KR20110089343A - Multi-circuit electrified ceiling grid - Google Patents

Abstract

The elongated grid tee of the suspended ceiling has a bottom flange, a vertical web, and an upper hollow reinforcement bulb, wherein at least some of the flange, web and bulb elements adhere to relatively flat, exposed or accessible surfaces, and the flat surfaces. And a plurality of pairs of conductors extending along a generally full length of the tee, thereby allowing the grid tee to have at least two completely independent DC circuits.

Description

MULTI-CIRCUIT ELECTRIFIED CEILING GRID

This application claims the priority of US Provisional Application No. 61 / 118,062, filed November 26, 2008.

The present invention relates to suspended ceiling structures, and more particularly to the charging of such ceiling structures.

Suspended ceilings, such as offices, laboratories, light industry facilities, medical facilities, meeting and banquet hall facilities, educational facilities, public spaces in hotels, apartments, retirement homes, retail stores, restaurants, etc. Commercial building spaces with suspended ceilings are typically constructed. The installation of these suspended ceilings is often used because of their many recognized benefits. Such ceilings usually include a rectangular open grid suspended by wires from the superstructure and tiles or panels carried by the grid and surrounding open spaces between the grid elements. The most common shaped grid elements have an inverted T-shaped cross section. The T-shaped often includes a hollow bulb on top of the T-shaped inverted stem. A popular variant of this standard T-shape includes a C-shaped channel that opens to the bottom side formed by the bottom of the inverted T.

The development of electronics has made further progress possible and has brought the world to the digital age. This shift to digital creates an increasing demand for low voltage direct current (DC) power. This demand is likely to be as high in the finished commercial space as in at least any other living environment. The conventional suspended ceiling has the potential to be an ideal structure for distributing low voltage power in the finished space. Many relatively low power devices are now supported on such ceilings and newer electronics and appliances continue to be developed and employed for installation on the ceilings.

The ceiling structure, of course, generally covers the space of the entire floor of the habitable area. This allows the ceiling to support the electronic devices where they are needed in the living space. Buildings are becoming more intelligent for energy management in air conditioning, lighting, noise control, safety, and other applications. Electrical appliances that provide these features, including sensors, actuators, transducers, speakers, cameras, recorders, generally all use low voltage DC power.

As the use of electronic devices increases, the consumption of low voltage power similarly increases. This increasingly rapid demand for DC power has led to more efficient conversion of the relatively high voltage utility power typically found in 110/115 or 220/240 alternating current (AC) volts, which is provided in a typical closed space. Provide opportunities for Individual power supplies located at or integrated into electronic devices, the most common equipment today, are often quite inefficient in converting relatively high voltage AC facility power into the lower DC voltages required by electronic devices. to be. In general, they can consume significant power in standby mode with the associated electronic device turned off. It is anticipated that a single DC power supply that meets the needs of a building or a single layer of electronics in a building can be designed to be more efficient in nature because its cost is distributed across all of these powered devices. And this is because load averaging strategies can be used.

Thus, grid tees used for suspended ceilings charge the entire ceiling area with low voltage power, including space directly above, the plane of the ceiling space, and the space just below the ceiling, at low additional cost. It can provide a medium for making.

The present invention includes a grid tee member each having a plurality of separate low voltage electrical circuits that effectively run along its entire length. Circuit conductors can be accessed individually at some point along the length of the tee to receive or supply power. Each conductor may be connected to corresponding conductors on top of other tees at the ends of its respective tee to provide full charging of the suspended ceiling. Ideally, the circuits are each formed by a flat strip or metal foil or tape of conductive ink or similar coating. The present invention is suitable for using conventional roll molded sheet metal grid tees. The conductive strips may be applied to the strip material of the tee before, during or after the roll forming process.

The relatively low voltage and low power requirements of typical solid state devices for ceiling mounting make it possible to make the strips relatively inexpensive and unobtrusive because these and any related insulating layers require little material content. By making the conductive strips relatively wide and placing them widely over the exposed or accessible surfaces of the tee, it is possible to use low cost connectors or terminals with large dimensional tolerances.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional style of a conventional grid tee of a first style provided with a first arrangement of longitudinally extending electrical conductors.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a generalized conventional grid tee of a second style with another arrangement of longitudinally extending electrical conductors. FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of a grid tee of a first style with a modification of the arrangement of electrical conductors extending in the longitudinal direction.
4 is a cross-sectional view of a grid tee of a first style with another arrangement of electrical conductors extending in the longitudinal direction.
5 is a cross sectional view of a grid tee of a second style with another example of a pattern of longitudinally extending electrical conductors.
6 is another example of an arrangement for multiple circuits on top of a grid tee of a second style.

1-6, two generally conventional style suspended ceiling grid tees 10, 11 are shown in cross section. 1, 3 and 4 show a main body 12 having branched portions 13 of a horizontal lower flange, a bilayer vertical stem or web 16, and a hollow reinforcement bulb 17 forming an upper portion thereof. The branch shows a two-piece tee 10. A separate cap 15 is assembled to the bottom surface of the flange portions 13. 2, 5 and 6 show a single piece of tee having a lower flange 21, a bilayer vertical stem or web 16, and a hollow upper reinforcement bulb 17 in the shape of a C-shaped channel opened downwardly. 11) is shown. Tees 10 and 11 are each end to end long elements (nominal 12 or 10 feet or equivalent meters) and shorter elements across the space between parallel main runners (nominally 2 or 10). May refer to both main runners and cross runners, terms used in the art to refer to four feet or equivalent meter). Most commonly, the tees 10, 11 are made of steel strips prepainted by roll forming techniques. However, it will be appreciated that other molding techniques, such as an extrusion process, may be used to produce the tees 10, 11 and other materials such as aluminum or plastic may be used.

The figures show electrical conductors 26 in the form of flat strips fixed to various exposed surfaces of grid tees 10, 11. The conductors 26 in the examples shown are relatively flat strips and are generally much thinner than the ratio shown in these figures for illustration. One economically shaped strips 26 are bands or traces of printed conductive ink. Such inks are commercially available from T-Ink, Inc. of New York, New York, USA. One convenient way to fabricate grid tees 10, 11 is to roll mold their respective shapes from a flat metal material, which is generally steel. While the strip of metal material is flat, its final exposed surface may be coated with insulating material by known techniques such as roll coating, spraying, powder coating, or similar processes using known electrical insulating materials. The side of the sheet material that will support the conductive strips 26 is completely coated with an electrically insulating material or coated with bands where the conductive strips are to be applied. Alternatively, the insulating material may be applied locally to appropriate surfaces after the tee 10 or 11 is formed. Alternatively, in the case of foil or tape, the conductive strip material may be coated or laminated with an electrically insulating material on at least its side facing towards the grid tee. In the case of laminating, for example, an adhesive may be applied to the bottom of the insulator of the conductive strip 26 or may be applied to the tee 10 or 11, thereby allowing the conductive strips 26 to be permanently attached to the grid tee. Can be.

Overcoating or overlaminating the conductive strip, whether traces of the conductive ink or metal foil or tape, is not desired but optional. The inspection of FIGS. 1 and 2 shows that the conductors 26 are attached to generally flat, exposed or accessible surfaces (in the case of the flange 21 of the tee 11) of the respective tees 10, 11. Reveals. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the arrangement or pattern of conductive strips 26 need not be symmetric about the central vertical plane passing through each tee 10, 11. In the arrangement shown, it will be understood that each of the conductive strips 26 is electrically insulated from the strips remaining on top of the particular tee 10, 11. Moreover, when the tee 10 or 11 is generally formed of a metal such as steel or aluminum, the body of the tee is a common electrode with a voltage polarity opposite to the polarity of the voltage applied to the one or more conductors 26. Can be used.

3 to 6 show grid tees 10, 11 with each adjacent pair of conductors 27, 28. It will be seen that the conductors may be arranged in pairs arranged symmetrically on top of the grid tee around the center vertical plane of the grid tee or may be arranged asymmetrically. In addition, the conductors of each pair may be immediately adjacent to each other or spaced apart from each other. For example, in the embodiments of Figures 4 and 6, some pairs of conductors are on opposite sides of the central vertical plane of the tee. Like the conductors 26 described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2, the conductors 27, 28 may be provided in various shapes, including conductive ink traces, metal foils or tapes.

Each pair of conductors 27, 28 will typically operate with opposite polarities. The individual conductors 26 in the arrangement of FIGS. 1 and 2 and the pair of conductors 27, 28 in FIGS. 3-6 are comprised of the conductors 26 present on top of a given tee 10 or 11, Or it will be understood that it allows as many independent circuits as the number of pairs of conductors 27, 28. If desired, the conductors 26 and pairs of conductors 27 and 28 can be operated at different voltage levels to meet the needs of specific digital or electronic devices. In addition, it will be seen that the voltage can be supplied to devices which are on, below, or above the plane of the ceiling.

It is evident that the specification is illustrative and that various modifications may be made by adding, changing or removing details without departing from the fair scope of the teachings contained herein. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific details herein, except to the extent that the following claims are inevitably so limited.

Claims (5)

In the elongated grid tee of the suspended ceiling,
The grid tee has a bottom flange, a vertical web, and an upper hollow reinforcement bulb,
At least some of the flange, web and bulb elements have relatively flat and exposed or accessible surfaces, and a plurality of pairs of conductors attached to the flat surfaces and extending along a generally full length of the tee, whereby The elongated grid tee of a suspended ceiling, wherein said grid tee can have at least two completely independent DC circuits. The method of claim 1,
And the conductors comprise ink strips coated over the flat surfaces. The method of claim 1,
And the tee is a rolled sheet metal product. The method of claim 3,
And the conductors are attached to the sheet metal before they are shaped from a flat profile. The method of claim 1,
And the flat conductors are strips of metal foil or metal tapes bonded to and bonded to the grid tee.

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