GB2261064A

GB2261064A - Louvre ventilators

Info

Publication number: GB2261064A
Application number: GB9222892A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Goodwin
Original assignee: Booth Muirie Ltd
Current assignee: Booth Muirie Ltd
Priority date: 1991-11-01
Filing date: 1992-10-30
Publication date: 1993-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 2012-10-30
Also published as: GB2261064B; GB9222892D0

Abstract

A louvred ventilation system comprises a pair of vertical supports 13, a series of elongate louvre blades 51 and a series of elongate bird guards 52. The blades 51 extend horizontally and are inclined to the vertical. The guards 52 extend horizontally and are arranged alternately with the blades 51 the guards having openings 53 therethrough for air flow. The guards 52 are connected directly to the supports 13 and thereby constitute constructional elements of the system as a whole. The blades 51 are mounted in position at least partly by means of the guards 52. A hit-and-miss damper 59 may be provided. <IMAGE>

Description

LOWRED VENTILATION SYSTEM The present invention relates to a louvered ventilation system.

Some existing louvered ventilation systems, used for example in commercial and industrial premises generally include a series of inclined horizontally extending louvre blades and between these, a series of horizontal guards. The guards allow the passage of air but act as a barrier for birds etc. Each blade is mounted in a pair of support members which are in turn mounted on vertical posts. The guards are then located between adjacent blades, either vertically or horizontally orientated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a louvred ventilation system which is simple to produce with a minimum number of components but which can easily be assembled to a more rigid structure than existing systems.

According to the invention, a louvred ventilation system comprises a pair of vertical supports, a series of elongate louvre blades and a series of elongate guards; the blades extending horizontally and being inclined to the vertical; the guards extending horizontally and being arranged alternately with the blades; the guards having openings therethrough for air flow; the guards being connected directly to the supports, thereby constituting constructional elements; the blades being mounted in position by means of the guards.

The supports may consist of posts or mullions of for example extruded aluminium alloy and would normally be secured to wall or similar structure. There may, of course, be more than two supports.

The blades would normally be imperforate and might be mounted solely by means of the guards. However, the blades are preferably connected to the guards generally along one edge while the opposite edge engages the supports. The blades may also be an extruded aluminium alloy, though other suitable materials may be used.

The guards may be riveted, screwed or bolted to the supports, but are more preferably clipped or locked to the supports by means of complementary profiles.

The guards may be roll-formed from stainless steel with punched holes, or may be produced in a plastics material such as UPVC. Alternatively, they may be made from the same material as the blades.

The blades and guards may be so dimensioned that they interengage with a snap-fit to close tolerances, thereby providing a rigid structure. However, a tight joint between the blade and guard may be ensured by deforming or crimping the material of one or both components at their junction.

In another alternative, an elongate clip is used to interconnect a blade and guard along their junction.

The clip may provide a positive snap-fit with the blade and also separately with the guard.

Optionally, a security clip may be located between an adjacent guard and blade which are not otherwise positively interconnected directly. Such a security clip might engage the guard and blade and be screwed or otherwise secured to the mullions.

A system according to the invention is easy to assemble and is stronger than existing systems. It has a triangulated structure which is effectively braced along the entire length of the blades and guards where they engage.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways and some embodiments will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an isometric sketch of a first embodiment of a louvred ventilation system according to the invention; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing a second embodiment; Figure 3 is a side view of the embodiment of Figure 2 showing the way in which a blade is mounted Figures 4 and 5 are views similar to Figures 2 and 3, showing a third embodiment Figure 6 is a vertical section through the blades and guards of a fourth embodiment; Figure 7 is a side view to an enlarged scale showing the use of a tool to deform the material of part of a blade; Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 showing a fifth embodiment;; Figure 9 is an enlarged section of the junction between a blade and guard in the embodiment of Figure 8; and Figure 10 is a schematic plan view of an external corner detail.

The louvred ventilation system comprises a series of blades 11, a series of guards 12 and a pair of mullions 13. For reasons of clarity, only two blades, two guards and one mullion are shown.

The blades 11, which are aluminium alloy extrusions, extend horizontally and are inclined to the vertical. Each blade 11 includes a depending skirt 14 at its front lower edge, a shoulder 15 at its rear upper edge, an upper channel 16 running along its rear surface near the upper edge, and a similar lower channel 17 behind the skirt 14.

The guards 12 have a horizontal base 18 and a vertical back 19, and are roll formed form stainless steel. Rows of louvres 21,22 are punched out of the base 18 and back 19 to serve as stiffening and to provide a route for air flow. An upper bead 23 runs along the top edge of the back 19 and a similar lower bead 24 runs along the front edge of the base 18.

The mullions 13 are each an aluminium alloy extrusion in the form of a flanged channel. They extend vertically.

In use, the mullions 13 are fixed to a wall (not shown) spanning a ventilation opening (not shown).

The guards 12 are attached rigidly, for example with screws, to the mullions at the appropriate vertical spacing. The blades 11 are then snap-fitted into place with the upper and lower beads 23 and 24 of each guard 12 being respectively located in the upper and lower channels 16 and 17 in the corresponding blade 11, and the shoulder 15 engaging the base 18 of the guard 12 above.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 2 the blades 31 differ in that they have an upstanding rear upper edge 33 in place of a shoulder and upper and lower beads 34 and 35 in place of the channels. The guard 32 in this embodiment has a generally horizontal surface 36-formed with louvres 37, a depending rear face 38 and a depending front face 39. The rear and front faces 38, 39 are both folded back upwards and forwards to define respective channels 41,42.

In use, the guards 32 are fixed back to the mullions (not shown) as in the first embodiment.

However, the blades 31 are fitted as shown in Figure 3 by locating the rear upper edge 33 of a blade at the junction between the surface 36 and the rear face 38 of the guard 32, and then pivoting the blade 31 downwards.

The upper bead 34 engages in the rear channel 41 of the guard 32 and the lower bead 35 engages in the front channel 42 of the guard 32 immediately beneath.

The embodiment shown in Figure 4 is similar to that of Figure 2. However, the guard 52 is of extruded UPVC and has punched holes 53 in place of louvres. The material of manufacture results in a modified crosssectional form which in turn results in a corresponding modified blade section. However the features and their functions are equivalent. Thus an upper bead 54 on a blade 51 snaps into a rear channel 55 in guard 52 while a lower bead 56 snaps into a front channel 57 in a guard 52 below.

The guard 51 in this embodiment also includes a pair of grooves 58 immediately above the upper surface where the holes 53 are punched, one groove 58 being at the rear and the other being at the front. An optional air flow regulator 59 can be located by means of the grooves 58 to overlie the upper surface of the guard 51. The regulator 59 has holes 60 which generally correspond to the holes 53 so that lateral movement of the regulator 59 brings the holes 53 and 61 into and out of registry. Thus, the flow of air through the system can be adjusted.

The embodiment shown in Figure 6 also includes blades 61, guards 62 and mullions 63. The blades 61 are of an extruded aluminium alloy. At the bottom front edge, each has a depending skirt 64 and at the rear top edge a hooked bead 65 extending from a flange 66. Behind the skirt 64, there is an elongate deformable latch section 67 which, together with an elongate rib 68 further up the inside surface of the blade 61, forms a lower channel 69.

The guard 62, which has holes punched through it (not shown) also has a hooked bead 71 along its rear edge. Its front edge includes a front bead 72 and spaced below this an elongate ridge 73.

The mullion 63 is formed with regularly vertically spaced hook sections 74 which face downwards, thereby defining inverted channels 75.

In use, a guard 62 is attached to the mullion 63 by inserting the hooked bead 71 into a suitable inverted channel 75. A blade 61 is then attached to the mullion 63 by inserting its hooked bead 65 into a higher inverted channel 75. Downward pivotal movement of the blade 61 brings the front edge of the guard 62 into the lower channel 69 of the blade 61, with the front bead 72 engaging the rib 68.

In order to lock the components in place, the latch section 67 is deformed, using a special tool 76, so that the ridge 73 is captured by the latch section 67. This is shown in Figure 7, since this arrangement is not dependent upon a snap fit nor the manufacturing tolerances of the extruded components, a rigid structure can be ensured in all cases.

Figures 8 and 9 show a variation in the embodiment of Figure 6. Similar mullions 63 are employed and the blades 81 and guards 82 are also similar to those in the embodiment of Figure 6 except for their profiles at their edges which form the junction. At the bottom front edge, the blade 81 has a depending skirt 8 and two inwardly facing latch section 84, which define between them a channel 85. The guard 82 has at its front edge an outwardly protruding latch member 86.

Connection between the blade 81 and the guard 82 is achieved by means of an elongate clip 87 of plastics material. The clip 87 has a pair of outwardly extending ribs 89 and a pair of inwardly facing ribs 89.

In use, a blade 81 and guard 82 are locked together by snap fitting the clip 87 into the channel 85 so that the ribs 88 are held by the latch sections 84. The latch member 86 is then snap fitted between the ribs 89 as the blade 81 and guard 82 are pivotted together.

Figure 8 also shows an optional feature in the form of a security clip 91. This is bolted to the mullion 63 and engages a blade 81 and also the guard 82 which is immediately above.

The embodiments of Figures 6 to 9 are particularly suitable for forming external corner details as shown in Figure 10. A corner mullion 92 is employed with two protruding fins 95 in which hooked section and inverted channels (not shown) are formed which correspond to the hooked section 74 and inverted channels 75. In practice an assembly 94 of two short lengths of blade is mitred and welded at 450 as shown in Figure 10.

This assembly 94 is located in position on the two fins 83. The respective guards 62 on either side of the corner are pre-mitred to size and located in position on the corner mullion 92 beneath the assembly 94. The guards 62 are full length and therefore span the joints between the assembly 94 and the adjacent blades 61.

The guards 62 are then fixed to the assembly 94 using the tool in the same way as described above in the case of the embodiment of Figure 6.

In this way, the blade assembly 94 is supported by the guards 62 as far as the apex of the corner and the guards 62 themselves are supported by the corner mullion 96. The fact that the guards 62 constitute constructional elements means that the structure maintains its rigidity, even at a corner.

Figure 10 also illustrates an alternative mullion section at 96. Here, the hooked sections and inverted channels would be formed in the two forwards folded rails 970

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A louvred ventilation system comprising a pair of vertical supports, a series of elongate louvre blades and a series of elongate guards; blades extending horizontally and being inclined to the vertical; the guards extending horizontally and being arranged alternately with the blades; the guards having openings therethrough for air flow; the guards being connected directly to the supports, thereby constituting constructional elements; the blades being mounted in position by means of the guards.
2. A system as claimed in Claim 1 in which the supports are posts or mullions of extruded aluminium alloy.
3. A system as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the blades are imperforate.
4. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the blades are mounted solely by means of guards.
5. A system as claimed in any of Claim 1 to 3 in which the blades are connected to the guards generally along one edge while the opposite edge engages the supports.
6. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the blades are of an extruded aluminium alloy.
7. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the guards are riveted, screwed or bolted to the supports.
8. A system as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 6 in which the guards are clipped or locked to the supports by means of complimentary profiles.
9. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the guards are roll formed from stainless steel with punched holes.
10. A system as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8 in which the guards are produced in a plastics material.
11. A system as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8 in which the guards are made form the same material as the blades.
12. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the blades and guards are so dimensioned that they inter-engage with a snap-fit to close tolerances.
13. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim in which the material of the blade and or guard is deformed or crimped at their junction.
14. A system as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11 in which an elongate clip is provided to interconnect a blade and a guard along their junction.
15. A system as claimed in Claim 14 in which the clip provides a positive snap fit with the blade and also a separate positive snap fit with the guard.
16. A system as claimed in any preceding Claim further including a security clip located between an adjacent guard and blade which are not otherwise positively interconnected directly.
17. A louvred ventilation system constructed and arranged substantially as herein specifically described with reference to and as shown in Figure 1, Figures 2 and 3, Figures 4 and 5, Figure 6, Figures 7 and 8 or Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings.