US2299939A - Space cooler - Google Patents

Description

Ot. 27, 1942. s. swANsoN SPACE COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 27, 1942. s v, SWANSON 2,299,939

SPACE COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1938 3 Sheets-'Sheet 2 e572 SMQ/25072 Oct. 27, 1942. s. v. swANsoN SPACE'COOLER Filed Nov. 25, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Oct 2.7,'` 1942 UNITED 'STATES PtrrlzNTy vori-ica SPACE COOLER Sven V. Swanson, Forest Park, Ill., assigner to Refrigeration Appliances, Inc., Chicago, lll., a corporation of Illinois Application November 25, 1938, Serial No. 242,184

7 Claims.` (Cl. 62-140) This invention relates to space cooling equipment of the type wherein air is withdrawn from the space to be cooled and brought in contact with air cooling means and then returned to said space, and the invention has reference more particularly to facilities for distributing this cooled air uniformly throughout the space to be cooled without the danger of short circuiting the discharged air to the air inlet, and for prevention of moisture particles being carried by the circulated air into the space to be cooled.

In refrigerators or the like wherein a room or compartment is to be cooled a desirable arrangement is to locate air cooling means, such as the evaporation coils of a refrlgerating system, in or upon an upright wall of the room. or compartment within a housing or enclosure through which air cooling means the air of the room or compartment is circulated, the air being withdrawn from the room or compartment space at or near the top and, after cooling thereof by passing in contact with the air cooling means, it is returned to the room or compartment space at or near the bottom thereof. Y

A convenient and advantageous way of equipping the room or compartment with such cooling facilities is to construct the air circulating and cooling means as an assembled structure so that it may be furnished as a unit and merely mounted at any selected location on the room lor compartment wall, and it is desirablethat the assembled unit be simple, compact and neat and arrangedI to provide uniform distribution of the cooled air throughout the room or compartment space in which it is located.

Such equipment, however, requires some means, such as a drip pan, below the cooling coils to collect the moisture from the circulated air that condenses on the cold surfaces of the coils and if the drip pan is at an elevation above the oor of the room or compartment, as required for neat and compact unit assembly, and arranged in the usual manner, it interferes with circulation of the cooled air to the bottom of the compartment, whereas if it is located at or near the floor of the room or compartment a long housing is required to conduct the cooled air down to the point of discharge near the oor and compactness of unit assembly is sacriced. Moreover, the ordinary drip pan arrangement at or near the iloor, while it permits circulation of the cooled air down to the bottom of the room or compartment, it does not prevent the discharging air from short circuiting or returning vertically direct to the air intake opening without cooling the compartment space. Furthermore, the cooled air coming from the coils carries with it particles of the condensed moisture which if discharged with the air out into the room or compartment cause undesirable wetting of the :door or contents of the room or compartment and it is accordingly desirable to remove such moisture particles from the cooled air before it is discharged into the room or compartment.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide improved equipment for circulating and cooling the air of a refrigerator compartment or the like; to minimize the space required for such equipment; to permit incorporation of such equipment in a compact assembly which may 'be installed as a unit in the compartment or room to be refrigerated; toarrange the drip pan for the cooling coils in such a manner that the cooled air from the coils is circulated down to the bottom of the room or compartment; to insure distribution of the cooled air uniformly throughout the bottom of the room. or compartment from which it rises slowly and well diilused, cooling the contents of said room orlcompartment; to eliminate moisture particles from the cooled air before it is discharged into the room or compartment, and to accomplish such bottom circulation, uniform distribution and moisture elimination in a simple, convenient and effective manner-these and other objects being accomplished as pointed out hereinafter and as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front view of a circulating and cooling unit assembly constructed in accordance with my invention, portions being broken away to disclose details of the construction;

Fig. 2 is a vertical'sectional wew of the unit assembly taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view looking at one end and Fig. 4 is a view looking at the other end of,` the cooling coil arrangement of the structure of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a similar view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1;

. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view on the line 1 .1 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of the drip pan mounting;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 9 9 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective viewshowing somewhat diagrammatically a compartment or room equipped with an air circulating and cooling unit in accordance with this invention.

, housing II with cooling Referring to the drawings in which I have illustrated my invention in a preferred form for mounting, as shown in Fig. 10, on an upright wall of the compartment or room to be refrigerated, the structure comprises a vertically elongated coils I2 therein, the housing having an inlet at the upper end above the coils and an outlet at the bottom below the coils, and the inlet being equipped with a fan I3 by which air is supplied to the interior of the housing and circulated downwardly in contact with the coils I2 to the outlet at the bottom through which the cooled air is discharged.

The housing I I is relatively at so that it projects only a short distance from the wall on which it is mounted and has front and rear walls I5 and IB respectively, two side walls I1 and a top wall I8. A sheet of metal may bel bentV as shown in Fig. 5 to form the front wall I5 and the two side walls I1 and the latter walls having out-turned portions I9 along their rear edges with apertures to provide mounting iianges by which the assembly is secured to the wall of the room or compartment. The rear wall I6 is also of sheet metal and provided along the lateral edges with forwardly extending flanges 2| by which it is secured by spot welding or otherwise to the sidewalls I1vand this rear wall with its flanges 2|.projects downwardly below the front and side walls of the housing as shown in Fig. 2 and is set forwardly a short distance from the rear edges of they side wallsy I1 as shown in Figs. 2 and 5 so as to leave a space between the rear wall I6 and the wall of thel room or compartment on which the housing is mounted, which space, it has been determined, eliminates any tendency for sweating of the said room wall. The top wall I8 is in the form of a cap with surrounding downturned marginal anges 22 which embrace and are secured to the upper portions of the front, rear and side walls of the housing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The cooling coils I2 are of a type commonly employed in refrigerating system and comprise a front row of vertically spaced tubes 23 connected in series at their ends by return bends 23EL and a similar rear row of vertically spaced tubes 24 likewise connected in series at their ends by the return bends 24a. these tubes being supported in end plates 25 which have oblique upper ends 26 spot welded to the side walls I1 and offset lower ends 2lia terminating in flanges 21 by which these end plates 25 are secured to the side walls I1 of the housing for supporting the coil assembly therein. These end plates extend from the front wall I5 to the rear wall I6 of the housing so that the air circulating downwardly through the housing passes through the space between these end plates 25, and the portions of the coils 23 and 24 between said plates 25 are provided with fins 28 in accordance with the usual practice, which also extend from the front wall I5 to the rear wall I6 of the housing. and facilitate heat exchange between the circulating air and the cooling coils 23 and 24.r

An expansion valve 29, to which liquid refrigerant is supplied from a compressor in the usual manner, is located in the upper end of the housl ing, substantially as shown in Fig. 1,`and has a pipe `3l) leading therefrom to a branch connection 3|, which communicates with the lower ends of the two rows of coils 23 and 24 and connects these rows of tubes in parallel. A similar branch connection 32 at the upper ends of the two rows of tubes 23 and 24 provide a common outlet therefrom which is connected as at 33 to one end of a coil which consists of the dryer tubes 34 and heat exchange tubes 35 which are connected in series and mounted in the plates 25. A pipe 36 leads from the other end of this coil 34-35 to the exterior of the housing where it is provided with a coupling 31 for convenient connection with facilities, such as a compressor (not shown) which withdraws evaporated refrigerant from the combined coil structure 23, 24, 34 and 35 in the usual manner and converts same into the liquid form in which it is returned through the expansion valve 29 and pipe 30 to said combined coil structure.

For connecting the expansion valve 29 with the liquid refrigerant supply from the compressor, a pipe 38 is provided which extends from the exterior of the housing'Y to the intake of the expansion valve, the projecting end of said pipe 38 being provided with a coupling 33 for convenient connection with the source of liquid refrigerant supply, and the pipe 38 is formed with a loop 40 which extends between the'tuhes 35 and is secured in contact therewith as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 so that the liquid refrigerant supplied to the expansion valve is cooled by the final refrigerant gas before it is returned to the compressor.

An opening 4I preferably covered by a screen 42 is/provided in the front wall of the housing near the top through which air is drawn into the housing by the fan I3 for circulation downwardly therein through the space occupied by the coils 35, 34, 23 and 24, the fan being located at the inner side of the opening 4I and screen 42 and secured to the shaft of an electric motor 43 which is mounted on a strap 44 which bxidges the opening 4I and has the ends thereof secured to the housing front wall at opposite sides of the opening 4I as indicated at 45. An annular band 46 extends around the margin of the opening 4I at the inner side and surrounds the fan, said band being secured to the motor mounting bracket 44 as shown in Fig. 7 and also to clips 41 on the housing front wall (see Fig. 1) and above the opening 4I is a defiector 48 which is shaped somewhat as shown in Fig. 2 to direct the incoming air downwardly in the housing.

For convenience the upper portion of the housl ing front wall I5 is constructed with a removable panel portion 49 on which the fan is mounted, said wall being formed with'an opening 50 in which the panel lits and is secured by screws 5I which are threaded into plates 52 which underlie the corners of the opening 50. By removing the panel 49 access may be had to the motor and fan and also the expansion valve and other parts in the upper portion of the housing.

For collecting moisture which condenses on the coil structure, a drip pan 53 is provided below the housing and of an area suiliciently larger than the cross sectional area of the housing to collect any moisture from the housing as well as the coil, structure therein, and this drip pan has an outlet 54 with which connection may be made to convey away the collected moisture to any convenient point.

For mounting the drip pan, the latter has corner fittings 55 secured thereto by welding or otherwise at the rear corners, which said fittings extend up above the rim of the pan and are secured by bolts 56 to the side iianges 2l of the back wall I6 which extends down below the rim of the pan 53.

Since the rear wall I6 of the housing extends a considerable distance below the side and front walls of the housing an opening is provided between the pan 53 and housing at the front and sides for discharge of the air which is circulated by the fan downwardly through the housing and as the path of flow of such circulated air is' downwardly toward the pan 53, the latter would ordinarily deflect the circulated air laterally through the discharge opening and when arranged, as it is preferred, at an elevation above the room or compartment oor, it` would prevent circulation of the cooled air to the bottom 4oi.' the room or compartment and also causes short circuiting of air. f

To avoid this interference with positive circulation of the cooled air to the bottom of the room or compartment, a deiiector 58 is provided above4 the drip pan to deflect the downwardly circulated air suiciently toy pass the margins of the pan without interfering materially with the general downward direction of the air circulation and thus insure discharge of the cooled air down to the floor.

This deflector 58 is secured to the back wall I6 of the housing by flanges 59 and preferably extends down below the upper margin of the drip pan with the lower margin spaced inwardly a suiiicient distance from the rim of the pan to insure drainage into the latter, and said defiector slopes upwardly to a point substantially at lthe top of the discharge opening and at a suflicient angle to the direction of air circulation through the housing to merely cause a relatively slight deviation of the circulated air of sufficient extent to pass the margins of the drip pan, thereby permitting substantially unimpeded air circulation downwardly and insuring positive discharge of the cooled air down to the floor of the room or compartment.

In addition to circulation of the cooled air down to the iioor of the room or compartment, it is important for uniform cooling of the compartment that the cooled air should be distributed or spread uniformly throughout the bottom of the compartment, and to insure positive distribution or spread of the cooled air at both sides of the housing as wellas at the front thereof, the defiector 58 not only is formed with a sloping front wall 6l) but has side walls 6l which yare likewise sloped so that the downwardly circulated air is deflected laterally and downwardly at each side of the housing as well as forwardly and downwardly at the front, and the deilector thus serves as a spreader to distribute or spread the cooled air uniformly throughout the bottom of the room or compartment and thereby insure uniform circulation and cooling throughout the room or compartment. The drain pan outlet is 'located to the rear of the drain pan and thus below the deiiector 58. This prevents the moisture collected in this drain pan from being directly in the path of the discharged cold air, thus eliminating compartment. I have found that this may effectively accomplished by providing a-screen of suitable mesh at the opening through which the cooled air is discharged, a screen of 10 mesh being found satisfactory and in the present structure I have accordingly provided a screen l2 for the opening through which the air is discharged from the housing.- This screen is secured at its upper edge to the front and side wallsli and I1 respectively of the housing and to the depending portion of themrear wall I I and extends downwardly between the lower margin of the deilector 58 and the rim of the pan 53 so that all the discharged air is compelled to pass through this screen and moisture particles effectively removed therefrom.

In Fig. 10, I have shown at 83 an air circulating and cooling unit assembly as installed on the side wall 64 of a room or compartment, the opposite side wall of which is indicated at 85, the end wallsat 66 and 6l and the top and bottom walls at 68 and 69 respectively with portions of the walls 65, 61 and 68 broken away to disclose the interior of the room or compartment, and it will be noted that although the unit assembly 63 mounted at a substantial elevation above the floor 69 the cooled yair is circulated down to the floor 69 and distributed throughout the floor area from which it rises slowly, uniformly and well diffused, cooling the contents of the compartment on the -upstroke. Obviously more than one unit 53 may the danger of this moisture freezing and evenf tually closing the drain opening.

While moisture that Vcondenses on the cooled surfaces of the coils and housings of cooling equipment for the most part drains away into the air before it is discharged into the room or be employed in a room if desired, and moreover, certain features of this invention, as for example the deflector or spreader, the screen for moisture particle removal, the coil arrangement and others, may be employed in structures' other than that particularly shown and described herein. Therefore, it is to be understood that while I have shown and described my invention in a preferred form, I am aware that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from the principles of my invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a refrigerating device, the combination of a housing having an inlet and an outlet, an air impeller operable to circulate air through the housing from the inlet to the outlet, cooling coils in the housing in the path of air circulation therethrough', a drip pan under the said outlet and a deflector overlying said drip pan and having a surface between the drip pan and outlet which slopes downwardly from said outlet toward the front and also toward the sides of said drip pan whereby to deect the air flow from the outlet downwardly and outwardly past the pan at opposite sides thereof.

2. In a refrigerating device, the combination of a vertically elongated housing closed at the back and having an air inlet at the upper end and an air outlet at the lower end, and deflecting means extending from the back closure of the housing and sloping downward toward the front and also toward the sides of said housing.

3. -In a refrigerating device, the combination of a vertically elongated housing having an air inlet at the upper end and a drip pan at the lower end, an air impeller operable to circulate air downwardly through the housing from the inlet toward the drip pan, cooling coils in the housing in the path of air circulation therethrough and delecting means above the drip pan having a front face and opposite side faces angularly disposed with respect thereto, said v ingr faces' being in the path of and disposed at an obtuse angle to the direction of air ilow in the housing, said housing having at the lower end outlets `above the drip pan and in front of the aforesaid faces of ,the deilecting means.

4. A reirigerating unitot the class described comprising an upright elongated housing closed at the bottom and ,at the back and having an inlet at the'upper end, a. blower operable" to circulate air downwardly through the housing from the inlet toward the closed bottom of the housand heat exchange coils in the housing in the path of air circulation therein, said housing having at the lower end front and side outlets with deilecting means back of and extending upwardly from the bottom of the outlets substantially to the top thereof adjacent said closed back of the housing, said deecting means being in the path of and at an obtuse angle to the direction of air circulation in the housing and said delecting means having a condensate collector at the base thereof.

5. In a refrigerating device, a vertically elongated housing having an air inlet at its upper end and air outlets adjacent its lower end in the front and sides of the housing, an impeller for circulating air through the housing from the inlet to the outlets thereof, heat exchange coils in the housing in the path of the circulated air,

and a deector for directing the circulated air downwardly and outwardly through said outlets, said deflector having a front face sloping downwardly substantially from the back of said housing toward the lower end of said front outlet and also having opposite side faces angularly dis\ posed with respect to said front face and sloping downwardly and outwardly toward the lower ends of said side outlets.

6. In a refrigerating unit comprising a vertically elongated housing having an air inlet adjacent the upper end thereof and an air outlet adjacent the lower end thereof, an impeller for circulating air through the housing from the in- -let to the outlet thereof, and heat exchange coils in the housing in the path of the circulated air; means for mounting said unit vertically against an upright wall, and means for maintaining the back of said unit in predetermined spaced relation with respect to the. wall for affording an air space between the wall and the said back of the unit.

'7. In a refrigerating unit mountable vertivcally against an upstanding Wall, a vertically elongated housing having front and back walls and opposite side walls, said housing having an air inlet adjacent its upper end and an air outlet adjacent its lower end, an mpeller for circulating air through the housing from the inlet to the outlet thereof, and heat exchange coils in the housing in the path of the circulated air, the opposite side walls of said unit extending rearwardly beyond the said back wall for maintaining the said back wall in pre-determined spaced relation with respect to an upstanding wall when the unit is mounted against the same.

SVEN V. SWANSON.

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