AU2009326527A1

AU2009326527A1 - Suction hood

Info

Publication number: AU2009326527A1
Application number: AU2009326527A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Cedric Damien Catalogne; Francesco Corleoni
Original assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Current assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Priority date: 2008-12-10
Filing date: 2009-12-10
Publication date: 2011-06-23
Also published as: MX2011006137A; EP2196736B1; BRPI0922449A2; EP2196736A1; WO2010066421A3; WO2010066421A2; EP2487423B1; JP2012511684A; CA2750832A1; KR20110094214A; RU2011128298A; CN102282424A; ATE549583T1; US20110232625A1; EP2487423A1; RU2526932C2; CN102282424B

Abstract

The invention relates to a suction hood, a) which sucks air from a first area to a second area, b) wherein the hood comprises b1) a first sucking means (64) which pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least substantially direct suction to the suction hood and b2) a second sucking means (62) which pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least substantially circular, cyclone or helix movement and a method for generating a air suction by means of a suction hood.

Description

WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 Suction hood Description 5 The invention relates to a suction hood, which sucks air from a first area to a second area. Known or traditional suction hoods, which also can be denomi nated as destructor hoods, range hoods, kitchen hoods, stove 10 hoods, exhaust hoods, cooker hoods, extraction hoods, cooking canopy or ventilation hoods, are used to remove airborne grease, combustion products, smoke, odours and/or heat and steam, which is generated usually by a cooking process on a cooktop, normally by a combination of filtration and evacuation of the air. They 15 usually comprise three main components: A skirt or capture panel to contain the rising gases (also known as the "effluent plume"), one or more grease filters, and a fan or tangential blower for forced ventilation. 20 There are two major applications of extractor hoods: vented ap plication, and recirculating application. In a vented applica tion, the output collar of the extractor hood's blower motor is attached to a duct system, which terminates outside of the kitchen. In a recirculating application, a filter containing ac 25 tivated charcoal is used to remove odour and smoke particles from the air, before releasing the cleaned air back into the kitchen environment. The fans or blowers create, when activated, an area of low pres sure which takes effect spherically around the hood. 30 The airborne grease, combustion products, smoke, odours, heat and steam generated by the cooking of food on the cooktop rise naturally in a vertical motion due to gravity effect, and enter the effective area of the hood to be captured by the low pres 35 sure area. The traditional hoods as described above present at least rela tively low efficiency in treating the fumes from the cooktop as 1 CONFIRMATION COPY WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 they suck-up equally air from the surrounding environment. FIG la shows such a hood 1', where the gas is sucked in from all sides along paths shown by arrows 74'. 5 The pressure field 71' of a traditional hood l' over a cooktop 7' is shown in FIG lb. The pressure field represents the effec tive suction volume of the hood. In WO 89/11926 Al, a ventilating system has been proposed with 10 nozzles and/or blowers mounted around one or more centrally lo cated exhaust channels. In is an object of invention, to improve the characteristics of the hood, especially the suction characteristics. 15 This object is solved by a suction hood according to claim 1. Advantageous embodiments can be derived especially from the de pendent claims. 20 According to claim 1, the invention relates to a suction hood, a) which sucks air from a first area to a second area, b) wherein the hood comprises bl) a first sucking means which pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least substantially direct suction to the 25 suction hood and b2) a second sucking means which pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least substantially circular, cy clone or helix movement. 30 The second sucking means preferably generates a tornado suction in the area underneath of it which allows an improved and focus sed suction. The combination of a first sucking means and a sec ond sucking means according to the invention enables an improve ment of the suction characteristics of the suction hood, as the 35 addition of the second sucking means especially allows an im provement and/or a focusing of the suction in the area under neath the second sucking means which is preferably used for cooking. 2 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 In a preferred embodiment, the second sucking means are operated or operatable in a boost mode, so that the second sucking means temporarily boosts the suction of the first sucking means. This 5 allows to boost the suction in cases wherein, for example, a lot of fumes are generated. By activating the boost mode, the fumes normally can be exhausted or reduced more rapidly. Preferably, the first and the second sucking means are operated 10 or operatable in a pulse working mode and/or alternatively. This enables that, on the one hand, fumes underneath of the second sucking means can be exhausted or reduced more rapidly, when this suction means is active, whereas also fumes from the sur rounding area are removed when the first sucking means is ac 15 tive. In a preferred embodiment, the first and the second sucking means are operated or operatable together, so that the second sucking means continuously boosts the suction of the first suck 20 ing means. This enables an improved suction in the area under neath the second sucking means whereas also air is sucked from the surrounding area by the first suction means. Preferably, an outer suction area surrounds an inner suction 25 area wherein preferably a) the first sucking means sucks the air to the suction hood mostly through the outer suction area and/or b) the second sucking means pulls the air to the suction hood at least substantially uniformly through the outer suction area 30 and the inner suction area. In this case, at least substantially separate suction areas are provided for both suction means so that the suction areas can complement one another without interfering or cancelling each other too much. 35 In an advantageous embodiment, the air for operating the vortex is sucked in laterally, preferably through lateral openings and/or from the outer suction area. This allows an at least 3 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 relatively easy feeding of the required air while not affecting the circular, cyclone or helix movement more than necessary. Preferably, the second sucking means is added or addable by a 5 adding means, preferably dependent on noise, efficiency and/or fumes, the adding means is preferably a switch and/or a sensor driven device. By this, the second sucking means can be added only when necessary. 10 In a preferred embodiment, the second sucking means is a tornado suction hood and/or the first sucking means is a standard suc tion hood. Preferably, the suction hood is a vented and/or a recirculating 15 suction hood. Both embodiments can be used in a preferred way with the suction means. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for generating a air suction by means of a suction hood according to one of the 20 preceding claims. The invention will now be described in further details with ref erences to the schematical drawings in which 25 FIG 1c outlines the concept of a tornado suction hood, FIG ld shows the pressure field of a hood system according to FIG 1c, FIG 2a to 2c show an embodiment of the invention and in which 30 FIG lc outlines the concept of a tornado suction hood 1. The ar rows 75 represent the rotating column of air and the arrows 74 represent the suction draft. The combination of these two flows generates the tornado. The air is sucked in through air inlets 101, 102 and therefore pushed into the suction channel 13. 35 The pressure field 71 of such a hood system 1 is shown in FIG 1d. The pressure field represents the effective suction volume of the hood. The generated vortex between the cooktop 7 and the 4 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 hood 1 sucks in the fume from the cooktop 7 in a swirling mo tion. FIG 2a to 2c show an embodiment of the invention. FIG 2a shows a 5 perspective view of the hood with the vortex module 62. FIG 2b shows a cross sectional view of the hood, whereas FIG 2c shows a bottom view of. the hood with the vortex module 62. The suction hood 6 comprises a first sucking means 64 which 10 pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least sub stantially direct suction to the suction hood 6 and a second sucking means 62 which pulls the air to the suction hood 6 by generating an at least substantially circular, cyclone or helix movement. 15 The suction hood 6 comprises a cuboidal upper part 681 under which a lower part 682 with an at least nearly square shaped up per and lower surface, between which four longish side surfaces are arranged. At the sides of the lower part 682, air inlets 601 20 and 602 are shown. The upper part 681 and the lower part 682 are arranged directly adjacent, where the common surface is left out to allow the air to flow through. 25 FIG 2b shows a number of suction channels 623 of the vortex mod ule 62 arranged tangentially around the ring shaped area 622. Not shown engines blow the air tangentially from the air inlets 601 and 602 through the outer suction area 634 into the inner 30 suction area 631 of the hood 6 and thus generate the circulating air. The circulating air, in turn, generates a suction which sucks the air into and through the inner suction area 631. The air escapes the suction area at the outlet 633. This is also called tornado aspiration. 35 A suctions means 64 is arranged centrally in the upper part 681 which is able to suck the air directly upwards through the inner suction area 631 and the outer suction area 634. This is also called standard aspiration. 5 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 The hood 6 can be operated with standard aspiration as well as with Tornado aspiration. This can be done in three different ways: 5 In a first mode, the tornado aspiration is added in a pulse working mode, so that the tornado aspiration and standard aspi ration are operated alternatively. For example in the first sec ond, tornado aspiration is used, whereas in the second second, 10 standard aspiration is used. In the next second, tornado aspira tion is used again and so on. This means that during the tornado aspiration the suction through the suction area 631 is boosted, while, during the standard aspiration, the suction are is, at least substantially spreaded over the inner suction area 631 and 15 the outer suction area 634. In a second mode, the tornado aspiration can be operated in a boost mode to amplify the effect of the standard aspiration. This means that, in a normal mode, only the standard aspiration 20 runs, whereas for boosting, the tornado aspiration is added and boosts the suction mostly in the inner suction area 631. In a third mode, the tornado aspiration is operated together with the standard aspiration so that both modes are operated at 25 the same time. This means that the inner suction area 631 is boosted, while the outer suction area 634 is, at least with re spect to the inner suction area 631 operated with standard suc tion. 6 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823 List of reference signs 101, 102, 601, 602 air inlets 13 suction channel 6 suction hood 61 first sucking means 62 second sucking means 622 ring shaped area 623 suction channels 63, 631, 632, 634 suction areas 681, 682 housing 7

Claims

1. Suction hood, a) which sucks air from a first area to a second area, 5 b) wherein the hood comprises bl) a first sucking means (64) which pulls the air to the suction hood by generating an at least substantially direct suction to the suction hood and b2) a second sucking means (62) which pulls the air to the suc 10 tion hood by generating an at least substantially circular, cyclone or helix movement.

2. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the second sucking means (62) is operated or operat 15 able in a boost mode, so that the second sucking means (62) temporarily boosts the suction of the first sucking means (64).

3. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, 20 wherein the first (64) and the second (62) sucking means are operated or operatable in a pulse working mode and/or alter natively.

4. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, 25 wherein the first (64) and the second (62) sucking means are operated or operatable together, so that the second sucking means (62) continuously boosts the suction of the first suck ing means (64). 30

5. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, wherein an outer suction area (634) surrounds an inner suc tion area (631) wherein preferably a) the first sucking means (64) sucks the air to the suction hood mostly through the outer suction area (634) and/or 35 b) the second sucking means (62) pulls the air to the suction hood at least substantially uniformly through the outer suc tion area (634) and the inner suction area (631). 8 WO 2010/066421 PCT/EP2009/008823

6. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the air for operating the second sucking means (62), which is preferably a vortex module, is sucked in laterally, preferably 5 a) through lateral openings (601, 602) and/or b) from the outer suction area (634).

7. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, a) wherein the second sucking means (62) is added or addable by 10 a adding means, preferably dependent on noise, efficiency and/or fumes, b) wherein the adding means is preferably a switch and/or a sen sor driven device. 15

8. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, a) wherein the second sucking means (62) is a tornado suction hood and/or b) wherein the first sucking means (64) is a standard suction hood. 20

9. Suction hood according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the suction hood is a) a vented suction hood, wherein preferably the first area is inside a room and the second area is outside the room, and/or 25 b) a recirculating suction hood, wherein preferably the first area is inside a room and the second area is inside the room.

10. Method for generating a air suction by means of a suction hood according to one of the preceding claims. 30 9