CA1113298A - Laminar airflow diffuser - Google Patents

Laminar airflow diffuser

Info

Publication number
CA1113298A
CA1113298A CA314,714A CA314714A CA1113298A CA 1113298 A CA1113298 A CA 1113298A CA 314714 A CA314714 A CA 314714A CA 1113298 A CA1113298 A CA 1113298A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
chamber
plenum
airflow
air
room
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA314,714A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Steve L. Van Asten
John C. Mcnabney
Randolph W. Bach
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Wehr Corp
Original Assignee
Wehr Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Wehr Corp filed Critical Wehr Corp
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1113298A publication Critical patent/CA1113298A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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  • Ventilation (AREA)

Abstract

LAMINAR AIRFLOW DIFFUSER

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A laminar airflow diffuser for directing air into a room and for distributing air into at least a portion of the room uniformly and vertically downwardly. The airflow diffuser includes a plenum positioned near the ceiling and having a chamber therein and an inlet opening which is connectable to an airflow source. The plenum opens downwardly, and the opening is covered by a perforated face plate. The airflow diffuser also includes a distribution baffle disposed within the plenum chamber and connected to the air inflow opening.
The airflow diffuser is functional to distribute the air generally uniformly throughout the plenum chamber.
The airflow diffuser also includes a planar distribu-tion grid positioned above the perforated face plate to preclude horizontal airflow adjacent the perforated face plate, the distribution grid being formed by a plurality of intersecting narrow vertical vanes.

Description

3z~8 -.
: 20 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to air distribution mecha~
nisms for directing air into a room in a uniformly : distributed pattern and more particularly, to laminar airflow diffusers intended to conduct air into a room ` ! 25 such as a clean room or operating room where it is desirable to introduce a significant amount of highly filtered air over the working area without significantly disturbing the ambient air in the room and to provide a low velocity blanket of air falling out of the ceiling : 30 over a large surface area.

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~' r~f ~1~132~8 Common air~low dif~u.sers h~ve included a plenum with an inlet on one side, a perforated face plate on the other side, and a variety of baffles, partitions, pLates and the l-.ke thcrein to serve to distribute air across the perforated face plate. These baffles are intended to distribute the airflow so that the air velocity leaving the perforated face is uniform across the entire f2ce and also to direct air so that it leaves the face in a vertical discharge pattern. The prior art diffusers have been moderately effective at obtaining uniform air distribution across the perforated face but have failed to provide a consistent uniform ; discharge pattern.
Attention is directed to the Horneff et al.
15 patent, U.S. Patent No. 3,824,909, issued July 23, 1974 showing a plenum for discharging air downwardly into a room through a perforated plate. No means are provided ,~ in the structure shown in the Horneff patent for precluding airflow having horizontal components.
~`; 20 Attention is further particularly directed to the Nesher et al. patent, U.S. Patent No. 3,303,771, issued February 14, 1967, and showing another ventilated ceiling construction including a plenum having a specially formed perforated ceiling plate.
Attention is also directed to the Wilcox patent, ` U.S. Patent No. 3,986,850, issued October 19, 1976 and the Moll et al. patent, U.S. Patent No. 3,638,404, ;~ issued February 1, 1972. These patents show alterna-tive means for directing air into a room such as a clean room, but show structures substantially unlike that of the present invention.

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' ' -Other prior art dif~using mechanisms and ceilin~
structures are sho~n in the following patents:
Trader U.S. 1,554,180 Burns et al U.S. 3,200,734 Raider U.S. 3,301,163 Knab U.S. 3,314,353 Smith - U.S. 3,780,503 Smith et al ~.S. 3,782,082 Hazeley U.S. 3,892,170 ~0 Cox U.S. 4,047,475 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The structure of the invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art and provides an improved means of distributing the air flowing downwardly from the ceiling and also of directing it into a vertical flow pattern. The laminar airflow diffuser of the invention also functions to allow a significantly higher airflow per squaré foot of ceiling surface area than is possible with the prior art structures without significantly disturbing the ambient air in the room.
The invention provides a laminar airflow diffuser for directing air into a room and for distributing air over at least a portion of the ceiling of a room uniformly and vertically downwardly. The airflow diffuser includes a plenum whlch is positioned adjacent the ceiling and which includes a chamber therein and an inlet opening connectable to an airflow source. The :
plenum includes a perforated face plate having a plurality of openings therein for conveyin~ air into the room. Means are further provided for distributing ' 1~132~8 the .lir rJeneraLly uniEormly throu~hout the plenum chamber. The distributirl~ means ;ncludes a distribution hafEle housed within the plenum chamber and connected to the air inlet opening. The laminar airflow diffuser alsn i~cLudes a plan~r distribution grid positioned on the perforated face plate, the grid being formed by a plurality of intersecting vanes to preclude horizontal airflow adjacent the lower perforated wall.
Other features and advantages of the embodiment of the invention will become known by reference to the follo~ing description, to the appended claims, and to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAI~JINGS
Fig. 1 is a cross-section elevation view of a laminar airflow diffuser embodying the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a cross section view taken along line
2-2 in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a cross section view taken along line
3-3 in Fig. 1.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

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2~8 DE~CI' IPTl(lN O~ T}~E PREFE.Rr~ED i::~!l3ODI~IENT
A lamina~ air~low di~Euser 10, shown in Fig. 1, is intended to be positioned adjacent the ceiling of a room such as an operating room or a clean room where it is necessary to introduce a significant amount of highly filtered air over the working area without disturbing the air in the room. The laminar airflow diffuser 10 is to be connected to an alrflow conduit 11 in turn co~municating with an airflow source 13 illus-trated schematically. Since the details of the airmoving system are not necessary to an understandin~ of this invention, they are not shown other than schematic-ally.
The airflow diffuser 10 includes a plenum 12 defining a closed rectangular structure having an upwardly extending central air inlet collar 14 connect-able to the airflow conduit 11. The air inlet collar 14 is positioned centrally and projects upwardly from an upper wall 15 of plenum 12. The plenum 12 also includes downwardly extending side walls 16, the upper wall 15 and side walls 16 defining a downwardly opening plenum chamber 17. A horizontal perforated face plate 18 covers the lower end of the plenum chamber 17 to provide for uniform distribution of air emitted from the plenum chamber.
To provide for uniform distribution of the incoming air throu~hout the interior of the plenum 12 and across the entire surface of the perforated face plate 18, a distribution baffle 20 is supported in the plenum chamber 17 adJacent an air inlet opening 22 in the .

~ 1 ~ 3 ~ 8 plenum 12 ~e~ined by the air inlet collar 14. ~i]e the distribution ba~fle 20 can have various configura-tions, in the illustrated construction, the distribution baffle 20 comprises a rectangular housing secured against the lower surface 24 of the upper wall 15 of the plenum 12 and surrounding the air inlet opening 22. The rectangular housing is formed by a horizontal bottom wall 26 and perforated side walls 28.
The bottom wall 26 is spaced upwardly from the perfo-rated face plate 18 by a distance approximately egualto the vertical thickness of the distribution baffle 20. The side walls 28 of the distribution baffle 20 are also spaced inwardly of the side walls 16 of the plenum 12. The upper edges of the side walls 28 are surrounded by a flange 30 which extends outwardly therefrom. The distribution baffle 20 is supported by support brackets 32 secured to the lower surface 24 of the upper wall 15 by screws 34, the brackets 32 engaging the lower surface 36 of the flange 30 to support the upper edges of the side wall 28 of the distribution baffles 20 adjacent the upper waLl 15 and surrounding the air inlet opening 22. Air flowin~ into the distri- -bution baffle from the air inlet opening 22 will be diffused as it flows through the perforated side walls 28 and will thus be distributed uniformly throughout the plenum chamber 17 and across the surface of the ~; perforated face plate 18.
` In addition to providing means for causing even `~ distribution of the air over a wide surface of the perforated Eacc plate IB, means are rurther provided to .
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~32~3!8 cause Llir ~lowin~ throuo~h the openin&s in the perforated face plate 18 to ~low vertically downwardly and al~so to preclude horizontal velocity components in the airElow in ~hat portion of the plenum chamber 17 adjacent the perforated face plate 18. The airflow direction controlling means includes a directional grid 40 positioned in the plenum chamber 17 and overlyin~, the perforated face plate 18. The directional grid 40 has an e~g crate, or lattice structure, formed by elongated, narrow planar intersecting vanes 42. The intersecting vanes 42 lie in intersecting vertical planes and form a plurality of adjacent vertical channels 44 opening at their upper ends into the plenum chamber 17 and being closed at their lower ends by the perforated face plate 18.
The directional grid 40 is joined to the perfo-rated face plate 18 and means are provided for securing the directional grid 40 and face plate 18 to the side walls 16 of the plenum 12 at its downwardly located open end. While this supporting structure can have various configurations, in the illustrated construc-~:~ tion, L-shaped brackets 46 extend upwardly from the : upper surface of the directional grid 40 and can be ;~ bolted by means of bolts 48 to complementary L-shaped ~; ; 25 brackets 50 secured to the inner surface of the side ~: walls 16 of the plenum 12.
The laminar air flow diffuser 10 described above is an improvement over the prior art structures since air emitted by the air flow diffuser is distributed evenly from the face plate and is also directed verti-~L3Z~8 cally downwardly such that air flow from the grids doesn't have horizontal directional components. A
laminar air flow diffuser of the invention has the further advantage that ~reater volumes of air can be S conveyed through the air flow diffuser without genera- ~
tion of turbulent air flow patterns. Each of these advantages results from the combination of a plenum having a lower perforated wall, a distribution baffle positioned within the plenum chamber and for distribut-ing air flow ~enerally uniformly throughout the plenum ! chamber, and a distribution grid positioned adjacent the perforated wall fvr precluding horizontal airflow in the plenum chamber adjacent the wall.
Various of the features of the invention are set forth in the following claims.

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Claims (6)

1. A laminar airflow diffuser for directing air into a room and for distributing air over at least a portion of the ceiling of the room uniformly and vertically downwardly, the airflow diffuser comprising:
a plenum positioned near the ceiling and having a chamber therein and an inlet opening connectable to an airflow source, said plenum including a lower perforated wall having a plurality of openings for conveying air into a room;
means for distributing air generally uniformly throughout said chamber, said distributing means including a distribution baffle within said chamber and connected to said inlet opening; and a planar distribution grid positioned in said chamber adjacent said lower perforated wall and for preclud-ing horizontal airflow adjacent said lower perforated wall, said grid formed by a plurality of intersecting vanes, said vanes lying in vertical planes.
2. A laminar airflow diffuser as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said lower perforated wall has an upper surface and wherein said planar distribution grid is positioned on said upper surface.
3. A laminar airflow diffuser as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said distribution baffle includes a housing having a bottom wall and perforated side walls.
4. A laminar airflow diffuser as set forth in Claim 3 wherein said distribution baffle bottom wall is spaced upwardly from said planar distribution grid, and wherein said plenum includes side walls and said perforated distri-bution baffle side walls are spaced inwardly from said plenum side walls.
5. A laminar airflow diffuser as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said intersecting vertical vanes form a plurality of mutually adjacent vertical channels, each of said channels opening upwardly into said chamber, and each of said channels having a lower end adjacent said perforated wall.
6. A laminar airflow diffuser for directing air into a room and for distributing air over at least a portion of the ceiling of the room uniformly and vertically downwardly, the airflow diffuser comprising:
a plenum positioned near the ceiling and having a chamber therein and an inlet opening connectable to an airflow source, said plenum including a lower perforated wall having a plurality of openings for conveying air into the room;
means for distributing air generally uniformly throughout said chamber, said distributing means including a distribution baffle within said chamber and connected to said inlet opening, said distribution baffle including a housing having a bottom wall and perforated side walls;
and a planar distribution grid positioned in said chamber on said lower perforated wall and for preclud-ing horizontal airflow adjacent said lower perforated wall, said grid formed by a plurality of intersecting vanes, said vanes lying in vertical planes, said intersecting vanes forming a plurality of mutually adjacent vertical channels, each of said channels opening upwardly into said chamber and having a lower end adjacent said lower perforated wall.
CA314,714A 1978-08-25 1978-10-30 Laminar airflow diffuser Expired CA1113298A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US93674278A 1978-08-25 1978-08-25
US936,742 1978-08-25

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1113298A true CA1113298A (en) 1981-12-01

Family

ID=25469023

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA314,714A Expired CA1113298A (en) 1978-08-25 1978-10-30 Laminar airflow diffuser

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1113298A (en)

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