Air treatment apparatus with an interchangeable vent cover

Details Air treatment apparatus with an interchangeable vent cover Air treatment apparatus with an interchangeable vent cover

2002-04-05

2004-04-06

Pham, Minh-Chau T. (Department: 1724)

Gas separation

With gas flow effecting means

Impeller upstream of separating media

C055S493000, C055S495000, C055S504000, C055S511000, C055S482000, C055S508000, C454S158000, C454S139000, C454S161000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06716265

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air treatment apparatus, and more particularly to an air treatment apparatus with an interchangeable vent cover for a jet-flow or a laminar-flow.
2. Description of Related Art
An air treatment apparatus such as an air conditioner, an air drier, an air cleaner or the like is used to change the condition of the air in a specific space. A conventional air treatment apparatus substantially comprises a housing, a fan, a treatment element and a vent cover. At least one entrance is defined in the housing. The fan is mounted in the housing and faces the entrances, such that the air can be led into the housing by the fan through the entrances. The treatment element is mounted in the housing to change the condition of the air. The treatment element can be a heat exchanger, a drier or a filter. The vent cover is secured to the housing and has multiple vents defined in the cover for the treated air to be dispersed from the housing through vents. With reference to
FIG. 9
, a conventional vent cover (
60
) in accordance with the prior art has multiple vents (
62
) defined in a top of the vent cover (
60
). Each vent (
62
) in the top of the vent cover (
60
) has a width much smaller than a length of the vent (
62
). The speed of the air diffused from the narrow vents (
62
) is very high, and the distance of the air diffused from the vents (
62
) is thus very far. The airflow diffused from the narrow vents (
62
) is a jet flow. The jet-flow vent cover (
60
) is always used on an air treatment apparatus for treating the air in a large space due to the good dispersal effect created thereby.
With reference to
FIG. 10
, another conventional vent cover (
70
) in accordance with the prior art has multiple wide vents (
72
) defined in a front of the vent cover (
70
). Consequently, the speed of the air diffused from the wide vents (
72
) is slow. The airflow diffused from the wide vents (
72
) is a laminar flow. The laminar-flow vent cover (
70
) is used on an air treatment apparatus for treating the air in a specific rather than general area.
However, the conventional vent covers (
60
,
70
) in
FIGS. 9 and 10
are secured on the housing of the air treatment apparatus and the conventional ones are not interchangeable. This means that if an air treatment apparatus is designed to be fitted with the jet-flow vent cover (
60
) as shown in
FIG. 9
, the air treatment apparatus cannot be fitted with the laminar-flow vent cover (
70
) as shown in FIG.
10
. If a user wants to change the conditions of the air in a large area and in a specific area simultaneously, two different types of air treatment apparatuses respectively with a jet-flow vent cover (
60
) and a laminar-flow vent cover (
70
) must be bought. This duplication of equipment is an excessive financial burden for a consumer and thus it is likely that an apparatus with only one type of vent cover will be bought, thereby leading to inappropriate air quality at certain times.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an air treatment apparatus to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the invention is to provide an air treatment apparatus with an interchangeable vent cover such that a jet-flow condition and a laminar-flow condition are possible with the same apparatus. To achieve the above objective, the air treatment apparatus has a housing and a vent cover. The housing has a treatment element, at least one entrance and a fan secured in the housing and facing the entrances. The vent cover is detachably and replaceably attached to the housing. At least one vent is selectively defined in either of the top face and the front face of the vent cover.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5762667 (1998-06-01), Pippel et al.
patent: 6214071 (2001-04-01), Wang
patent: 6217439 (2001-04-01), Janeling et al.
patent: 6284011 (2001-09-01), Chiang et al.
patent: 6421238 (2002-07-01), Negishi
patent: 6487075 (2002-11-01), Negishi

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