EP1518082B1

EP1518082B1 - Heat convector with an electrically adjustable deflector element

Info

Publication number: EP1518082B1
Application number: EP02745808A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Valerio Giordano Riello
Original assignee: Giordano Riello International Group SpA
Current assignee: Giordano Riello International Group SpA
Priority date: 2002-06-26
Filing date: 2002-06-26
Publication date: 2009-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 2022-06-26
Also published as: SI1518082T1; SK50312004A3; ES2335978T3; CN1630801A; CN100494857C; CA2486791A1; HUP0500362A2; DE60234390D1; WO2004003451A1; NO20050369L; ATE448457T1; PT1518082E; AU2002317497A1; EP1518082A1

Abstract

The present invention concerns a heat convector for heating air in a closed environment comprising an air intake opening (2) equipped with an air filter (3), a heat exchanger (5) for heating the air (4), an air outlet opening (6) equipped with at least one adjustable deflector element (7), said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) being adjustable in a plurality of angular positions between a closed position and a fully open position and being actuated by an electric motor (8) through drive means (10), characterised in that said electric motor (8) is supplied by a battery (19) and is connected to switching means (11, 11a) suitable for switching the operating status of said electric motor (8).

Description

The present invention refers to a heat convector with an electrically adjustable deflector element, in particular a heat convector with a deflector element which can be adjusted through an electric motor of the DC type.
Heat convectors equipped with systems for opening and/or closing one or more deflector elements or shutters or rollers are widely known and used. Such opening and/or closing systems are provided, for their movement, with means which can be controlled through electric motors, supplied by mains voltage and current.
Opening and/or closing systems are also known which are provided with means which can be controlled manually in function of the temperature detected through suitable detection devices.
Patents US 5,505,379 (Wagner ), US 2,698,570 (Feinberg ), US 4,497,241 (Ohkata ) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al. ) disclose opening and/or closing systems of the described previously type and indeed show opening and/or closing systems equipped with one or more rollers with means suitable for moving such rollers manually, or else controlled in function of the temperature detected or even a combination of the two control types.
In particular, patent US 5,505,379 (Wagner ) discloses an air register, designed to couple with commercially available registers, equipped with movable-louvers. The movement of the louvers can either take place through manual control or else through a temperature sensor of the type using a bimetallic strip.
In this last case, the movement of the louvers takes place through the bimetallic strip thermomechanical deformation, i.e. due to a deformation of the metal constituting the strip of material, caused by the airflow temperature.
Patent US 2,698,570 (Feinberg ) show an apparatus for controlling the air direction and air distribution, provided with louvers which oscillate due to a bellows filled with a temperature-sensitive gas.
Such systems have some drawbacks like, for example, the imprecision in the adjustment of the movement of the louvers depending upon the temperature detected, or else the impossibility of varying the temperature range in accordance with which the movements of the louvers takes place.
Patents US 4,497,241 (Ohkata ) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al. ), on the other hand, disclose an airflow direction control device equipped with a plurality of louvers which oscillate thanks to the presence of springs and/or blades of the shape-memory alloy type. In these applications the blade actuates the louvers opening and/or closing depending upon the airflow temperature. Also in these last two patents there are the drawbacks already illustrated in the previous patents, i.e. the imprecision in the adjustment of the movement of the louvers in function of the temperature detected and the impossibility of varying the temperature range depending upon the movements of the louvers take place.
Moreover, patents US 4,497,241 (Ohkata ) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al. ) have as a further drawback the fact that the opening and closing of the rollers is not proportional to the temperature detected but is of the on/off type. In patent application EP 837288 , in the name of AERMEC S.P.A., a fan convector is disclosed with deflector elements adjustable around an axis between a plurality of positions, i.e. between a closed position and a fully open position. This takes place through specific drive means controlled by an electric motor. The motor is supplied by mains voltage and is controlled depending on the temperature detected by a thermostat. Such a solution has the drawback that it needs building works to allow an electric motor power supply, with an obvious increase in installation costs and also needs a more sophisticated management of the control of the electric motor. Therefore, whilst the solutions illustrated by US 5,505,379 (Wagner ), US 2,698,570 (Feinberg ), US 4,497,241 (Ohkata ) and US 4,541,326 (Fukuda et al. ) have no electrical connections and therefore can be exploited better, all of the known solutions do not offer those features which nowadays are essential to the market, such as the possibility of varying the temperature range within the movement of the deflector elements takes place, or else the simple and fast installation of the heat convector, or else the versatility of use even in conditions in which there is no connection to the mains.
In view of the described state of the art, the scope of the present invention is to provide a heat convector with an electrically adjustable deflector element capable to overcome the drawbacks of known heat convectors.
Another scope of the present invention is to provide a heat convector with an adjustable deflector element of the stand-alone type.
In accordance with the present invention, such a scope is achieved through a heat convector for heating air in closed environments in accordance with claim 1.
Thanks to the present invention it is possible to realise a heat convector for heating air capable of operating without connection to the mains. Moreover, thanks to the present invention, it is possible to vary the temperature interval in accordance with which the opening and/or closing of the deflector element takes place.
The characteristics and advantages of the present invention shall-become clearer from the following detailed description of many practical embodiments, illustrated as a non-limiting example in the attached drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows a partial section perspective view of a heat convector in accordance with the present invention;
figure 2 shows a first embodiment of a circuit diagram of the heat convector in accordance with the present invention;
figure 3 shows a second embodiment of another circuit diagram of the heat convector in accordance with the present invention;
figure 4 shows a perspective view of a first operating position of the first embodiment of the heat convector in accordance with the present invention;
figure 5 shows a perspective view of a second operating position of the first embodiment of the heat convector in accordance with the present invention.

With reference to figure 1, the heat convector, generally indicated with 1, comprises an air intake opening 2 equipped with an air filter 3; the airflow 4 is conveyed from the surrounding environment through the opening 2 towards a heat exchanger 5 thanks to the natural convective effect which is produced.
This is due to the thermal gradient which is created between room temperature outside the heat convector 1 and room temperature inside the heat convector 1 itself.
The heat exchanger 5 comprises a cooling coil (not illustrated in the figures) through which a hot fluid runs. The fluid is preferably but not necessarily water.
The airflow 4 taken from the environment surrounding the heat convector 1 is thus heated and conveyed towards an air outlet opening 6 through at least one adjustable deflector element 7.
Such an adjustable deflector element 7 is directed and driven in a plurality of angular positions between a closed position and a fully open position by means of an electric motor 8. The electric motor 8 is capable of driving the deflector element 7 through a revolution reducer 9 connected to drive means 10.
Moreover, the electric motor 8 is also connected to switching means 11 and 11a capable of switching the operating state of the electric motor itself.
In the example illustrated in figures 1, 2, 4 and 5 the drive means 10 are of the articulated quadrilateral type and comprise:

a disc crank 12 shrunk onto the rotation axis X-X of the electric motor 8,
a rocker arm 13 having an end shrunk onto the rotation axis Y-Y of the adjustable deflector element 7, so that the centre of rotation C of the rocker arm 13 coincides with the rotation axis Y-Y of the adjustable deflector element 7, and
a connecting rod 15 suitable for connecting the free end of the rocker arm 13 with a point 12a of the disc crank 12 positioned eccentrically with respect to the rotation axis X-X of the electric motor 8 at a predetermined distance E.

It should be noted that the rocker arm 13 is sized in such a way that the distance D between its centre of rotation C and the point of connection 13a to the connecting rod 15 is greater than the eccentricity E.
The aforementioned sizing allows a predetermined angular rotation α of the rocker arm 13 around its centre of rotation C to take place for every complete rotation of the disc crank 12 around the axis X-X.
Preferably, to a rotation of 180° of the disc crank 12 corresponds an angular rotation α equal to 90° and then of the deflector element 7. Therefore, with every complete rotation of the disc crank 12 the deflector element 7 carries out a rotation first in one direction and then in the other for a total of 180°, i.e. 90° in the first rotation and another 90° in the second rotation. Advantageously, the switching means 11a are slaved in switching to a cam and cam follower actuation group.
Preferably, the cam, or rather the cam's path, is defined by the outline 12b of the disc crank 12, which is suitably shaped so as to form a plurality of distinct outline portions radiused each other and having different eccentricity values with respect to the rotation axis X-X.
The cam follower comprises a feeler 18 which, through per se known elastic means, not represented in the figures, is held elastically in contact against the outline 12b of the disc crank 12.
For the reasons which shall become clearer from the rest of the description, the disc crank 12 has two distinct angular portions each having a different eccentricity value and extending for an arc of circumference equal to about 180°. Basically, the outline of the cam 12b, defined by the outline of the disc crank 12, has two points of discontinuity in correspondence of which the displacement of the feeler 18 determines the switching of the switching means 11a.
Advantageously, the feeler 18 is positioned with respect to the disc crank 12 in such a way that the feeler 18 detects a discontinuity of the cam profile 12b when the deflector element 7 is in the closed or fully open position, as represented in figures 4 and 5.
It is also possible to note, referring to figure 2, that said switching means 11 comprise a first unipolar deviator 16 suitable for switching between a first 16a and second 16b position in function of the air temperature and that said switching means 11a moreover comprise a second unipolar deviator 17 suitable for switching between a third 17a and fourth 17b position depending upon the angular position taken up by the deflector element 7.
In particular, the first unipolar deviator 16 is, for example, a bulb thermostat having a temperature range which can be defined to suit the user through an adjustment knob (not shown in the figures). Such a bulb thermostat 16 operates in a totally conventional manner.
In particular, the angular position of the deflector element 7 depends upon the position taken up by the feeler 18 which, as previously described, is determined by the cam outline 12b of the disc crank 12.
Advantageously, in the present invention the electric motor 8 is supplied through a battery 19 with a nominal voltage for example of nine volts or twelve volts.
The operating manner of the heat convector 1, just described structurally, shall now be explained.
Referring back to figures 1, 2, 4 e 5, assuming that the configuration of the first deviator 16, that being the bulb thermostat, and of the second deviator 17 is the one shown in figure 2, i.e. without conductive line and deflector element 7 in closed position, that being the position illustrated in figure 4, when room temperature falls below a determinated temperature value T1, the bulb thermostat 16 swith from position 16a to position 16b so as to create the conductive route.
In this way the electric motor 8 is supplied by the battery 19 and opens the deflector element 7 up to the fully open position, as well as represented in figure 5.
By doing so, the airflow 4 is heated by the heat exchanger 5 and the hot air comes out and spreads in the surrounding environment as a result of natural convective effect.
As soon as the feeler 18 meet the discontinuity of the cam outline 12b of the disc crank 12, the second deviator switch from position 17a to position 17b. This causes the interruption of the conductive route with the consequent shutting down of the electric motor 8.
As soon as the room temperature has reached a second predetermined value T2, the bulb thermostat 16 switch from position 16b and returns to position 16a. Since the deviator 17 is in position 17b, the conductive route is again created between electric motor 8 and battery 19 such as to allow a further rotation of the electric motor 8 and consequently of the deflector element 7.
In this situation the feeler 18 follows the cam outline 12b having smaller eccentricity so that it reaches the point of discontinuity.
At such a time the second deviator 17 switch from position 17b to position 17a, interrupting the power supply to the electric motor 8. The result of such a movement is that the deflector element 7 has come back to closed position, as shown in figure 4.
The operating way described previously is repeated when room temperature falls below the temperature value T1 and/or exceeds the temperature value T2, that is when room temperature takes on values outside of the temperature range ΔT, where ΔT = T2 - T1.
For example, the temperature range ΔT can be set between ten and thirty degrees centigrade with a central optimal temperature of twenty degrees centigrade.
Advantageously, thanks to the present invention, the user has a knob (not shown in the figures) available to him such as to allow the desired adjustment of the temperature range ΔT since such a knob acts directly upon the bulb thermostat in a per se known manner.
The electric motor 8, for example, is a DC motor capable of operating at low voltages (voltages supplied by the battery 19) with a low absorption of current, in the order of a few tens of milliamperes.
Moreover, for example, the reducer 9 allows passage from a rotation frequency of the electric motor 8 itself of about one thousand rpm to a rotation frequency of about sixteen rpm.
Referring to the second illustrated embodiment, in figure 3, in which identical numbering is given to elements which have already been described, it should be noted that the electric motor 8 is connected on one side, through the reducer 9, directly to the deflector element 7, and on the other side to an electronic board 20. In other words the electric motor 8 is connected to the adjustable deflector element 7 without the interposition of the drive means 10 described in the first embodiment, so that the axis X-X of the electric motor 8 coincides with the axis Y-Y of the deflector element 7.
The electronic board 20 is supplied by the battery 19 and comprises a temperature probe 21. In particular, the electronic board 20 allows, in a per se known way, for example through an open loop control comprising an amplifier and a bipolar full-bridge, the electric motor 8 to be commanded by current pulses so that for every current pulse the electric motor 8 moves on by a certain angle as a function of the temperature detected by the probe 21.
In other words with this second embodiment there is the possibility of opening and/or closing the deflector element 7, as well as between an open position and a closed position, i.e. open/closed of the on/off type, also between a plurality of angular positions a falling between a closed position and a fully open position.
Therefore, it is an electric motor of the type commonly known as a stepper motor.
Advantageously, thanks to the present invention it is possible to carry out an adjustment of the open/closed movement of the deflector element 7 which is proportional to the temperature detected by the temperature probe 21.

Claims

Heat convector for heating air in closed environments comprising an air intake opening (2) provided with an air filter (3), a heat exchanger (5) for heating the air (4), an air outlet opening (6) having at least one adjustable deflector element (7), said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) being adjustable in a plurality of angular positions between a closed position and a fully open position and being actuated -by an electric motor (8) through drive means (10), characterised in that said electric motor (8) is supplied by a battery (19) and is connected to switching means (11, 11a)
said switching means (11, 11a) comprising a first unipolar deviator (16) suitable for switching between a first (16a) and second (16b) position in function of a predetermined temperature range (ΔT) and a second deviator (17) suitable for switching between a third (17a) and fourth (17b) position depending up on a cam (12b) and cam follower (18) actuation group
said battery (19) supplying said electric motor when said first (16a) and third (17a) position or said second (16b) and fourth (17b) position realise a conductive line.
Heat convector according to claim 1, characterised in that said first unipolar deviator (16) is a bulb thermostat.
Heat convector according to claim 1, characterised in that drive means (10) are of the articulated quadrilateral type, comprising a disc crank (12) shrunk onto the rotation axis (X-X) of said electric motor (8), a rocker arm (13) having one end shrunk onto the rotation axis (Y-Y) of said adjustable deflector element (7), so that the centre of rotation (C) of said rocker arm (13) coincides with said rotation axis (Y-Y) of said adjustable deflector element (7), and a connecting rod (15) suitable for connecting the free end of said rocker arm (13) with a point (12a) of said disc crank (12) positioned eccentrically with respect to the rotation axis (X-X) of said electric motor (8) at a predetermined distance (E).
Heat convector according to claims 1 and 3, characterised in that said cam (12b) actuation group is defined by the outline (12b) of said disc crank (12) and is shaped to form a plurality of distinct outline portions radiused together and having different eccentricity values with respect to the rotation axis (X-X) of said electric motor (8).
Heat convector according to claims 1, 3 and 6, characterised in that said cam follower (18) is held in contact against said outline (12b) of said disc crank (12) through elastic means.
Heat convector according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said plurality of positions of said at least one adjustable deflector element (7) are a closed position and a fully open position.
Heat convector according to claim 1, characterised in that said switching means (11, 11a) are provided with a temperature probe (21) and an electronic board (20), said temperature probe (21) being connected to said electronic board (20).
Heat convector according to claim 7, characterised in that said electronic board (20) controls said electric motor (8) in a proportional manner to the temperature detected by said temperature probe (21), varying the angular value (α) of the position of said at least one deflector element (7).
Heat convector according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that said battery (19) has a nominal voltage of nine or twelve volts.