US20100197216A1

US20100197216A1 - Ventilator with illuminating unit and human sensor

Info

Publication number: US20100197216A1
Application number: US12/597,115
Authority: US
Inventors: Jinyuan Liang; Hanzhong Zhou
Original assignee: Panasonic Ecology Systems Guangdong Co Ltd; Panasonic Corp
Current assignee: Panasonic Ecology Systems Guangdong Co Ltd; Panasonic Corp
Priority date: 2007-04-24
Filing date: 2008-04-15
Publication date: 2010-08-05
Also published as: WO2008128424A1; CN101294577B; CN101294577A

Abstract

Disclosed is a ventilator with an illuminating unit and a human sensor, which includes a ventilator body and a cover. An air inlet, a lamp shield and a human sensor are provided in the cover. The lamp shield and the air inlet are mounted at the center of the cover while the human sensor is mounted at the periphery of the cover, and the installation orientation of the cover is changeable.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 200710101227.5 filed on Apr. 24, 2007 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of a ventilator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ventilator has been known as a common indoor ventilation appliance. A typical one of the ventilators is called ceiling-mount ventilator or ceiling ventilator which is built in a ceiling with a cover fixed to the ceiling, and air inlets are usually provided in the art so as to carry out the ventilating operations.
An improved ceiling-mount ventilator includes an automatic human sensor in the center of the cover, which detects the presence of a human by using a wireless technology. The ventilator is turned on/off depending on the detecting result of the human sensor. In this way, the ventilator is controlled to work only when people are in the room, and hence save energy. Typically the human sensor is disposed at the center of the ventilator, so as to cover a largest area of the room.
Another kind of ceiling-mount ventilator incorporates an illuminating unit, and typically the illuminating unit is arranged at the center of the cover.
A problem arises when people attempt to provide a ceiling-mount ventilator with both of a human sensor and an illuminating unit, for the illuminating unit might interfere with the operation of the sensor.
Because the ventilator body is not always situated at the center of the room, and the architecture of one room might differ from that of another room greatly, it is difficult to design a ventilator in which the human sensor is not affected by the illuminating unit while adequate and sensitive detection of the human sensor is achieved.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the above conventional ventilator. Due to the limitation of the construction of the room, a ventilator 100 is mounted on the ceiling in a corner 800 of the room. After a cover 200 is fixed on the ventilator 100, a human sensor 300 will be placed at a position far away from an illuminating unit (not shown). However, since the human sensor 300 is located in the corner of the room, the detecting area is limited and may be inefficient in detecting operation.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a ventilator, which, with an illuminating unit and a human sensor provided on a cover, allows the human sensor to give a full detecting performance and meanwhile avoids the interference from the illuminating unit.
The present invention is directed to provide a simple ventilator with an illuminating unit and a human sensor which addresses above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages. Accordingly, an object of present invention is to provide a ventilator with an illuminating unit and a human sensor which allows the sensor to carry out its detecting operation fully and efficiently
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ventilator with a lamp having a lamp shield and a human sensor. The ventilator comprises a ventilator body and a cover provided with an air inlet. The lamp shield and the human sensor are provided on the cover, wherein the lamp shield and the air inlet are disposed at the center of the cover while the human sensor is disposed at the periphery of the cover. The installation orientation of the cover is changeable.
With above configuration, the ventilator according to present invention achieves at least following advantages: firstly, the human sensor is disposed at the periphery of the cover, therefore the sensor is kept away from the lamp shield and the air inlet, which ensures that the heat emitted from the illuminating unit will not adversely affect operation of the human sensor; secondly, the installation orientation of the cover is changeable, therefore the human sensor can be placed at a place where the best detecting effect could be obtained. Usually, the detection by the human sensor will be more effective as the sensor is situated closer to the center of the room. Since the orientation of the cover can be varied during installation, the flexibility and convenience of the installation is improved. Optionally, a frame of the ventilator body and the cover may be in the shape of an equilateral polygon or a circle or a square.
Preferably, a plurality of first mounting structures are provided in the frame of the ventilator, and a plurality of second mounting structures are provided in the cover, wherein any one of the first mounting structures and one of the second mounting structures can be mounted together. Therefore, according to the position that the ventilator is to be mounted, a worker can select suitable first mounting structures and second mounting structures to mount them together, so that the human sensor of the ventilator is in a place where it obtains an optimal detecting range. Further, under circumstances where the detecting range of a mounted human sensor needs to be adjusted, the worker or user can select other suitable first and/or second mounting structures to remount the cover on the frame. This offers an advantage of adjusting the detecting range of the sensor easily and conveniently.
Further, the second mounting structures are of a spring-type structure, the first mounting structures are configured to be holes to engage with or affix the spring-type structure. Since a plurality of holes are formed at the periphery of the frame for affixing the spring-type structures of the cover, it ensures that the edge of the cover aligns with that of the frame during the installation.
In one embodiment, the frame and the cover of the ventilator are rectangular or square. Therefore, the cover can be turned by a certain degrees, for example, 90 degrees, 180 degrees or 270 degrees, and still can be mounted in the frame, which offers several optional orientations for mounting the cover.
In one embodiment, a plurality of structures for mounting the sensor are disposed at a same side of the cover. With this configuration, the worker can select a mounting structure in the very side for the human sensor to be mounted, which will alleviate the disadvantage resulted from some difficult circumstances, for example, the side at which the human sensor locates happens to be near the wall of the room. In this embodiment, a good variety of options can be taken by the user by turning the cover with respect to the frame, which allows the human sensor to have an adequate detecting range. Accordingly, the efficiency of the human sensor is dramatically improved.
In an exemplified embodiment, the human sensor is disposed in a human sensor case. The case provides physical protection and heat insulation to the human sensor. Moreover, the assembling efficiency and stability of the finished product is enhanced by using the case.
In one embodiment, a circular opening is formed in the cover to engage with the human sensor case, and the latter is disposed at the center of the opening. As the opening is circular, the distance between the human sensor and the periphery of the opening is equal, accordingly, the detecting range of the human sensor extends along the periphery of the opening uniformly. In contrast, if the opening is shaped to be square, the distance from the human sensor to the side of the square opening will be shorter than the distance to the corner of the opening, which causes the extension of the detecting range of the human sensor unequal and hence affects the detecting effect to some extent.
In a preferred embodiment, the opening and said human sensor case are provided with engaging means mating with each other, as an example, the engaging means are clasping or threaded structures. By virtue of the clasping or threaded structures, the attachment and detachment of the human sensor case becomes easy, thus enabling convenient and fast maintenance.
In an exemplified embodiment, the opening is provided with a water proof lid. Mounting structures for affixing the lid into the opening are disposed on the lid and the opening, respectively. The water proof lid prevents water from entering into the human sensor or the ventilator, hence improving the stability of the finished product and facilitating maintenance of the ventilator.
In a preferred embodiment, the water proof lid is circular. Compared with a square lid for which orientation and positioning of the lid must be considered during assembly, a circular lid can be directly placed in the opening and the above concerns in association with the square lid is eliminated. Further, a circular shape water proof lid can provide a better seal than a square one. The lid and the opening include structures by which they are engaged and disengaged with each other; hence the assembling efficiency and stability of the product are greatly improved.
In an alternative embodiment, as a substitute of the structures by which the water proof lid and the opening are engaged and disengaged with each other, the structures are configured to an annular slot formed in the lid and corresponding protrusion formed in the opening, or vice versa. By virtue of such slot-protrusion mating structures, the water proof lid can be secured to the opening firmly and rapidly, which enhances the assembling efficiency of the product.
In a preferred embodiment, the human sensor is disposed at the outer side of the opening. With such arrangement, the circuit board carrying the human sensor can be lifted up and hence a larger part of the human sensor will protrude out of the human sensor case. Consequently, the human sensor will have a detecting range larger than 90 degrees, and the detecting efficiency of the sensor is enhanced.
As apparent from above, the present invention has the advantage that the installation orientation of the cover can be varied freely and hence the indoor detecting effect of the human sensor is optimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of prior art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the frame of the ventilator according to a first embodiment of present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the backside of the cover of the ventilator according to the first embodiment of present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the face of the cover of the ventilator according to the first embodiment of present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the water proof lid of the cover of the ventilator according to the first embodiment of present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the circular opening of the cover of the ventilator according to a second embodiment of present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout the specification. These embodiments should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein, rather for illustrative purpose.
Referring to FIG. 2, altogether four first mounting structures, which are configured as holes, are provided in the four sides of a rectangular frame 400 of the ventilator according to the first embodiment of present invention respectively, but FIG. 2 only illustrates two of them, 401, 402. As to other two first mounting structures, they are of the same shape with the 401, 402, but located in corresponding positions of other 2 sides.
As shown in FIG. 3, second mounting structures 201, 202 are provided in the cover 200 of the ventilator, and they are in the form of a spring. Any one of the first mounting structures and one of the second mounting structures can be mounted together. For instance, any one of the second mounting structures 201, 202 can be mounted in any one of the first mounting structures (not shown in FIG. 3). That is to say, the user can mount the cover 200 on the frame (not shown in FIG. 3) with four orientations including current orientation and the orientations in which the cover 200 is rotated 90, 180 and 270 degrees.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, a lamp having a lamp shield 230 and an air inlet 240 are provided at the center of the cover 200, and a circular opening 210 is provided at the corner of the cover. A human sensor case 301 for accommodating a human sensor 300 therein is disposed in the circular opening 210. The upper portion of the human sensor case 301 also is circular, and the circular opening 210 and the human sensor case are provided with engaging means (not shown)by which they are engaged with each other. For instance, the engaging means can be snap-fit or threaded structures, such as screws, for fixing the human sensor case 301. It should be noted that the human sensor case 301 is not indispensable; instead, the sensor 300 may be attached to the surface of the cover 200 directly.
Referring to FIG. 5, the human sensor 300 in the case 301 is located at the outer side of the circular opening 210, which allows the detecting range of the human sensor 300 to be larger than 90 degrees, and hence making best and full use of the sensor. A circular water proof lid 220 is disposed over the circular opening 210. An annular slot 211 formed in the opening 210 mates with a protrusion 221 so that the circular lid 220 is brought into engagement with the circular opening 210, or vice versa. As an alternative, it is possible to replace the annular slot 211 and the corresponding protrusion 221 with a screw.
In the present embodiment, a user can rotate the cover 200 by 90, 180 and 270 degrees and then mount it on the frame (not shown), so that the circular opening 210 is directed to and located closer to the center of the room. Therefore, by selecting a suitable installation orientation of the cover with respect to the frame, the detecting angle and thereby the detecting range of the human sensor 300 will be improved. Besides, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the closer the human sensor 300 is disposed from the water proof lid 220, the larger the detecting range becomes.
FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view of the circular opening of the cover of the ventilator according to a second embodiment of present invention. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that two circular openings 210 are provided along a side of the cover 200, hence the human sensor case (not shown) can be mounted in one of the openings according to actual circumstance and the need of the user. By selecting orientation of the cover 200 via rotation of the cover with respect to the frame, human sensor can be disposed to be closer to the center of the room, therefore obtaining a better detecting angle.
Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A ventilator with an illuminating unit and a human sensor, comprising:

a ventilator body;

a cover provided with an air inlet;

wherein a lamp shield and a human sensor are provided in the cover, wherein the lamp shield and the air inlet are positioned at a center of the cover, while the sensor is positioned at a periphery of the cover, and the installation orientation of the cover is changeable.

2. The ventilator according to claim 1, wherein

a frame of the ventilator body and the cover are in a shape of an equilaterial polygon or circle.

3. The ventilator according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of first mounting structures are provided in a frame of the said ventilator body, and a pluraltiy of second mounting structures are provided in the cover, wherein any one of the first mounting structures can be engaged with any one of the second mounting structures.

4. The ventilator according to claim 3, wherein

said second mounting structures are of a spring-type structure, and said first mounting structures are configured to be holes into which the spring-type structure is affixed.

5. The ventilator according to claim 4, wherein

the frame of the ventilator body and the cover are rectangular or square.

6. The ventilator according to claim 5, wherein

a plurality of structures for affixing the sensor are disposed at one side of the cover.

7. The ventilator according to claim 1, wherein said human sensor is disposed in a human sensor case.

8. The ventilator according to claim 7, wherein

an opening is formed in said cover to accommodate the human sensor case, and said case is disposed at a center of the opening.

9. The ventilator according to 8, wherein

said opening is circular.

10. The ventilator according to claim 8, wherein:

said opening and said human sensor case are engaged with each other by means of a snap-fit or threaded structure.

11. The ventilator according to claim 8, wherein

said opening is provided with a water proof lid, and the lid and the opening including structures by which they are engaged with each other.

12. The ventilator according to claim 11, wherein

said water proof lid is circular.

13. The ventilator according to claim 12, wherein

the water proof lid and the opening are provided with structures by which they are engaged with each other, and said structures are configured to be an annular slot formed in one of the lid or the opening and a corresponding protrusion formed in another one of the opening or the lid.

14. The ventilator according to claim 8, wherein

said human sensor is disposed at an outer side of the opening.