EP0235007A1 - Air conditioning device for several rooms with individual air conditioning units - Google Patents

Abstract

The device comprises a plurality of air-conditioning units in a box (4) which is mounted in a service corridor (2) and applied to a partition (1) which separates the corridor from the rooms (3) to be air-conditioned. The box (4), which is parallelepipedal, contains a motor-ventilator set (13a, 13) which makes the air circulate between a renewal opening (10) and an intake opening (17) situated one above the other in the face of the box applied to the partition (1), in order to communicate via the opening (1a) with the room (3) on either side of a false ceiling (3a). The air passes successively through a filter (12), an exchanger (14) supplied with cooling liquid by a general circuit, and an electric heating resistor (15). The arrangement of the box (4) outside the room (3) reduces the noise in this room, reduces the risk of leakage and of condensation in the room, and makes possible monitoring and maintenance without disturbing the occupants of the room (3). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an air conditioning device, intended for a plurality of premises, distributed along a service corridor, at least one wall of which constitutes partitions for these premises, and comprising a plurality of air conditioning batteries, each assigned to a room comprising a box where, under the impulse of a motor-fan group, air circulates between a return outlet and a blowing outlet, passing through a filter in series, an exchanger connected to a general circuit coolant and a heating coil.

To cool the premises of a building which has a large number of rooms distributed along service corridors, such as a hotel or an office building, two types of device are currently used. A first device consists in installing a general air conditioning unit, with refrigeration and heating groups and exchangers equipped with motor-fan groups, filters, to treat the air which is then distributed to the various premises by a network. supply air ducts, coupled with a network of return ducts to bring the air from the premises to the air conditioning unit. This type of device generally requires having been provided for the construction of the building, the ducts are bulky, and the modulation of the air conditioning in each room is difficult without unbalancing the whole.

Another type of device, easier to install in an already constructed building, consists in installing, in each room to be air conditioned, an air conditioning battery comprising a motor-fan group, a filter, an exchanger supplied with coolant, and a battery of heating, for example an electrical resistance, and for the whole building a refrigeration plant from where a heat transfer liquid is refrigerated and distributed by a network of pipes to each battery exchanger. The coolant distribution and return pipes are much less bulky than air conditioning ducts, the energy transported per unit of volume being more than 3,000 times higher for water than for air.

In general, for this type of device, the coolant pipes follow the service corridors, often above a false ceiling and, in line with each room to be refrigerated, there are two taps on the supply pipes and return, which enter the room to service the air conditioning battery.

The air conditioning battery generally comprises a trunk where, under the impulse of the motor-fan group, the air circulates between a return outlet and a blower outlet, passing in series through the filter, the exchanger suitably connected to the circuit general coolant and heating coil. The return and blowing outlets are associated with ducts which open into the room in carefully chosen locations. It is common for the air conditioning battery and / or ducts to be hidden above a false ceiling. Each air conditioning battery has thermostatic control members, which act on the flow of coolant, the flow of air in the battery and the heating of the heating coil, or on some of these parameters. It is therefore possible, without unbalancing the entire device, to modulate the air conditioning of each of the premises.

However, this type of device has certain criticizable aspects. Most often criticized is the noise due to the motor-fan group, which is particularly sensitive if the room is otherwise quiet (hotel room, private office). In addition, the maintenance of air conditioning batteries requires that maintenance personnel enter the air-conditioned premises; the derivations of refrigerant pipes increase the length of these pipes and thereby the risk of leaks or condensation; furthermore, these leaks or condensations are more harmful in the rooms to be air conditioned than in the service corridors.

The invention aims to improve air conditioning devices with individual batteries, by overcoming their objectionable aspects.

To this end, the invention provides an air conditioning device, intended for a plurality of premises distributed along a service corridor of which at least one wall constitutes a partition for the premises, and comprising a plurality of air conditioning batteries, each assigned to a room and comprising a box where, under the impulse of a motor-fan group, air circulates from a return outlet to a blowing outlet, passing through a filter, an exchanger connected to a general circuit of coolant, and a heating coil, characterized in that the return and blowing outlets are located in the same face of the trunk and this is mounted in the service corridor with the face where the outlets are located applied to the partition, where passages are made corresponding respectively to the return and blowing outlets.

By placing the air conditioning battery box in the service corridor, the annoying source of noise is transferred outside the room, as well as the source of condensation and possible refrigerant leakage. In addition, the maintenance of the air conditioning battery no longer requires entering the room at the risk of disturbing the occupants. Finally, the general coolant circuit is simplified, by shortening, for each battery, the branches from the pipes placed in the service corridor.

To improve the soundproofing and the efficiency of the batteries, the sides of the trunk, generally rectangular in shape, will be fitted with thermal and sound insulation.

• la figure 1 est une vue perspective, partiellement coupée, d'une batterie de climatisation dans un dispositif selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une coupe en élévation d'une batterie de climatisation ;
• la figure 3 est une vue en plan, de dessous, d'une partie d'un dispositif selon l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows by way of example, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view, partially cut, of an air conditioning battery in a device according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of an air conditioning battery;
• Figure 3 is a plan view, from below, of part of a device according to the invention.

According to the embodiment chosen and shown in FIG. 1, an air conditioning battery arranged in a trunk 4 is mounted on a partition 1 of a service corridor 2, to serve a room 3, such as a hotel room or a office. In this partition 1 is made a rectangular opening 1a, near the ceiling and extended parallel to it. The trunk 4 being generally parallelepiped, it has on one side two superimposed mouths 10 and 17 which fit into the opening 1a. The upper mouth 10 forms the return mouth, and the lower mouth 17 the blowing mouth. The horizontal separation between the vents is located at a false ceiling 3n, in which will be practiced, at appropriate locations, air intake vents from room 3 (not shown) while the blowing outlet delivers air conditioning to the room, here directly.

For the description of the air conditioning battery, reference will also be made to FIG. 2, which is more detailed.

The return mouth extends, inside the trunk 4 by a sheath 11, limited to its lower part by a horizontal partition 11a which extends from the front face 103 to the rear face 101 of the trunk 4. The partition 11a stops before the posterior face 101, to form an opening where a generally flat and horizontal filter 12 is placed.

Below the filter 12 is arranged a motor-fan group; in this group, a central motor 13a drives two rotors of centrifugal fans 13, the scrolls of which open into a vertical partition 13b, in the direction of the blowing mouth 17. The vertical partition 13b, the rear face 101 of the trunk 4, the filter 12 and a lower face 102 of the box 4 confines a box with which the suction openings of the fans 13 are in communication.

In front of the partition 13b is arranged an exchanger or refrigeration coil 14, with inlet pipes 14a and outlet 14b of coolant, respectively connected to supply pipes 21 and return 22, insulated, longitudinally arranged in lane 2 and which, with a refrigeration unit (not shown, of course), refrigerant circuits.

The refrigeration battery 14 is followed by a heating battery constituted by an electric heating resistor 15.

Below the exchanger or the cooling coil 14 is disposed a collecting tank 16 for the condensed water vapor. This tank 16 comprises at the end an outlet 16a, which communicates with a tank 5, fixed outside the trunk 4, on a lateral face 105 of the latter. This reservoir has an overflow which opens into a general evacuation pipe 23, parallel to the pipes 21 and 22 of coolant. Of course this pipe 23 is connected, from place to place, to the downspouts for discharging waste water.

Beyond the resistance 15 extends the blowing mouth 17.

It will be understood that the fans 13 in operation place under vacuum the box formed by the filter 12, the partition 13b, the rear wall 101 and bottom 102, as well as the side walls 104 and 105 of the box. Air is drawn in accordingly through the filter 12 in the sheath 11 and, via the return outlet 10, in the room 3, through the return orifices of the false ceiling 3A. The fans 13 discharge the air thus sucked through the exchanger 14, where it cools and abandons the excess water vapor, then through the resistor 15 where it heats up, before being returned to the room 3 through the air outlet 17.

It goes without saying that the air conditioning battery comprises regulating members, thermostatic control, to modulate the circulation of coolant in the battery 14, the heating of the resistor 15, and, moreover, the speed at which the motor 13a. drives the fans 13.

Of course, the air conditioning battery is classic in principle, and by the organs that constitute it. But, while conventionally we have the different elements in line to separate the return air intake and the supply air, and make the installation inside the room to be conditioned efficient, here we fold the alignment of the elements to attach the return air vents and blowing through the partition 1.

We have already mentioned that the trunk 4 was substantially parallelepipedic, with an anterior face 103, a posterior face 101, an upper face 100, a lower face 102, and two lateral faces 104 and 105. All these faces are filled with layers of foam. rigid, about 10 mm thick, forming thermal and sound insulation, with the exception, for the front face 103, of the location of the return 10 and blowing 17 outlets. Thanks to this arrangement, and by l use of fans extended along the axis of rotation of the rotor, the noise level transmitted outside the trunk 4 in the corridor 2 is low, while the partition 1 essentially prevents the transmission of noise inside the local 3.

To facilitate maintenance, the filter 12 is mounted in a drawer in the rear wall 101, with a face 120 on outside the wall 101. Also the assembly of the refrigeration exchanger 14, the resistor 15 and the tank 16 can be extracted from the trunk by a hatch formed in the lower wall 102.

FIG. 3 represents the arrangement of air conditioning batteries 40, 41, 42, 43, assigned respectively to premises 30, 31, 32, 33, distributed on either side of a service corridor 2, limited by partitions 1 and 1 ′ which separate it respectively from the premises with even and odd references. We appreciate the compact arrangement of air conditioning batteries, which are connected to the supply lines 21 and return 22 of the coolant, by short branches. We also see the auxiliary tanks 50, 51, 52, 53 for collecting condensate from the respective batteries 40, 41, 42, 43. These tanks 50, 51, 52, 53 are connected as short as possible to the drain pipe 23 condensates.

It is clear that this arrangement, in addition to the advantages of noise reduction in the premises served, facilitates maintenance, without disturbing the occupants of the premises. The drawbacks associated with conventional refrigerant diversions entering the premises, generally hidden above false ceilings, namely condensation on the pipes, and the risk of leaks, disappear for the premises served, and are clearly reduced in service corridors.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples described, but embraces all of the variant embodiments thereof, within the framework defined by the claims. In particular, in air conditioning batteries, the location of the fan in the air circulation is arbitrary.

The heating coil has been described in the form of an electrical resistance. But it goes without saying that this heating coil can be an exchanger supplied by a hot heat-transfer liquid, like a central heating radiator. Also when heating is provided by passing a heat transfer liquid through an exchanger, it is possible to confuse the cold battery and the hot battery into a single exchanger, which will be supplied, depending on the circumstances, with coolant or hot coolant.

From another point of view, the invention is also applicable to buildings where the premises are not regularly distributed on either side of a service corridor. It suffices that this corridor serves a plurality of premises to be air conditioned.

Claims (8)

1. Air conditioning device, intended for a plurality of premises (3, 30-33) distributed along a service corridor (2) of which at least one wall (1) constitutes a partition for the premises, and comprising a plurality of air conditioning batteries (40-43), each assigned to a room and comprising a trunk (4) where, under the impulse of a motor-fan group (13a, 13), air circulates from a return (10) to a blowing mouth (17), passing in series through a filter (12), an exchanger (14) connected to a general circuit (21, 22) of coolant, and a heating coil (15) , characterized in that the return (10) and blowing (17) outlets are located in the same face (103) of the box (4) and the latter is mounted in the aisle (2) serving with the face ( 103) where the outlets' (10, 17) applied to the partition (1) are located, where passages (1a) are made corresponding respectively to the return (10) and blowing (17) outlets. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the trunk (4), of generally parallelepiped shape, is lined on all its faces (100-105) with a layer of thermal and sound insulation. 3. Device according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the trunk (4) is divided into two parts by a partition (11_q) perpendicular to the face (103) where the mouths are located (10, 17) , respectively in communication with each of said parts, the partition (11a) having an opening covered by the filter (12). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the motor-fan group (13a, 13) is arranged in the part which communicates with the blowing mouth (17) immediately downstream of the filter (12). 5. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a tank (16) is located below the exchanger (14) connected to the circuit (21, 22) of coolant to collect steam d condensed water on the exchanger (14). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that said tank (16) is connected to a tank (5) disposed outside the trunk (4). 7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that the reservoir (5) is connected to a drain pipe (23). 8. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein each battery (40-43) comprises thermostatic control members, characterized in that the motor-fan group (13A, 13) is adapted to take several speeds of speed , under the action of the slaving organs.

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