GB2266365A - Air conditioning - Google Patents

Abstract

Air conditioning apparatus comprises fans 24, 31 and ducts 13, 33 containing flap valves 81, 83. It will provide required indoor air pressure, such as maintaining a positive pressure for preventing dust from entering the room, or cyclically modulating the pressure in specific modes for achieving special atmospheric effects, such as raising peoples spirits or expelling insects (figs 2, 3, not shown). The variation rate of indoor pressure relative to outdoor pressure (fig 5. not shown) monitors the airtight condition of the room. A warning signal is triggered when an abnormal airtight condition occurs, so as to minimize unnecessary air-exchange, save energy consumption and increase efficiency for air filtering and air conditioning. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AIR-EXCHANGE AND PRESSURE AND DETECTING AIRTIGHT CONDITIONS IN AIR- CONDITIONED ROOM This invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the airexchange, air pressure and for detecting the airtight conditions in airconditioned space, able to be integrated with an air-conditioner and, through controlling the ON-OFF statuses of several ducts, vents and fans of the air-conditioner. to achieve good air-circulation within the interior, desired air-exchange, precise adjustment of pressure difference between the interior and the exterior, and control of some specific atmospheric modes. This apparatus comprises a microprocessor controller to control the operations of above mentioned mechanisms so as to provide required pressure condition to the interior.It also detects the airtight conditions of the interior through monitoring the variation rate of pressure difference between interior and exterior, and triggers a warning signal while detecting an abnormal airtight condition in order to remind the user taking actions to avoid unnecessary energy waste.

Some annoying situations often exist in a conventional living space such as a dusty room, or a rQom filled with air that infiltrated from fissures around doors or windows etc. and polluted or with improper humidity and temperature. These certainly damage the quality of living and are harmful to human health. As airflow travels from a space of higher pressure to a space of a lower pressure, therefore providing a device that keeps the interior air pressure higher than that of the exterior will easily avoid those annoying situations and provide users a clean and healthy environment. Yet to some specific spaces such as a hospital, in order to prevent germs or virus dissipating from any fissure through airflow to exterior space a proper negative pressure at the interior (the interior air pressure is lower than that at the exterior) is required.

Furthermore, an appropriate pressure change inspires one's spirit and health, such as a continuous air pressure modulation that frequently increases air pressure quickly and reduces it slowly will provides a spiriting environment; and a continuous air pressure modulation that has frequent quick pressure reduction and slow pressure rise makes the insect in the interior feel uncomfortable and will escape from the interior. A conventional air conditioning system does not provide any indoor pressure control function, not to mention generating different atmospheric modes through the modulation of interior air pressure.

In an air-conditioned room, the polluted interior air (such as air has high density of carbon dioxide etc.) shall be removed at proper time and introduce fresh air from the exterior, this is called air-exchange Though a conventional window type air-conditioner provides a manual air-exchange gateflap to provide air-convection between interior and exterior, the quantity and direction of convected air changes according to the pressure conditions of interior and exterior. So that the quantity in air-exchange can neither be modulated, nor do the direction of air lead-in or air exhaust be controlled, this could exhaust a clean interior air and suck some unclean exterior air in. Therefore, it practically can not achieve an effective air-exchange. And a separate type conventional airconditioner provides no air vent, thus no air-exchange is possible.

Airtightness at a general purpose building is restricted due to the fissures around doors, windows, walls etc. or sometimes even the doors or windows let opened due to the neglect of users. At an air-conditioned environment with above mentioned conditions, conditioned air will leak through the fissures or openings. A conventional air-conditioner does not equip with any measure or warning device to the airtight conditions, therefore it cannot ascertain the airtightness by warning any leakage to someone for taking proper actions in stopping an abnormal loss.

The present invention accordingly, in order to improve the efficiency of air-conditioning and protect human's health, provides an apparatus able to control air-exchange and air pressure of an conditioned space, also able to detect and warn of the airtight conditions in that space.

To a space having a proper airtight condition, the present invention is able to provide required pressure modulation and air-exchange. While an air-conditioned space is without a proper airtight condition, the present invention triggers a warning signal to remind users checking the airtight condition so as not to waste unnecessary energy. That is, a main object of this invention is to provide an air-exchange and pressure controlling apparatus able to provide a comfortable and effective air-conditioned space.

The other objects and effects of the present invention will be apparent at following embodiment and drawings.

The present invention, while integrated with an air-conditioner, basically comprises indoor sensors and outdoor sensors of temperature, humidity and pressure for sensing separately the temperature, humidity and pressure of interior and exterior. A microcomputer controller then calculates the humidity difference, temperature difference and pressure difference between the interior and the exterior. The air-conditioning power respective to those sensed values and user's requirements is then calculated. There are sensors for sensing the number the persons exists in the interior or sensing the respective value of polluted or poisonous air in that space.With all these values the microprocessor calculates a required quantity of air-exchange and sends corresponding control signals to respective actuators (such as vents, refrigerant compressor, fan motors etc.) that control the power of air-conditioning, air-exchange ( leading outdoor air indoors and exhaust indoor air outdoors) and air-mixing (operation that sucks in non-temperature adjusted, non-humidity adjusted interior air and mixes it with temperature adjusted, humidity adjusted interior return air and with exterior inlet air so as to adjust the temperature and humidity of the air output). At each lead-in or exhaust operation, the microprocessor stores the revolutions of each fans and the pressure difference between interior and exterior and its variation rate.

Comparing the variation rate of the pressure difference with the stored maximum variation rate under the same pressure difference of interior and exterior, the current airtight condition of the interior is then derived.

In case the current variation rate is below an allowance range of the maximum variation rate, it indicates that there is a pressure loss. This invention will then provide a warning to remind users checking the airtightness in the space in order not to waste energy in conditioned air that will dissipate to the exterior. Also, the present invention will update the detected airtight value when there's a new one since renewal installation or change of the space. These structures and effects will be described with accompanying embodiment and drawings.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the basic composition of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2, 3, and 4 are diagrams illustrating different cyclical modulation modes of pressures between interior and exterior, where FIG.

2 is of a mode having sudden pressure rises; FIG. 3 is of a mode having sudden pressure drops, and FIG. 4 is of a mode having large amplitude pressure change.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing curves of variation of pressure difference under discharging or suction procedures for an interior under specific airtight conditions.

FIG. l illustrate the basic structure of the present invention integrated with an air-conditioner. The air-conditioner has a housing 1, in which a septum 10 divides the interior portion of the air conditioner mainly into an interior compartment 2 and an exterior compartment 3.

The interior compartment 2 is separated again by a septum 21 to an interior suction duct 22 and an interior discharge duct 23. An interior fan 24, installed between the interior suction duct 22 and interior discharge duct 23, is driven by a motor 240 to execute the interior air circulation. Within interior suction duct 22 there are filters 25 that contain a mesh filter, an electrostatic filter and an activated carbon filter etc. to filter the dust particles, impurity and smell out of the air. An interior heat exchanger 26 or other unshown temperature, humidity adjustment devices are to adjust the temperature, humidity of the interior discharge air 23A. At the outer portion of the interior discharge duct 23 there is a flow direction adjustment device 230 used to control the direction of the interior discharge air 23A.On the housing 1 of the air conditioner along the exterior compartment 3, there are two inward vents 11 and an outward vent 12 which compose of many blades and can be closed or opened by actuation of unshown actuating devices. An exterior fan 31 installed inside the exterior compartment 3 are driven by a motor 310. While vents 11 and 12 are opened, and fan 31 is activated to suck airflow 12A through vents 12 and impels airflow 11A through vent 11, an exterior heat exchanger 32 allocated in the airflow 11A is affected. In fact, the interior heat-exchanger 26 and the exterior heat-exchanger 32 are linked with an unshown refrigerant compressor and formed a refrigerating circuit in order to cool down or heat up the interior discharge air 23A. It is of prior air-conditioning arts and need not be described hereinafter.

The characteristics of the present invention are: each of the exterior vents 11, and 12 can be opened or closed independently; and there are several air ducts containing therein gateflaps which is activated independently to open or close, so that the air ducts can be controlled to achieve precise adjustment and control of interior air circulation, airexhaust or pressure-drop, air lead-in or pressure-rise, and air-mixing (which are to be described below).

There is an air exhaust duct 13 arranged to connect the interior compartment 2 and the exterior compartment 3, in which there's an exhaust gateflap 81. While the gateflap 81 opens, by suction of the exterior fan 31, interior air 13A is exhausted outdoors, thus any dirty air inside the room is removed and the interior air pressure is reduced. At a proper position around the interior suction duct 22 and away from the interior heat-exchanger 26, an air-mixing duct 27 is separated to bypass some interior air 27A to directly enter the interior fan 24. in which a air mixing gateflap 82 is installed to control the air mixing (will be described later). Also an air lead-in duct 33 is located along the interior suction duct 22 and the discharge portion of the exterior fan 31, in which an lead-in gateflap 83 is installed.While the lead-in gateflap 83 opens, by suction and impelling of the interior fan 24 and the exterior fan 31, exterior air 31A is sucked into interior space to make up fresh air at the interior or to rise interior air pressure. The operations of these exhaust gateflap 81, air-mixing gateflap 82, lead-in gateflap 83, interior fan 24, exterior fan 31, vents 11 and 12 etc. are driven and controlled by control currents or signals from a controller 60 which comprises a microprocessor. The output of the controller 60 is calculated from values sensed from several specific sensors installed around the exterior compartment 3 and the interior compartment 2, and processed with stored program in the controller 60 and user's requirement inputs from an unshown user interface. These sensors includes pressure sensor 61,.

temperature sensor 62, humidity sensor 63 located at the exterior compartment 3 that senses exterior pressure. temperature and humidity respectively, and pressure sensor 64, temperature sensor 65, humidity sensor 66, air pollution sensor 67 and/or sensor for detecting numbers of indoor persons etc. positioned at interior compartment 2 that sense interior pressure, temperature and humidity, etc. respectively. The airlead-in, air-exhaust and air-mixing functions will be described below.

First, the operation of air lead-in or pressure-rise is: while the interior pressure sensor 64 senses that the interior pressure is lower than a required value, or when the controller 60 determined from sensor 69 of numbers of indoor persons that there shall be air exchange, the controller 60 then controls and opens the lead-in gateflap 83 and adjusts the revolutions of the interior motor 240 and exterior motor 310 (when exterior fan 31 runs, the airflow 31A blocked by the heat exchange 32 causes pressure rise), at this time the exhaust gateflap 81 is preferably closed (the vent 11 can also be actuated into a close state 11C to speed up the air lead-in, if required) to achieve a proper air lead-in control. The exterior air 33A going through the lead-in duct 33 is guided to the front of filters 25 to make sure that any dust or smell is removed first.At this embodiment, the sensor 69 of numbers of indoor persons is of an infrared ray sensor having narrow detecting angle and is positioned at a horizontally-swing blade 231 of the flow direction adjustment device 230 and swings to sense the position of human body and provides a signal to the controller 60 for counting the numbers of persons.

Secondly, the operation of air-exhaust or pressure-drop is: while the senor 67 of air pollution (such as sensor of density of carbon dioxide) senses that the pollution of the interior air is beyond a preset value or while the interior pressure sensor 64 sense that the interior pressure is higher than an expected value, the controller 60 modulates the revolution of the exterior motor 31 and the time duration to open the exhaust gateflap 81 (at this moment the lead-in gateflap 83 shall be in close state), so that the interior air 13A will, caused by suction of the exterior fan 31, be exhausted outdoors through the exhaust duct 13 and vent 11 as airflow 11A; ; and if for specific requirement of exhaust the interior air out speedily or drop the interior pressure quickly, the vents 12 can be actuated into a close state 12C so as to exhaust at full-scale.

Furthermore, the operation of air-mixing is to effectively provide interior discharge air 23A with required temperature and humidity by sucking in a proper volume of non-temperature adjusted, non-humidity adjusted interior air 27A, and mixing it with proper volumes of interior returned air 22A or also the exterior lead-in air 33A which have been temperature-adjusted by the interior heat-exchanger 26.Through mixing these airflows having different quantities, different temperatures and different humidities, the discharge air 23A with specific requirements can be flexibly and precisely obtained: that is, the controller 60 can, based on values sensed from sensors 61, 62 and 64 ,65 the temperatures and humidities of interior and exterior respectively, calculate an optimal proportion of interior air 27A, exterior lead-in air 33A relative to interior returned air 22A for obtaining economically and effectively the interior discharge air 23A in required temperature and humidity. The controller 60 can then calculate the power required to execute the temperature and humidity adjustment.All these determine the open time durations of the air-mixing gateflap 82 and the lead-in gateflap 83, also revolutions of the interior and exterior motors 240, 310 and powers needed for the unshown compressor and temperature adjustment device (such as heat exchanger 26 etc.).

Briefly, the present invention, through the control of lead-in and exhaust, can modulate the interior air pressure, and through the airmixing, can modulate the interior air with required temperature and humidity.

Furthermore, as the interior pressure can be precisely controlled by the present invention, therefore, the present invention may usually keep the interior pressure higher than that of the exterior for keeping undesired or dusty outdoor air from filtrating into the interior. It may further vary the interior pressure in some specific modes for different atmosphere conditions, such as those shown in the FIG. 2, 3 and 4.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a pressure control mode that inspires one's spirit. The interior pressure is kept higher than that of exterior with pressure difference AP in sudden-rise and slow-drop cycles with proper period and amplitude; at each sudden-rise, since the pressure is increased within a short time, the weight of air and oxygen contents in a unit volume of air increase too, so that the persons inside the room breath and get oxygen easily and comfortably. This inspires one S respiration physically and cheer one up mentally; while at slow-drop, since it is designed to be reduced at a speed that human being can adjust, people thus will not acknowledge the pressure reduction and the worse of air-supply.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a pressure control mode that expels the insects. Because insects are quite sensitive to any slight weather change, the present invention is to periodically modulate interior pressure while no one in the room in cycles of sudden-drop and slow-rise pressure change (may accompany with proper temperature, humidity modulation concurrently). The purpose is to provide an environment that is not suitable for insects to reside so that they will escape. Then a living space without insect damage is obtained.

FIG. 4 is a pressure control mode having speedy air-exchange cycles. In case there is a blaze or gas leakage in the interior space, the present invention automatically from temperature or gas detection or upon user's request, runs a full-scale air exchange to have the pressure difference AP between interior space and exterior space change quickly in a large amplitude periodically. That is, at one moment it goes to a large positive pressure and at another moment it goes to a large negative pressure. The purpose of this modulation is to speed up the air-exchange between interior space and exterior space to reduce any possible damage to human being.

Besides above mentioned pressure modulation modes, the present invention of course can provide other modes of pressure changes for specific atmosphere effects.

As the present invention effectively controls the renewal of interior air and interior pressure, an optimal airtight can be applied to the airconditioned environment. FIG. 5 shows curves of pressure difference AP in relation to airtight conditions. Due to the restrictions of fissures around a building the airtight condition is limited, so that while the present invention goes on to increase the interior air pressure, some interior air will flow out through these fissures. If the total cross-area of these fissures is a fixed value (that any fissure is original and no other opening is happened), than with the increase of interior pressure, the airflow that leaks through these fissures increases gradually in relation to the pressure difference AP between interior and exterior.However at last the pressure difference AP will become a fixed value because of the equivalence of volume of air lead in and the volume of air leaked, as shown in HG. 5. That is, while the present invention does not increase the pressure to the interior space, the pressure difference AP is zero; if at an ideal closed environment (yet still with the lead-in duct of the present invention itself), increasing the pressure in full-scale of the air lead-in by the present invention, a pressure curve C1 having a maximum efficiency will be obtained; however, at a practical environment since the leakage from some other fissures, pressure curves that are lower than the ideal pressure curve C1 like C2, C3, and C4 will be obtained and these curves are indicators to the airtight conditions in each respective environment.

That is, at each pressure difference AP of interior and exterior of a room, there is a maximum pressure increasing rate (the maximum rate of pressure difference between the interior and the exterior at unit time interval). Under environments with a same airtight conditions, the pressure-increasing curve will extend or shorten respectively at time axis T with relative to the speed of air lead-in (such as the change of revolution speed of the motors 240 and 310 of FIG. 1), yet the maximum pressure difference AP remains the same. But if the leakage is getting larger in that environment, then the maximum pressure difference AP will reduce accordingly and will even becomes zero. Therefore, after certain period of operation, the present invention will have the maximum pressure AP that is achievable at that environment. And during pressurerise operation, this invention calculates and records the pressure difference AP and the average rate of pressure-rise relative to that pressure difference AP at that moment. The current rate is compared to a maximum rate previously recorded (if any) under the same situation.

As long as there's any abnormal change such as a sudden leak, from comparing the c current rate with that maximum rate, pressure abnormal will be detected. If the rate of the pressure rise is lower than an expecting normal value as the curve Cx shown on the figure, the controller 60 will trigger a signal to actuate a warning device which provides sound, light, diagram or other methods in reminding users to check and adjust the airtight conditions (such as close the windows, or door etc.) to avoid energy waste in air that leaked out to the exterior nonpurposely.

The above mentioned method and operation is also apt for pressure-drop condition. While during control of pressure-drop, it can detect and warn of any abnormal situation according to a normal pressure-drop curve D as shown in FIG. 5.

Since the present invention is to detect and compare continuously of the rate of pressure-rise and pressure-drop at each time interval under each respective pressure condition, therefore the stored data is updated upon any change too. Therefore, even if the condition of the environment or the location of the air-conditioner changes, it still get a respective airtight condition soon.

As described, the present invention do effectively control and detect the air-exchange, pressure and airtight condition, and are practically performing the warning function while necessary, so that the present invention can achieve the purposes of energy saving and improve the efficiency of air-conditioning.

Above embodiments and drawings are described with respect to better explain the characteristics and structure of the present invention.

As many modifications such as to extend the air exhaust duct 13 and the lead-in duct 33 (please refer to FIG. 1) so as to construct a separate type air-conditioner or change to a ventilation device that does not adjust the temperature or humidity, etc. can apparently be made to those skilled in the art, it is to be understood that the invention is limited only the following claims.

Claims (9)

1. An apparatus for controlling air pressure in an interior, controlling air exhausted from said interior to the exterior outside said interior, and controlling air lead-in from said exterior to said interior, comprising: an interior compartment having a first fan defined a suction portion and a discharge portion; an exterior compartment, having a second fan defined a suction portion and a exhaust portion; an lead-in duct, connecting said suction portion of said first fan and said exhaust portion of said second fan, comprises a lead-in gateflap to selectively open and close said lead-in duct; an exhaust duct, connecting said interior compartment and said suction portion of said second fan, comprises an exhaust gateflap to selectively open and close said exhaust duct; and means for controlling operations of said first fan, said second fan, said lead-in gateflap and said exhaust gateflap; whereby while at least one of said first fan and said second fan operates and said lead-in duct opens, exterior air is lead into interior and interior air pressure increases; while said second fan operates and said exhaust duct opens, interior air is exhausted and interior air pressure reduces.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means, according to values detected by means for sensing interior air pressure, means for sensing exterior air pressure and value input from a user interface, controls said interior air pressure in at least one manner selected from the group consisting of keeping interior air pressure higher than exterior air pressure, keeping interior air pressure lower than exterior air pressure, and increasing and reducing interior air pressure cyclically.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control means controls said air lead-in and said air exhaust further according to at least one data selected from the group consisting of number of person in said interior detected by a sensing means, interior air pollution detected by a sensing means, and input from said user interface.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said air lead-in from exterior to interior is filtered by a series of filters to remove dust, impurity and smell.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first fan further circulates interior air; said interior compartment further includes means for sensing temperature, means for sensing humidity and means for adjusting temperature and humidity so as to monitor and adjust temperature and humidity of said circulated interior air.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said exterior compartment further includes means for sensing temperature and means for sensing humidity so as to detect temperature and humidity of said exterior air to be used by said control means.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said interior compartment further includes an air-mixing duct with a gateflap controlled by said control means for leading a part of said circulated interior air which has not temperature and humidity-adjusted to be mixed with temperature-adjusted interior air so as to adjust temperature and humidity of said interior air.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising software program stored in said control means for executing the following control steps while at leading-in and exhausting: a) calculating by proper time intervals present air pressure difference between interior and exterior and present average variation rate of said pressure difference in said time interval, and storing a largest variation rate relative to said pressure difference; b) comparing said present average variation rate with said largest variation rate previously recorded under the same pressure difference as present, if said present average variation rate is smaller than said previous largest variation rate, and is small enough to exceed a preset range, then said control means triggers a signal to activate a warning device to remind users; ; c) if said present average variation rate is larger than said previous largest variation rate, then substituting said previous largest variation rate with said present variation rate.

9. An apparatus for controlling air-exchange and pressure and detecting airtight conditions in air-conditioned room, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.