CA1063420A - Makeup air device for grease extraction ventilator - Google Patents

Abstract

Inventors Victor D. Folitor and Arlan W. Gallagner Title MAKEUP AIR DEVICE FOR
GREASE EXTRACTION VENTILATORS

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The makeup air device includes a front chamber, a lower wall of which is adapted to force rising smoke and the like into an intake of a grease extraction ventilator. A depending passage at the lower front of the device has an air outlet which discharges air toward the ventilator intake. An adjustment baffle having a forwardly slanted lower flange is moved in the outlet between a position of maximum flow and a position of no flow. Louvers in the front wall of the chamber above the passage are adjustable, so that different amounts of fresh air may flow into the room in which the cooking equipment is placed.

Description

1~3~;~0 This invention relates to makeup air devices for grease extraction ventilators. The device of this invention is partic-ularly adapted to be utilized with the grease extraction venti-lator of Canadian patent No. 975,213 issued September 30, 1975.
Grease extraction ventilators are utilized for removing smoke or grease particles, fumes and the like from cooking equip-ment, such as stoves, ranges, broilers and the like. The grease extraction ventilator of the above patent prevents the accumula-tion of grease in the ventilator and extracts the grease without permitting greasy vapors and similar contaminents to escape through the flue into the outside air. Since the suction effect of the ventilator must be sufficient for the maximum production of smoke, .
grease and the like, a desired removal rate of such a grease ex- ~-traction ventilator results in air being removed from the room, ; 15 along with the smoke, fumes and the like. Thus, it is desirable to provide makeup air for the room in which the grease extrac-~; tion ventilator is installed above cooking equipment. For por-~ .
tions of the cooking equipment in which smoke, fumes and the like are at a minimum, the suction of the ventilator removes an un- -20 necessarily large amount of air from the room, so that makeup air supplied directly to the ventilator will reduce the amount of air otherwise drawn from the room. However, for cooking equip-ment which produces a maximum of smoke and the like, it is desir-;! able that the grease extraction ventilator pull all of the smoke ~;; 25 and the like into the ventilator, so that additional makeup air `f for that pulled from the room is desirable, but it should be sup-cf plied directly into the room, rather than to the ventilator. Thus, it is evident that a makeup air device for a grease extraction ventilator should be adjustable for each type of cooking equip-30 ment, to furnish regulated portions of makeup air to the venti-lator itself or to the room in which installed.
;~ Among the objects of this invention are to provide a .
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~(~63~20 novel makeup air device for use with grease extraction ventilators; to provide such a device which will supply makeup air to a grease extraction ventilator at an area in which an unnecessary amount of air may otherwise be withdrawn from the room; to provide such a device which may be adjusted to provide different amounts of makeup air to the ventilator at different positions; to provide such a device which will supply makeup air to the room in which the cooking equipment is located; to provide such a device which may be adjusted to vary the amount of makeup air discharged to the ventilator or into the room at various positions; and to provide such a device which is relatively simple in construction, yet efficient and `- effective in operation.
In accordance with one broad aspect, the invention relates to the combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator, wherein: said ventilator is provided : with an intake and means for adjusting the amount of air and smoke, grease and the like to flow through said ventilator;
said ventilator includes a water bath chamber having a front wall with said intake above said front wall; a plate forms the - lower boundary of a chamber for flow of the air and products passing through said water bath, the underside of said plate forming the upper boundary of said intake; said makeup air device includes an air chamber adjacent said ventilator, a passage from said chamber leading to an outlet adapted to direct air toward said intake and means for adjusting the amount of air to be directed toward said intake; said makeup air chamber having a bottom wall adjoining said boundary plate and said passage extending downwardly from said air chamber to said outlet; and said outlet having upwardly inclined walls for directing air towards said bottom wall of said makeup air ~ -2-,~. .
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` iC~63~20 chamber for flow past and along the underside of said boundary plate to said intake.
The foregoing and additional objects, as well as the advantages and novel features of this invention, will become apparent from the description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partially broken away to show the interior construction of a grease extraction ventilator and an associated makeup air device mounted above the stove, broiler or other cooking equipment shown in dot-dash lines.
Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross section of the ventilator and makeup air device of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale.
Fig. 3 is an enlargement of the portion of Fig. 2 showing the makeup air device.
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section corresponding to a portion of Fig. 3, but showing an alternative construction.
Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation, on an enlarged ~ scale, of a pair of adjustment or louver plates utilized in il 20 adjusting the amount of makeup air discharged into the room itself.
Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5, with the louvers adjusted to a different position.

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1~63~2~) Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 7-7 of Fig. 5.
As shown in Fig. 1, a grease extraction ventilator V, constructed in accordance with the aforesaid Canadian patent No.
975,213, may be mounted above cooking equipment E, which may include one or more of a range, stove, broiler or the like, or a series of the same, with the side to side width of the ventilator cor-responding to the width of the cooking equipment. As will be understood, the ventilator V and makeup air device M, as well as the cooking equipment E, may be considerably more elongated than is shown.
Ventilator V includes a rear wall 10 and a front wall 11, which also forms the back wall of the makeup air device M, the latter having a front wall 12. Connecting with the common top wall 13 of the ventilator and makeup air devic~, between the walls 10 and 11, is a duct 14 which extends to a conventional flue or the like, and in which flue is installed an appropriate fan for producing sufficient suction, in the direction of arrow 15, within the ventilator V to pull the smoke and the like from the cooking equipment area. The makeup device M and ventilator V also share common side walls 16. A second duct 17 conveys out-side air in the direction of arrow 18 into a plenum chamber be-tween the rear wall 11 and front wall 12 of the makeup air device M, a blower or fan being installed at an appropriate position in the duct which normally extends to outside air.
The ventilator V is provided with a plate 19 extending rearwardly from the lower end of wall 11, while device M is pro-,vided with a plate 20 extending forwardly from the lower end of - wall 11. The plate 20 terminates at a position spaced from the ~ 3a front wall 12 of the makeup device, while a rear wall 22 of an air Y1supply passage of the makeup device extends downwardly from the end of plate 20 in spaced relation to the front wall 12, termin-~`
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ating in a forwardly and downwardly extended lip 23, as at an angle of 30 to the vertical. Adjustably mounted on and in dep-ending position from the plate 20 is a vertically adjustable baffle 24 provided with a forwardly slanted lower flange 25 inclined at the same angle as lip 23. At the lower edge of front wall 12, a bottom wall 26 extends rearwardly and is connected to or inte-gral with an upturned flange 27 which corresponds generally in inclination but may be greater in size than the flange 25 of baffle 24.
Baffle flange 25 may be adjusted upwardly and downwardly, being held in adjusted position by screws 28 at vertical slots -of the baffle 24, between a position in which flange 25 engages lip 23, as in Fig. 2, and a position in which the flange 25 is -` spaced from flange 27, as shown in full in Fig. 3. The lower edge of flange 25 may also engage bottom wall 26, as in the dotted position of Fig. 3, to eliminate makeup air flow for the length . -of the baffle 24, Ordinarily, a ventilator and makeup air devicewill be used with several types of cooking equipment with a series of baffle plates 24 installed in side by side relation and in con-venient widths, as on the order of 30 inches and 36 inches to , correspond in total width to the width of the ventilator. A ser--` ies of reinforcing plates 29 extend across the passage, while a spacer 30 extends between fixed lip 23 and angular flange 27, at the edges of adjacent baffle plates 24. Air which is permitted 25 to flow will move around the lower edge of flange 25, in the di- ~ - -rection of arrow 31.
As in the aforesaid Canadian patent No. 975,213, the T ventilator includes a water bath compartment bounded at the rear by a lower portion of back wall 10, at the bottom by a bottom 30 wall 35 and at the front by a front plate 36 having an inward , ~ curl 37 along its upper edge. Lower plate 19 extends downwardly `~ and rearwardly into a downwardly extending, arcuate curl 38 to ~,, ' ~ ' ' , ' `, ' ~ ' ' ' ' ' : ' ' ~LU63~20 which is secured an arcuate baffle 39 having a planar segment 40 and adjustable in position through screws 41. The baffle 39 may be adjusted for the optimum position, to cause the air, smoke and the like moving around the segment 40 to impinge against the water and drive it rearwardly and upwardly against a curved plate 42 which is attached to the bottom wall 35 by a series of legs 43 and to the rear wall 10 by a series of legs 44. As in the afore-said patent, the impingement of the air, smoke and the like against the water will drive it upwardly and rearwardly against plate 42, so that the upper edge of the water will correspond generally to a line 45. The water is also churned to produce numerous tongues of water to intercept the stream of smoke and air and separate out grease particles and the like. The upper legs 44 assure that the plate 42 will be spaced from the rear wall 10, so that the water bearing grease and the like may be driven over the upper edge of the plate to fall behind it, while the spacing of the front edge of plate 42 from the bottom wall 35, through the legs 43, insures that the water before and behind plate 42 will seek . ~
common level, when the suction through duct 14 is discontinued.
The air carrying smoke and the like, which is pulled -by suction through the space above curl 37, together with any air which may be blown into the space beneath plate 19 by the air makeup device will intermingle with the air carrying products of cooking. After passage through the water chamber, the air and remaining gases will pass upwardly through the passage between the arcuate baffle 39 and a generally parallel arcuate baffle ^ 48 above it. This stream of ~ir and gases then passes sharply around the planar edge 49 of baffle 48 into a plenum chamber be-tween walls 10 and 11. Then, due to the change in direction of the air stream, droplets of water carrying dissolved smoke or other products of cooking can be thrown out and onto the top of plate 19. A horizontal plate 50 extends from the rear wall 10 ~, -. :

3~Z~) to the front end of plate 48, to support the same in the desired - position. The remaining air is sucked upwardly through duct 14 in the direction of arrow 15.
The cleaning of the ventilator V is preferably accom-plished through a timing clock arrangement set to clean the ven-tilator at predetermined times, such as every 8 hours. Thus, the clock will cause a pump to be energized to supply a detergent to a hot water rinse tube 51 having a series of horizontal nozzles 52 adapted to discharge a solid cone spray in a horizontal plane - 10 and also a pair of vertical nozzles 53 beneath the position of a pair of fuse links (not shown) below the duct connection 14. The detergent is injected into tube 51, as for 30 seconds, until the tube carries on the order of 9 1/2 to 10 oz. of detergent. Through a solenoid valve, as for a period of 90 seconds, the water bath is flushed from each end, toward-the overflow connection at the center, through a vertical pipe 55 at each end and having a smaller pipe 56 attached to its lower end to serve as a nozzle and directed toward the center of the water bath. Hot water, through nozzle pipe 56, assists in carrying any floating grease t~ the center -~
outlet. The fan is then turned off and another solenoid valve is actuated to supply hot water to tube 57 for a suitable period, such as 90 seconds, so that the detergent is first sprayed out : .
onto the inside of wall 10, the top of plate 19 and the underside i of arcuate baffle 48. Hot water will be sprayed onto the same .,".J 25 area and will also be deflected onto the rear of wall 11, on the ~ top of plate 19 and against arcuate baffle 39. As will be evi-'`J dent, the hot water so directed, carrying with it the results of cleaning by the detergent, will flow downwardly into th~e water bath below, with any excess water being drained off, as in a man-.- . .
- 30 ner described in the aforesaid patent.
It is contemplated that a series of baffles 25, each having a width of 30 inches or 36 inches, depending on the width , . - ::.
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of the ventilator, will be provided. Thus, the volume of makeup air, indicated by arrow 31, is adjusted to conform to the require-ments of the cooking equipment immediately below. Thus, for cook-ing equipment requiring a minimum amount of smoke or the like to be removed, the amount of makeup air may be increased, since it is unnecessary, to take care of the cooking equipment, to remove any additional air from the room. However, for an extremely smoky operation, such as steak broiling, it may be necessary to cut ` down the makeup air to æero, in order to provide sufficient suc-tion and volume of air and smoke to keep the area immediately adjacent to the cooking equipment as free of smoke and the like as possible.
In addition to supplying makeup air to a grease extrac-tion ventilator, the makeup air device of this invention may also be utilized to supply makeup air to the room in which the cooking equipment is installed, in order to compensate for that air which is sucked up through the ventilator, along with the smoke and -other products of cooking. For this purpose, the device M is provided with a louver construction L, extending across the front wall 12, above the position of plate 20 and including a series of adjustable inner plates 60 and fixed outer plates 61 above each baffle 24. Each plate 60 and 61 is provided with several rows of slots 62 and spaces 63 between the slots, with both the ,.~
rows and the slots in each row being spaced apart. The slot spacing 25 63 is conveniently equal to the width of slots 62, so that move- -ment of the inner plate 60 from a position in which the slots co- `
incide and the maximum amount of air flows through, to a closed position in which no air flows, requires an adjustment of the inner plate 60 a distance equal to the slot width. This may be ` 30 on the order of 1/4 inch.
Each fixed plate 61 may be removably attached to front wall 12 by four or more sheet metal screws 65, as at the corners .~ .
~ 7 , i ,.,., .. , ... . , - . , ~ -thereof above and below the rows of slots. Each adjustable plate is held against a fixed plate 61 by four or more thumb screws 66 threadedly engaging a tapped hole in the adjustable plate 60 and extending through a slot 67 in the fixed plate 61. As will be evident, the length of slot 67 corresponds to the total amount of movement of the adjustable plate between fully open and fully closed positions of the slots.
In the alternative construction of Fig. 4, the adjust-able plate 60 is unchanged, while a fixed plate 61' is attached adjacent its upper edge to wall 12 by sheet metal screws 65, as before, but the lower edge is provided with an inset flange 6~
which overhangs into the opening in wall 12 which receives the adjustable plate but is deepened, if necessary, sufficiently to receive the plate 61'. Thumb screws 66 and slots for adjustable attachment of the plate 60 to plate 61', as described previously, may be utilized. However, the adjustable plate may be stiffened by a series of transverse angles 69 attached, as by spot weldlng, to the solid areas between rows of slots. One advantage of the inset flange 68 is that it stiffens the plate 60. The horizontal -flanges of angles 69 may extend into the chamber between walls 11 and 12 in order to direct air in a desired direction, such as upwardly into the room.
The combination of a ventilator having an intake and an adjustment for incoming smoke, air and the like with a makeup 25 air device having an outlet for directing air toward the venti- -lator intake, as well as an adjustment for such air and also a . ',. .
set of louvers or the like adjustable for varying the amount of ` air discharged into the room, enables the optimum adjustment to be;made to save energy. Thus, the baffle 39 of the ventilator may be adjusted to provide the minimum movement necessary to remove smoke and the like. Next, the baffle flange 25 of the ventilator , may be adjusted to furnish a maximum amount of makeup air without ' -. , . : .

1~63~20 turbulence. It will be noted that the air supplied through the makeup air device need not be tempered and thus does not require as much energy for circulation. The makeup air, during most of the year, will normally be cooler than the air above the cooking equipment and thus will tend to cool the mixture of air and smoke, fumes and the like, entering the ventilator, thereby causing more ~- grease to solidify and enhancing the operation of the evaporator.
The louvers L supply makeup air to the room which compensates for the room air sucked into the evaporator, particularly at sec-tions of maximum volume of air and smoke and the like required by the ventilator.
Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described and certai~ variations thereof indicated, it will be understood that other embodiments may exist and that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

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Claims (6)

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator, wherein.
said ventilator is provided with an intake and means for adjusting the amount of air and smoke, grease and the like to flow through said ventilator;
said ventilator includes a water bath chamber having a front wall with said intake above said front wall;
a plate forms the lower boundary of a chamber for flow of the air and products passing through said water bath, the under-side of said plate forming the upper boundary of said intake;
said makeup air device includes an air chamber adjacent said ventilator, a passage from said chamber leading to an outlet adapted to direct air toward said intake and means for adjusting the amount of air to be directed toward said intake;
said makeup air chamber having a bottom wall adjoining said boundary plate and said passage extending downwardly from said air chamber to said outlet; and said outlet having upwardly inclined walls for directing air towards said bottom wall of said makeup air chamber for flow past and along the underside of said boundary plate to said in-take.

2. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
said means for adjusting the amount of air to be directed toward said intake includes a series of upwardly and downwardly movable baffles adjustably connected to the wall of said passage facing said ventilator intake,said baffles having at their lower ends flanges extending into said outlet and parallel to the walls thereof.

3. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator as set forth in claim 2, wherein:

a series of plates extend across said passage at posi-tions corresponding to the edges of adjacent baffles.

4. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
said device and ventilator are located in a room; and said device is provided with means for supplying makeup air into said room through an outlet discharging said makeup air in a direction away from said ventilator.

5. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
said device and ventilator are located in a room;
said air chamber of said device is provided with an outlet in a wall opposite said ventilator for discharging air from said makeup air chamber into said room; and said device is provided with adjustable means for regu-lating the amount of air discharged into said room through said outlet.

6. The combination of a makeup air device and a grease extraction ventilator as set forth in claim 5, wherein:
said means for regulating the air discharged from said outlet into said room includes a series of adjustable louvers ex-tending across said outlet.