US1837936A - Humidifier - Google Patents

Description

. Dec. 22, E931. R. G. YosT ET AL 1,837,936

HUMIDIFIER Filed April 27, 1951 z sheets-sheet 1 Dec. 22, 1931. R. G. YosT ET Al. 1,837,936

HUMIDIFIER Filed April 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 patented ec. 2.2, 1931 ffii:- S

TENT oFFiE ROBmT G. YOST AND 'CYRIL G. LY, OF WEBSTER GROVES, MISSOURI UMIDEIER Application filed April 27,

This invention relates to humidifiers, and with regard to certain more specific features, to humidifiers for domestic and analogous uses.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of a humidifier which when artificial heat is used fully supplies the amount of moisture required in the atmosphere of at least part of aphome or building or the like having compartments, or rooms; the provision of a device of the class described which is self regulating as to amount of moisture hyg'roscopically supplied, the same being operated in connection with the heating plant so that increased dryness caused by an increased rate of heating is automatically compensated; the provision of a device of this class which is automatically fed, being connected with the domestic water supply; and the provision of a device of the class described which provides such features at greatly reduced costs, as compared with present day, less satisfactory devices. Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations of elements, features of construction, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, 'and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is illustrated one of various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the elements of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3 illustrating a furnace heating coil;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4 4 of Figs. 1 and 5, illustrating an evaporator; and,

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

1931. Serial No. 533,122.

od of admixing is not desirable because of the requirement for moving parts which wear and are noisy and expensive. Mere heating is not desirable because of condensation difculties and possible visibility of vapor.

The present humidifier provides a greater evaporation area at minimum expense and at the same time increased evaporation, this being effected by preheating the water without raising its temperature excessively.

Combined with this is the fact that the heating is effected by the heating-system already available in every home and with regard to which the present device compensates automatically in a simple fashion. The water heating system of the present invention, although being associated with said home heating system, is entirely separated from the ordinary hot water heating circuit. This means that the ordinary heating circulation is notinterfered with or tapped, nor is brackish water used in they humidifier and, furthermore, this makes the device applicable, so far as its heating elements are concerned, to warm air heating systems as well as vapor and hot water systems.

Referring now mdre particularly to Fig. 1, there is illustrated at numeral 1 a humidifying unit per se, adapted to be placed in a room or hall or the like of a dwelllng or the like. At numeral 3 is illustrated the ordinary heating plant of said dwelling and may comprise a warm air, vapor, or water system. The usual convection means are employed for delivering heat from the fur-- nace 3 to the apartment, such as warm air ducts, steam or water pipes. These are not illustrated because they vary with the type of heating installation. The present humidifying system is entirely independent of said ducts, both as to heating the water and delivery of moisture to the compartment and in this respect, as Well as others, constitutes an improvement. At numeral 5 1s shown one of the water pipes of the domestic water system of said dwelling.

Figs. 4 and 5 detail the humidif'ying unit per se, the same comprising an outer, decoratively perforated and semi-circular, sheet steel shield 7. The perforations 9 serve not only decorative purposes but permit of circulation from inside to outside of the device of humidified air, the shield 7 being opened at the bottom as designated by numeral 11. The shield 7 is closed at the rear by a nonreticulated back wall 13 and is supported upon standards 15 spacing the same away from the floor level 17. Itwill be seen that the back 13 is adapted to be placed against a Wall 19 or the like. Baflies 16 prevent wall discoloration and/orcondensation at or near the rear corners of the device. They also prevent the sight of any vapor which may be generated. A decorative and removable cover 21 is provided to close the top of the shield 7. This cover is preferably non-reticulated.

Joining the shield 7 and the back 13 1s a pair of partitions 23, the same having an oppositely disposed series of openings 25. The plurality of openings are'adapted to slidably receive a plurality of upwardly flared noncorroding pans 27, such as of aluminum or copper. An inlet pipe 29 is vertically' arranged behind the pans and provided with outlets 31 and 33 comprising stop cocks which are manually operable. The .cocks may be turned full on or full o or to intermediate positions, so as to regulate the amount of waterissuing from the pipe 29. 1 Each pan 27 is provided with an overflow pipe 35 which maintains the level 37 in the respective pan and also delivers overflow to the next pan beneath. The lower outlet of the overflow pipe 35 extends below the liquid level 37 in the said next pan thus effecting quiet flow.` The last overflow pipe 39 delivers water to waste.

It is clear from the above that each pan 27, considered structurally is quite independent of the other pan in the cascaded combination.` Thus, any number of pans may be used, a full complement of eight pans being shown in Fig. 5, but a lesser number may be used in the same supports 23. The reason for making the number of pans variable is to provide a variation in the amount,

of evaporating surface so that the device lmay b e adapted to structures or buildings of various sizes and /or humidifying requirements.

Water entering the pipe 29 flows out of the cock 31 and enters the uppermost pan 27 from whence it overiows and is delivered to the second pan below and thus proceeds from pan to pan until the' overflow 39 is reached. The purpose of the second cock 33 is to provide a second supply of warm water (the water from pipe 29 is warm, as will be seen) so as to reheat the Cascade of water flowing through the series of pans. It will be understood that the water cools as it flows down and that the rate of evaporation decreases lwith cooling. Hence it is desirable to provide in the cascade a reheating, as by the supply of warm water from the second cock 33. This method of introducing the water is in contradistinction to introducing at one point all of the warm water it is desired to supply.

Another feature regarding the pans should be noted. This is the positioning of the overflow pipe 35 in staggered relationship with respect to the ends of the successive pans. The overflow pipe 35 between a given pair of pans is in a corner of said pair diagonallylopposite to the overfiow pipe of the next pair. Thus, reading from top to bottom (F ig. 5) the uppermost pan and the second one down have an overfiow pipe 35 in a given corner. The second pan down and the third pan down have an overflow pipe in the diagonally opposite corner and so on down through the device. The purpose of this arrangement is to provide as great a distance of tlow as possible for the water so that there is no short circuiting in said flow. This ensures a minimum of stagnation and maximum distance of circulation, both of which are conducive to maximum evaporation. The positions of the inlets and outlet relative to the overflows are also conducive to this effect. It will be undersood that the rate of inlet of the water from the cocks 31 and 33 is made enough so that there is a continual overflow from the pipe 39 at all times. The cocks 31 and 33 are adjusted so that the rate of overflow is a minimum consistent with sufiicient humidity.

Heating of the water supply is accomplished by leading the pipe 29 into a heating flue 40 ofthe domestic heating plant 3 (Figs. 2 and 3). Here thepipe 29 is formed as a coil 41 after which it is again brought out of the flue 39 and attached to the domestic cold water pipe 5 by means of aconnection such as shown at numeral 43'. Thus the water issuing from the pipe 5 passes through the direct heat exchange coil 41, up the pipe 29, through the cocks 31, 33, to and through the pans 27 and then through the drain 39 to Waste 45. The amount of waste is equal to the supply minus the amount of water evaporated for humidifying purposes.

It is to be understood that a direct heat exchange relationship refers to the passage of heat from the iue gases of the furnace to water to be cascaded or exposed without passage through any other heating medium such as the hot air or hot water or the like of the househeating system per se.

rlhe coil 41 is mounted upon a rack 47 and spaced away from the bottom of the lue 39 by means o a jack screw 49. This prevents the coil from becoming coated with deposits such as 51 which ordinarily lie on the bottom of due 40. As shown in Figs. 2and 3, the coil 41 may be slipped through a cleanout door 53 or the like, thus facilitatingv its installation and cleaning. llt will be understood that hot water from the heating coil used for hot water consumption may be used for the present system, this supply also being independent of the fluid for heating the house.

As is clear from the drawings, the invention is carried out with a maximum of simplicity and at minimum costs. rlhe members forming the shields 7, back 13, supports 2 3 and the like may all be made of sheet metal whichis readily formed. The same is true of the pans 27. Furthermore, the pans may be assembled, one above the other, merely by sliding them through the openings as above stated, any number may be used to accommodate the humidification desired in a given size of house. Illhe pipes such as 29 and 39 are small, flexible, being composed preferably of copper tubing or the like. Stringing of the pipe is easily accomplished, all bents being readily made by hand. rEhe elements shown in Figsfd and 5 ma be installed with the simplest of tools and installation of the piping may be accomplished analogously to electrical wiring. No tap need be made into the circulating liuid of the house heating system. No auxiliary heater is required. No moving parts. are used.

Another advantage of the deviced is that three variables may be controlled. First, the rate of iow of water from the cocks 31, 33 may be'controlled. ln this connection.A it

. may be noted that the length of coil 4.1 may' be changed to etiect proper heating at the changed rate of flow. ,Se'cond, the amount of v evaporating surface may be controlled by choice of a number of pans 27. Athird ad` justment comes in the relationship of the opening in cocks 31 and 33.

Another advantage in regard to operation is that once the device has been adjusted the humidity is taken care of automatically. Or-

dinarily, as the rateof operation of the fur- .nace 3 is increased and house heatlincreases,

the humidity ordinarily is also decreased, that is to say, t e humidity decreases somewhat inversely with the heating rate. With the :present invention an increased heating rate ef a house, caused by increased heatlng rate of the furnace 3, results in increased heating rate of the water supplied through inlet pipe 29. This water at a higher temperature evaporates at a faster rate so that the increased Ldryness is compensated for, and an approximately given adjustment of humidity at the most desirable point varying therefrom lonly a few per cent over a whole heating season. |The device may be adjusted to provide a humidity in the ideal range, namely, forty to fifty per cent or more. Humidity is provided for the whole home or building or the like in which the device is located, even though the device is positioned in a single room or hall or the like.

The apparatus is quite small, the cascading through a successionof surface or sheetexposures aiding this result. The semi-circular plan lof the shield 7 results in minimum space requirement with the advantage that in combination with the partitions 23 and baiiles 16, ues are formed which e'iect with the Warm cascade a natural induced up draft such as sho-wn by the arrows in Fig. 5. r1`his draft, in view of the closed cover 21 is forced out of the opening 9, the baiiies 16 preventing condensation on the adjacent Wall.

j The device uses'a continuous low of water at a predetermined adjustable rate. A recommendation for an eightroom house is about one-quarter pint of water per minute maximum, this amounting to about fifty gallons for a twenty-four hour period.

It will be understood that the heating unit 3 may stand in the same room or compartment as the humidifier 1, as when room or apartment heaters are used, the connections being as described above. Also, it will be noted that the evaporation is direct from the pans to the air to be humidified and is independent of convection through any heating flues or the like of the furnace.

'In view lof the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

e claim:

l. Humidifying apparatus comprising a semi-circular, reticulated shield, at least one partition therein separating the interior into ay plurality of flues, said partition having openings, a plurality of pans supported in said openings and spaced from the shield, and means for cascading warm water through said pans whereby humidilication is eiiected and distribution of said humidiication ,is effected by an induced draft in said iiues and through said reticulations.

2. Humidifying apparatus comprising means for mounting a plurality of p ans, one

4. A humidifier for at least one compaltment of a building, the latter' having a heatin@ lant and cold water supply, comprise P v ing means for exposing and evaporating Water within said building, the passage of evaporated vapor from the point of exposure being independent of any convective heating by said heating plant, means for leading Water from said cold Water supply to the compartment, means for leading water froml the cold water supply to' the evaporating means and means in said heating plant for heating said Water prior to evaporating the same, said heating means in the heating plant' being independent of the fluid used 1n said plant for heating said house, said evaporating means being located outside of said heating' plant. l

In testimony whereof. We have signed our names to this specification this 25th day of April, 1931.

ROBERT G. YOST. CYRIL G. SCHELLY.

point of exposure, and means in direct heat exchange relationship with the 'products of combustion of said heating plant for heating said Water prior to exposing the same.

5. A humidifier for at least one compartment of a building, the latter having a heating plant and cold water supply, comprising means for cascading Water through successive sheets Within said building, the passage of evaporated vapor from the point of cascading being independent of any convective .heating by said heating plant, means for leading Water from said cold Water supply to-the point of cascading and means insaid heating plant for heating said water prior to cascading of the same.

6. A humidifier for a house having a heating plant and cold Water supply comprising means for cascading water within said house, means for leading water from said cold water supply to the cascade and means in said heating plant for heating said water prior to cascading of the same, and means for introducing heated Water to said cascade at a plurality of points therein.

7. A humidifier for a compartmented building having a plant in one compartment for the purpose of heating the building and said building having a cold water supply, comprising means for evaporating Water Within said building but in another compartment therein, means for leading Water from the cold water supply to the evaporating means and means in said heating plant for heating said Water prior to evaporating the same, said-.'evaporating means being lo'- cated outside o f and at a substantial distance from said heating plant.

8. A humidifier for a compartmented building having in one compartment a plant t for the purpose of heating the building and said building having a cold water supply, comprising means for evaporating water by sheet ex'posure within said house 1n another

Images