Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Including supplemental gas shaping or shielding jet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-07
2001-07-10
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Including supplemental gas shaping or shielding jet
C239S291000, C239S296000, C239S078000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257502
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Misting systems are of widespread utility, wherever it is desired to effect ultra fine droplets of water or other liquid into a mist or fog. In recent years, misting systems have become quite popular for the cooling effect of misted water on the human body and on animals. Ultra fine water droplets introduced into warm or hot air quickly evaporates, absorbing heat from and thereby cooling the air. Combining mists with moving air may be accomplished by placing a mister in the vicinity of a fan or blower for entraining the mist in the fan's air stream, causing the mist to be distributed to a greater or more directed air volume and at the same time increasing convective cooling. Misting systems, with or without a combined fan, are also useful to humidify air for providing moisture to plants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an integrated multi-head misting device that is extremely effective in producing and distributing mists, may be removably attached to a household faucet or garden hose for receiving water to be converted into mists, and is particularly adaptable for being combined with a fan for efficiently entraining the produced mists in the fan's airstream.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a misting fan is provided which comprises the combination of: a fan including a motor and a plurality of fan blades radially extending from the motor; a fan shroud supported with respect to the motor, the shroud including a grille forwardly of the fan blades for permitting an airstream therethrough resulting from the fan when operating, the grille further including a hub forwardly of the motor; and a misting device including a housing secured to the hub, and a plurality of misting heads secured to the housing and arranged for directing spray mists across the grille, and preferably forwardly of the grille. The grille preferably includes a plurality of forwardly projecting fins radially extending from the grille's hub.
The misting device includes a manifold in the housing, the manifold communicating with the heads for distributing liquid under pressure to the heads, and the housing includes an inlet for supplying the liquid to the manifold. The inlet is preferably adapted for receiving water from a household faucet or garden hose, and the misting system is operable with water under normal household pressures although higher water pressures are possible.
In a preferred embodiment for directing the spray mists across the fan grille, the misting heads are secured to the housing along a direction angularly disposed with respect to the direction of the airstream through the grille resulting from the fan when operating; preferably, such direction of the misting heads is approximately 45° with respect to the direction of the airstream. In its preferred embodiment, the housing is substantially circular about a central axis, and the misting heads are arranged about the periphery of the circular housing and at an angle (preferably about 45°) to the central axis so that the spray mists are directed across the grille as well as forwardly of the grille.
The misting device of the present invention is an integrated structure that may be used with or without a fan, and if without a fan the housing of the misting device may be secured to another structure such as a building, a platform or other standing structure. The misting device comprises a housing that is preferably substantially circular about a central axis, and adapted for being secured to a structure; a manifold in the housing for containing pressurized water and including an inlet for receiving water under pressure; a plurality of misting heads spaced along the housing and in communication with the manifold, the misting heads preferably being at an angle to the housing central axis. The manifold is preferably a closed loop channel of right triangular cross-section, with the misting heads communicating with the manifold through an aperture in the manifold's wall including its cross-sectional hypotenuse.
In a preferred misting device structure according to the present invention, the housing includes a body portion and a cover, the body portion including the manifold channel comprising the hypotenuse and one side of the right triangular manifold cross-section and the cover forming the other side, and the cover is sealed to the body which includes the misting heads communicating with the manifold.
One embodiment of the misting device of the present invention includes a plurality of misting-head bases equally spaced along the housing and about the central axis. At least some of the bases are adapted for the misting heads to be secured thereto. When so secured, the misting heads communicate with the manifold for producing the spray mists along a longitudinal axis laterally and forwardly of the housing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2635920 (1953-04-01), Boyce
patent: 3221993 (1965-12-01), Bals
patent: 3296739 (1967-01-01), Wiegel
patent: 5180106 (1993-01-01), Handfield
patent: 5961044 (1999-10-01), Dalbec et al.
Dallara Ken Bradley
Davis Michael Scott
Hanish Barry N.
Mist & Cool, LLC
Nguyen Dinh Q.
Scherbel David A.
Weiss David
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