Ventilation – Having both inlet and outlet airways – Including unitary inlet and outlet housing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-28
2001-09-11
Ford, John K. (Department: 3743)
Ventilation
Having both inlet and outlet airways
Including unitary inlet and outlet housing
C454S245000, C454S249000, C454S251000, C454S253000, C454S349000, C392S364000, C362S092000, C362S149000, C362S294000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287191
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air exchange apparatus, and more particularly, to a combination bath fan, register box, air conditioning and heating boot.
2. Description of the Related Art
The annals of civilizations reveal that most humans share one common trait: the need for wealth, power and glory. As every generation searches for the easiest and fastest ticket to instant power and wealth, members of the world are confronted with a virtually insoluble dilemma—how to squeeze more productivity out of an already busy day. The need for ever increasing productivity thus places many members of society under increasing stress. In the frenzy created by modern lifestyles, bathrooms provide safe harbors from life's more hectic moments. Thus, bathrooms need to be as pleasant to use as possible.
Attempts at providing a more pleasant atmosphere in the bathroom have run afoul of problems principally caused by two agents: (1) odoriferous vapor and fume discharged by the occupant of the bathroom, and (2) heat generated by one or more heat generators such as the body of the occupant, light fixtures, hair dryers, and other motorized appliances. The fume and heat energy resulting from the use of the spatially confined bathroom can be quite offensive when the air is stagnated, as caused by the stratification of air masses.
Typically, masses of hot air are trapped below the ceiling in an upper portion of the room, while cooler air masses occupy a lower portion of the room. Such stratification is undesirable in that odors and noxious fumes are trapped. The trapping of noxious fumes and odors in the confined space of the bathroom is particularly uncomfortable and disrupts the occupant's pursuit of greater goals in life. This is especially so when the room is a small one, not having any opening in the exterior wall, such as a window that can be opened to allow fresh air to enter the room.
In order to improve the comfort of the occupant as well as the efficiency of the air conditioning/heating system for the bathroom, the air gradient throughout the bathroom needs to be emphasized such that undesirable and stale fumes and odors are removed while fresh air is circulated throughout the bathroom. With this goal in mind, modern building codes require that bathrooms be provided with an exhaust system vented to the atmosphere.
To overcome the aforementioned nefarious problems and to conform to the building codes, various systems have been developed with sufficient ventilation and distribution of air to provide a comfortable environment where citizens can relish in the civility of their building codes. It has been long recognized that the strongest source of noxious odors or vapors is centered around the toilet seat where the same is occupied by a person. In order for an odor exhaust device to function, a bathroom must have a source of suction or vacuum. Most building codes require an exhaust system, including an exhaust fan located in the ceiling or wall of the room in which the toilet is housed. There must also be an arrangement that permits the noxious odors from the toilet area to be withdrawn into the exhaust system. Many of the previously proposed devices utilized vents and other apertures on the wall communicating with passageways adjacent to the rear of the toilet seat and connected to one or more exhaust lines to the source of suction or vacuum.
Further, it is known in the art to utilize exhaust fans to direct warm air from the ceiling towards the outside atmosphere to provide the needed ventilation. Typically, a fan is mounted within a housing to draw air through an intake located at the base of the housing and discharges the air through the top of the housing near the ceiling. However, as the conventional exhaust fan can only be used to draw air in or out of a room, it is necessary to separately install another air passageway connected to the air conditioner or heater for drawing fresh conditioned air into the bathroom.
As the process for creating and securing two openings on the wall or the ceiling of the confined space requires twice as much labor and supporting material as the process for creating one opening on the wall or the ceiling, the labor and material cost associated with the installation of separate inlet and outlet and associated flexible ducts can be rather significant. Thus, conventional air exchange systems result in much wasted money as well as inconvenience in installing and maintaining the air exchange system. Further, separate air inlet and bathroom fan vent lend themselves to neither an aesthetic appearance nor an easy to clean or maintain assembly. As such, conventional solutions to the bathroom air exchange problem are antithetical to the economic dictates as well as the aesthetic requirements of a modern civilization.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A combination bath fan, register box, air conditioning and heating boot is provided which requires one opening on the wall or the ceiling of the bathroom, thus reducing the installation and maintenance costs associated with the ventilation of the bathroom. The combination includes a trim kit or assembly which is adapted to be fitted into a rough-in kit or assembly. The rough-in kit or assembly, typically mounted onto a building stud during the early phases of the building construction, has an air outlet which is connected to the outside air and an inlet for receiving conditioned air to be distributed within a confined space.
The trim kit or assembly is then installed in the rough-in kit or assembly. Louvers are provided around the perimeter of the face plate of the trim kit or assembly to dispense conditioned air from the air inlet to the confined space with the appropriate air gradient. Air flow through the louvers is controlled using one or more slidable dampers mounted above the louvers. Further, one or more baffles are positioned centrally on the face plate to guide the removal of stale air from the confined space. A fan housing having a motorized fan assembly is centrally positioned above the face plate to draw stale air and other odoriferous fumes from the confined space through the baffles and to eject the noxious fumes to the outside atmosphere.
The combination bath fan, register box, air conditioning and heating boot of the present invention thus provides an economical, aesthetically pleasing, yet high performance air exchange system which can be installed in fewer steps with less materials and which provides a less intrusive appearance on the ceiling or wall of the confined space. Thus, more quality time can be spent in the confined space of the bathroom to refresh the occupant and to prepare him or her for grander opportunities.
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Ford John K.
McGinley Brian R.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Teleflow, Inc.
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