from a substantially horizontal direction to a substantially vertical direction. The curtain may be attached to the base plate 61 or, alternatively, to the support wall in which the window opening is located. When the air-flow means is not inoperation, the curtain falls to the portion indicated by reference numeral 70.

A cord 69 is provided to operate a switch (not shown) on the fan.

The air-flow means is fitted in place in the window opening by sliding the window 62 open and inserting the base plate 61 in the area previously occupied by the window. The window is then slid sideways along with the base plate causing it to slide sideways closing the gaps on both sides.

The operation of this air-flow means is the same as for the previous embodiment depicted in Fig, 3.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention, many modifications and variations may be made thereto by persons skilled in the art without departing from the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein set forth in the following claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:- 1. Air-flow means for conditioning a room or a portion of a room, said means comprising an air compartment having a fresh air (as herein defined) inlet and a fresh air outlet, and an air impeller arranged so as to move fresh air from the inlet through the outlet into the room or portion of the room to be conditioned.

2. Air-flow means as claimed in claim 1 wherein the air impeller is a fan.

3. Air-flow means as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the freeh air outlet comprises a plurality of openings in which are located a plurality of air impellers.

4. Air-flow means as claimed in any one of claims 1-3 and wherein an air flow guide is provided on each outlet or openings.

5. Air conditioning system for a room or portion of a room comprising:-

(i) an air compartment;

(ii) fresh air inlet means to said air compartment;

(iii) fresh air outlet means from said air compartment to said room or portion of room to be conditioned;

(iv) at least one air impeller in parallel or series arranged to move fresh air through said air compartment from the fresh air inlet means to the fresh air outlet means; and (v) spent air venting means for venting air to the exterior of the room.

6. Air conditioning system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the spent air venting means comprises one or more ports.

7. Air conditioning system as claimed in claim 6 and comprising two ports wherein one of the ports is located at or near the lowermost region of the room and the other of the ports is located at or near the uppermost region of the room

8. Air conditioning system as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the ports are independently sealable.

9. Air conditioning system as claimed in any one of claims 5-8 wherein the air impeller is a fan.

10. Air conditioning system as claimed in any one of claims 5-9, wherein the air outlet means comprises a plurality of openings in which are located a plurality of air impellers acting as secondary impellers.

11. Air conditioning system as claimed in any one of claims 5-10 and wherein an air flow guide is provided on each outlet means or openings.

12. Air conditioning system as claimed in any one of claims 5-11 and wherein a fresh air inlet chute is provided on the fresh air inlet opening.

13. Air conditioning system as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the air inlet chute is a vertical duct in a multi- storey building.

14. Air-flow means as claimed in Claim 2 which is adapted to be secured in the frame of an open window.