Ventilation – Having inlet airway – Including specific air distributor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-18
2001-08-28
Joyce, Harold (Department: 3749)
Ventilation
Having inlet airway
Including specific air distributor
C454S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280321
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to slot air diffusers or airbars that control and distribute air from a heating and cooling ventilation system into a room and, in particular, to improvements in bridges that support air control blades within such diffusers.
Air diffusers are utilized to distribute air into a room from a plenum in such a manner as to control the direction of the air into the room and/or the volume of flow of air from each diffuser. Such diffusers may be mounted in a ceiling, walls or other structures as required by the particular architectural need and the present invention is designed for any such uses.
Many types of diffuser have existed in the prior art such as is shown in the Hungerford U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,967. Such diffusers often include a body or frame with side rails connected by bridges that in turn support air control blades.
Prior art bridges have been restrictive as to the positioning of the air control blades supported by the bridges. Furthermore, the bridges of the prior art are normally designed such that the entire diffuser must be disassembled when it is necessary to replace a control blade or it becomes desirable to be able to exchange one type of control blade for a different style blade. It is desirable to make such changes without disassembly of the diffuser or of room structure around the diffuser. Also, it is normally important to limit noise produced by air diffusers. Prior air diffusers have bridges that create very turbulent air flow about the bridges and are therefore quite noisy. The air control blades also often vibrate or rattle in the air flow making additional noise.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a diffuser and especially a bridge for such a diffuser that overcomes these problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An air diffuser is provided that operates in conjunction with an air delivery plenum to supply heating and ventilation air to a room under directional and volume control of the diffuser. The diffuser includes a pair of slide rails joined by end plates in such a manner as to be operably mountable within a ceiling or a wall surface and to be flow joined with an air delivery plenum. The diffuser also includes at least one pair of bridges which are positioned opposed to each other and a set of air flow control blades which are mounted in and extend between the bridges. The bridges each include a slot for receiving an end of each blade such that the blades may move laterally from side to side within the slot and such that the blades are preferably in overlapping relationship with one another in at least some configurations of the diffuser.
The blades are generally parallel to one another and are slidable relative to each other, as well as to the bridges, so as to be selectively positionable within the diffuser. In this manner the blades may as a pair be positioned anywhere between being fully to one side of the diffuser or fully to the opposite side of the diffuser. Furthermore, the overlap of the blades may be varied to allow more or less spreading therebetween. That is, as the blades slide relative to each other to a more separated position, the space obstructed by the blades increases, thereby producing a greater obstruction to air, and in this way air flow is dampened. For increased flow the blades are positioned for greater overlap. Moving the blades from side to side changes the directional output of the air from the diffuser. Thus, the blade design allows for a wide variety of directional air flows, as well as volumes of air flow through the diffuser.
Each of the bridges includes a spring arm that is located within the slot that receives the blades and which engages both of the blades. The spring arm provides a constant bias to the blades that maintains the blades in spaced relationship with respect to a rear wall of each slot, so as to reduce the likelihood that a blade will become wedged against the wall. This allows free movement of the blades within the slot for purposes of adjustment. Furthermore, the spring arm provides a constant small amount of bias to each of the blades so as to prevent the blades from rattling within the diffuser as air passes the blades. The bridges have feet at each end that are slidably mounted in receivers in the side rails to allow movement of the bridge along the side rails, but yet provide support to the bridges. Each bridge also includes a cover. The cover is curved and higher near the back of each bridge then on a blade receiving side. Preferably, the covers are arcuate and have a radius that approximates the thickness of the bridge.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
Therefore the objects of the present inventions are: to provide a slot air diffuser that includes bridges that allow for easy manual adjustment of air flow blades supported by the brides; to provide such a diffuser wherein the bridges allow easy change out or repair of the air control blades without disassembly of the diffuser or surrounding room structure; to provide such a diffuser wherein the bridges provide biasing to the blade to reduce noise and rattling of the blades in the air flow; to provide such a diffuser wherein the bridges have a low profile so as to produce a comparatively small footprint with respect to the air flow through the diffuser to reduce noise due to turbulence produced at the bridge; to provide such a diffuser having a top that has a radius equal to the thickness of the bridge to reduce air turbulence and noise associated with the bridge; to provide a diffuser having a bridge that interconnects with and slides along side rails of the diffuser to allow for easy positioning of the bridge and so as to make the bridge self supporting, such that the air control blades may be removed therefrom without removing the bridges; to provide such diffuser wherein a single bridge may be used with more then one type of air control blade; and to provide such a diffuser that is easy to construct, requires comparatively few parts, is simple to install, is inexpensive to produce and is especially well suited for the intended usage thereof.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3220332 (1965-11-01), Straub
patent: 3260188 (1966-07-01), Person
patent: 3815486 (1974-06-01), Morrison
patent: 4182227 (1980-01-01), Roy
patent: 5014609 (1991-05-01), Weck
patent: 5052285 (1991-10-01), Rich
patent: 5261857 (1993-11-01), Petterson et al.
Cook Gerald
Jones Gordon G.
Air System Components LP
Boles Derek S.
Joyce Harold
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy P.C.
LandOfFree
Air diffuser having improved bridges for supporting air... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Air diffuser having improved bridges for supporting air..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Air diffuser having improved bridges for supporting air... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2522256