ES2788705T3 - Ventilation system - Google Patents

Abstract

A ventilation system for supplying air conditioning to ventilation spaces in a building (B) having several spaces (I-III), said system including a central air treatment unit (1) connected to an inlet (2, 2 ' ) for the outside air, ventilation ducts (3), which are connected to an outlet of the central air handling unit and which have outlets leading to each space (I-III) for ventilation in the building, and outlets from said spaces (I-III) that lead to air ducts (4) to pass air outside the building (B), characterized in that said ventilation system also comprises a chamber (V, V '), said chamber (V , V ') a filter (18, 18'), an inlet (15, 15 ') connected to air outlets in at least one of said several spaces (I-III), an inlet for fresh air (19, 23, 24) and an outlet (16, 16 ') connected to air inlets in at least one of said several spaces (I-III), and said filter (18, 18') and said inlets (15, 15 ', 19, 23, 24) are arranged so that the air from said inlet (15, 15') connected to the air outlets in at least one space (I-III) is mixed with fresh air from said fresh air inlet (19, 23, 24) and is passed through said filter (18, 18 ') together with said fresh air, and said outlet (16, 16') is arranged so that the Filtered air mixture can then be reintroduced to said at least one of said spaces (I-III) through said outlets (16, 16 ').

Description

DESCRIPTION

Ventilation system

Technical field

The present invention refers to a ventilation system for supplying air conditioning to a space for ventilation in a building that has several spaces, where said system includes a central air treatment unit connected to an inlet for outdoor air, ducts ventilation, which are connected to an outlet of the central air handling unit and which have outlets leading to each space for ventilation in the building and outlets from said spaces leading to air ducts to pass air to the outside of the building. The invention also relates to a method for ventilating a building having several spaces.

Background of the invention

When designing ventilation systems of the type mentioned above, the use of all the spaces to be ventilated in a building must be considered when deciding on the performance and dimensions of the system components. An important factor in this regard is the number of people who will use each space and the duration of this use, since these factors are decisive for the amount of fresh air to be supplied to the space per unit of time. For certain spaces, such as meeting rooms, the use of the spaces varies significantly. Sometimes many people use the space (maximum use) but most of the time only some of the people, if any, use the space. Ventilation systems must be sized to allow maximum use, at least for a certain period of time. This means that the ventilation fans and vents in such ventilation systems are too large for the daily use of the spaces to cope with that maximum use.

Another problem arises when ventilation requirements change for an existing ventilation system due to changing standards or regulations or when the number of people using the spaces changes. If, for example, the building is a school and the number of students in the classes is increased, the amount of fresh air supplied to each space per unit of time must be increased correspondingly. This means bigger and more powerful ventilation fans should be used. Furthermore, the vents should preferably be of larger dimensions, as otherwise the air velocity in these ducts must be increased, which will lead to larger pressure drops which will increase energy costs. There is also the risk of the ventilation being excessively noisy. However, in some cases, there is no space available in the building to accommodate larger ventilation fans and / or vents so to meet the increased need for ventilation, a building renovation must be performed to meet the greatest need for ventilation. US3789621A1 and US5279609A describe ventilation systems for supplying air conditioning to ventilating spaces in a building.

Therefore, there is a need for a ventilation system that is more flexible than the ventilation systems of the type mentioned above and that incorporates this known ventilation system as an integral part, so that said systems can be improved without a major renovation of the building. in which this known ventilation system is installed.

The aim of the present invention is to satisfy this need.

Summary of the invention

This objective is achieved by a ventilation system to supply air conditioning to spaces for ventilation in a building having several spaces according to claim 1.

Through this ventilation system, the central air handling unit can provide constant base ventilation to all the spaces in the building and one or more of said chambers can provide additional air conditioning to one or more of the spaces in the building, continuously or when the need arises. Cameras can also be controlled to vary their performance over time based on actual use of a space. Therefore, through this ventilation system, ventilation and air cleanliness can be controlled according to the actual need in the different spaces in the building. Thus, optimized air ventilation and air cleaning can be obtained.

In a first preferred embodiment, said fresh air is taken from outside the building and passes through a filter before entering said chamber.

In a second preferred embodiment, the fresh air is taken from another space other than said at least one space of the building or said fresh air is supplied to said chamber by the central air handling unit.

More than one space can be connected to that chamber.

Said filter in the chamber is preferably a HEPA type filter.

The central air handling unit preferably includes a heat exchanger in which the exhaust air heats the incoming outside air before leaving the building.

Said chamber can contain an air cooler or an air heater.

Two or more of these chambers, each connected to one or more spaces for ventilation, can be included in the system.

The invention also refers to a method of ventilating a building that has several spaces to ventilate, where at least one space has different ventilation needs than other spaces, said building including a central ventilation system to supply air conditioning to the spaces to ventilate. , the system of which includes a central air handling unit connected to an inlet for outside air, ventilation ducts, which are connected to an outlet of the central air handling unit and which have outlets leading to each space for ventilation in the building and exits from said spaces that lead to air ducts to pass air outside the building, the method being characterized by the steps of;

providing, through the central ventilation system, a base ventilation to each space to ventilate; connect the at least one space with different ventilation needs than other spaces to a chamber in which the air from at least one space is mixed with fresh air, passed through a filter together with the fresh air, then the mixture is introduced of air from said at least one space and fresh air in said at least one space; and controlling said mixture of air entering the at least one space from said chamber to satisfy the ventilation needs of said at least one space.

In a first embodiment of the method, said fresh air is taken from outside the building.

In a second embodiment of the method, said fresh air is supplied to said chamber by the central air treatment unit or is taken from another space other than said at least one space in the building.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figure, of which;

Fig. 1 schematically shows a top plan view of a building provided with a ventilation system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows schematically the building of Figure 1 in a side view with some of the ventilation ducts present in the ventilation system illustrated schematically,

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of the building ventilation system in claim 1,

Fig. 4 shows a variant of chamber V, and

Fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of the ventilation system according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Description of the achievements

A building B is shown schematically in Figures 1 and 2. Building B can be, for example, a school. Also shown, schematically, three spaces I, II and III that could be classrooms. Building B is provided with a conventional ventilation system that includes a utility room IV in which a central air handling unit is arranged. The central air handling unit is connected to an inlet 2 for outside air and ventilation ducts 3, which are connected to an outlet of the central air handling unit and having outlets leading to each space for ventilation in the building. In Figures 1 and 2 only the ventilation ducts leading to classrooms I-III are shown, but there are ventilation ducts leading to other spaces in the building, as is conventional in the state of the art. The spaces ventilated by the ventilation system are provided with outlets that lead to air ducts to pass air outside the building. In Figures 1 and 2, only the outlets of spaces I-III are shown leading to a duct 4 which, through the central air handling unit in utility room IV, leads to an outlet duct 5 of air.

The central air treatment unit 1 arranged in space IV includes a first ventilation fan 6 to transport fresh air from the inlet 2 to the various outlets for fresh air in the different spaces in building B and a second ventilation fan 7 to extract used air out of the spaces and transport it to the outside of the building. Preferably, a heat exchanger 8 is arranged in the utility room IV so that the incoming fresh air can be pre-heated by the outlet air before this air leaves the building. Also included are pressure sensors 9 and 10 to measure the pressure in the ventilation duct 3 and duct 4. A regulator 11 regulates the amount of fresh air drawn towards the inlet 2. Temperature sensors 12 and 13 are also included. a control valve 14.

A unit not shown, for controlling the central air treatment unit 1, is also arranged in the room IV.

The components described above are all common components in conventional ventilation systems to supply fresh air to the spaces of a building and work in the same way as in such systems.

According to the invention, a small space V, a so-called climatic chamber, is incorporated in a corner of space I. A duct 15, which is connected to the air outlets in each of spaces I-III leads to climatic chamber V and a duct 16 connected to the air inlets in each of the spaces leading out of the climatic chamber V. The outlet of a ventilation fan 17 is connected to the duct 16 and the inlet to said fan 17 is connected to the outlet of an air purification filter 18. Furthermore, an inlet for fresh air 19 from outside the building B is present in the climatic chamber and connected, by means of a regulator 20, to the inlet of the filter 18. A climatic chamber control unit can be arranged inside the chamber. or anywhere else.

When the ventilation fan 17 in the climatic chamber is put into operation, the used air from the spaces I-III, as well as the fresh air from the inlet 19, is sucked into the chamber V and passes through the filter 18. The Fresh air from inlet 19 is mixed with used air from spaces I-III before entering filter 18 or filter. In filter 18, the incoming air, that is, the mixture of used air from spaces I-III and fresh air from outside, is cleaned so that only clean air leaves chamber V and is supplied to spaces I- III through conduit 16 outlets.

By providing a climatic chamber according to the present invention, the ventilation system described above can operate in such a way that the central air handling unit 1 can be controlled only to provide a base ventilation sized to meet normal ventilation needs, that is that is, the ventilation needs for most of the spaces in the building, while the spaces that have special ventilation needs are connected to a climatic chamber. Spaces that have special ventilation needs can be, for example, rooms for general meetings or seminars, where the need for ventilation varies over time periods, or rooms for which the need for ventilation is much greater than in rooms. other spaces in the building, such as classrooms in a school building. By having the central air handling unit providing only a base ventilation, ventilation fans having a relatively small capacity and ventilation ducts optimally sized for the air flow required for the base ventilation can be used. Compared to ventilation systems lacking climatic chambers in which ventilation fans and ventilation ducts must be sized to cope with higher air flow to be able to supply the required amount of air per unit time to the spaces With special ventilation requirements, considerable cost and space savings are obtained for the air handling unit and ventilation ducts. Furthermore, since the pressure drops in the system increase with increasing flow, the energy losses in conventional ventilation systems lacking climatic chambers are much greater than in a system according to the present invention. In a system according to the present invention, the ventilation ducts can be dimensioned such that the maximum air flow rate required by the base ventilation does not produce much noise, which is difficult to achieve in conventional ventilation systems.

Another advantage is that the ventilation system according to the present invention is much more flexible than conventional ventilation systems. Climatic chambers are quite small, for example about 1.5 m x 2 m, and can therefore be installed in spaces with special ventilation needs. Therefore, if a special need for ventilation arises in a building space, it is easy to provide that space with a climate chamber according to the present invention. Also, if the use of a space no longer requires special ventilation, it is easy to remove the climate chamber and the ducts that lead to and from the chamber. In a variant of the embodiment shown, the climatic chamber can be constructed as a mobile unit and said ducts can be releasably mounted on the ceiling of the spaces supplied by the climatic chamber. This mobile unit can be moved inside the building or placed outside a ground floor space and connected through the window or the like. The ducts leading to and from the climatic chamber can be textile channels with diffusers fixed to the ceiling. In the case of a mobile climatic chamber, said channels can be mounted in an easily releasable manner.

The number of climatic chambers provided in the ventilation system according to the present invention will vary as a function of the number of spaces with ventilation needs greater than that provided by the base ventilation and by the variation of said ventilation needs. If the ventilation needs are common for multiple spaces, then one climate chamber can supply all the spaces, but if the ventilation needs are different, one chamber is preferred for each space.

The climate chamber also provides clean air to the spaces to which it is connected. In this way, the air quality in these spaces improves considerably. Filter 18 is of the HEPA type (High Efficiency Particulate Air), for example a HEPA filter from Camfil AB, Sweden. Of course, other types of filters can be used for air cleaning, such as a molecular filter. The filter 18 can be a set of filter units and it is possible to use different types of filters in a filter set, such as a combination of HEPA filters and molecular filters.

A useful application of the ventilation system according to the present invention is the improvement of existing conventional ventilation systems in buildings. If you want to improve a conventional ventilation system, you usually require more powerful ventilation fans and larger dimensions of the ventilation ducts. The more powerful ventilation fans require more space which, in some cases, would require a reform of the space that houses the air handling unit. This reform is not always possible. In addition, a change of ventilation ducts is not always possible and, in any case, it is an expensive and time-consuming measure to adopt and one that is usually avoided for these reasons. This means that in improved conventional systems, the original vents are often kept, which will lead to the flow rate in the ducts being higher than the flow rate the ducts were designed for. This, in turn, will lead to increased pressure drops in the ducts and very high energy costs. If instead one or more climatic chambers were installed, according to the present invention, connected to the spaces that have the greatest ventilation needs, the conventional ventilation system already installed could be maintained and controlled to provide the base ventilation according to the present invention. This base vent would normally require a lower flow rate in the vents than the flow rate for which they were sized prior to upgrade. This will reduce pressure drops and save energy. These energy savings would be greater than the energy required for the operation of the climatic chambers.

Optionally, the climatic chamber can be provided with a heater and / or a cooler 21. If spaces I-III, for example, are classrooms for teaching computer science equipped with many computers, the computers will produce a lot of heat. In that case, preferably a cooler would be provided in climatic chamber V.

A variant of chamber 5 is shown in Figure 4. In this variant, a filter 22 is installed at the inlet 19 for outside air.

Figure 5 shows a flow diagram of the ventilation system according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention. The only difference between the ventilation system according to Figures 1-4 and the ventilation system according to Figure 5 is that the fresh air entering chamber V 'in the ventilation system shown in Figure 5 is supplied by the unit central air treatment and is not taken from outside the building. Components of the ventilation system according to Figure 5 corresponding to similar components in the ventilation system according to Figures 1-4 are given the same reference signs with the addition of a prime sign. In the ventilation system according to Figure 5, the chamber V 'is provided with fresh air coming from the central air handling unit by means of a duct 23 and a regulator 24. In other aspects, the ventilation system according to the Figure 5 works in the same way as the ventilation system according to Figures 1-4.

Instead of supplying fresh air to the chamber V 'from the central air handling unit, it is possible to supply fresh air to the space V' from a space in the building that has a high quality of the air inside.

The described embodiment can be modified in various respects without leaving the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

The air handling unit may include, for example, an air conditioner and the inlets for the outside air in the system are preferably provided with low-grade filter units. Climatic chambers could be used in combination with other types of ventilation systems than the conventional type described above. It is not necessary to place or build the climate chamber in a corner, but it could be arranged in any part of the space or in another part of the building. The system can include more than one climatic chamber. In addition, fresh air from outside and used air from ventilation spaces can be mixed before entering the filter in the climate chamber instead of after entering the filter. Therefore, the scope of the invention should only be limited by the content of the appended claims.

Claims (14)

i. A ventilation system to supply air conditioning to ventilation spaces in a building (B) that has several spaces (I-III), including said system a central air handling unit (1) connected to an inlet (2, 2 ') for the outside air, ventilation ducts (3), which are connected to an outlet of the central air handling unit and having outlets that lead to each space (I-III) to ventilate in the building, and exits from said spaces (I-III) that lead to air ducts (4) to pass air outside the building (B), characterized in that said ventilation system also comprises a chamber (V, V '), said chamber (V, V') comprising a filter (18, 18 '), an inlet (15, 15 ') connected to air outlets in at least one of said several spaces (I-III), an inlet for fresh air (19, 23, 24) and an outlet (16, 16 ') connected to air inlets in at least one of said several spaces (I-III), and said filter (18, 18 ') and said inlets (15, 15', 19, 23, 24) are arranged so that the air from said inlet (15, 15 ') connects to the air outlets in at least one space (I-III) is mixed with fresh air from said fresh air inlet (19, 23, 24) and is passed through said filter (18, 18 ') together with said fresh air, and said outlet (16, 16 ') is arranged so that the filtered air mixture can then be reintroduced to said at least one of said spaces (I-III) through said outlets (16, 16'). A ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein said fresh air inlet (19) is connected to the exterior of the building. Ventilation system according to claim 2, wherein said fresh air inlet (19) further comprises a filter (22) adapted to filter said fresh air before entering said chamber (V). 4. Ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein said inlet for fresh air (23, 24) is connected to each other said at least one spaces (I-III) in the building. Ventilation system according to claim 1, wherein said fresh air inlet (23, 24) is connected to the central air treatment unit (1). 6. Ventilation system according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein more than one space (I-III) is connected to said chamber (V). Ventilation system according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein said filter (18, 18 ') in the chamber (V) is a HEPA type filter. Ventilation system according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the central air treatment unit (1) includes a heat exchanger (8, 8 ') in which the exhaust air heats the incoming outdoor air before exiting the building (B). Ventilation system according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein said chamber (V) contains an air cooler (21,21 ') and / or an air heater. 10. Ventilation system according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the system includes two or more of said chambers, each connected to one or more spaces for ventilation. 11. Method of ventilating a building (B) that has several spaces to ventilate, where at least one space (I-III) has different ventilation needs than other spaces, said building including a central ventilation system to supply air conditioning to the ventilation spaces, the system of which includes a central air treatment unit (1) connected to an inlet (2) for outside air, ventilation ducts (3), which are connected to an outlet of the central air treatment unit and having outlets that lead to each space to ventilate in the building (B), and outlets from said spaces that lead to air ducts (4) to pass air to the outside of the building, the method being characterized by the steps of; provide by means of the central ventilation system a base ventilation to each space to ventilate; connect the at least one space (I-III) with different ventilation needs than other spaces to a chamber (V) in which air from said at least one space is mixed with fresh air, it is passed through a filter (18 ) together with said fresh air, the mixture of air from said at least one space (I-III) and fresh air being then introduced into said at least one space; Y controlling said air mixture entering the at least one space from said chamber to satisfy the ventilation needs of said at least one space. 12. A method according to claim 11, wherein said fresh air is taken from outside the building. Method according to claim 11, wherein said fresh air is supplied to said chamber (V) by the central air treatment unit (1). Method according to claim 11, wherein said fresh air is taken from another space other than said at least one space (I-III) in the building.