US2621578A

US2621578A - Adjustable air distributor

Info

Publication number: US2621578A
Application number: US110089A
Authority: US
Inventors: Otto A Labus
Original assignee: Trane Co
Current assignee: Trane Co
Priority date: 1949-08-13
Filing date: 1949-08-13
Publication date: 1952-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 1969-12-16

Description

0. A. LABUS ADJUSTABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Dec. 16, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Aug. 13, 1949 S m m MW N m n m .m m r T 0 m V. .B 4

Dec. 16, 1952 A, L 2,621,578

' ADJUSTABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Filed Aug. 13, 1949 I 2. SHEETS-SHEET 2 IN VEN TOR. no A. LABUS Y B r- W ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE ADJUST-ABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Otto A. Labus, La Crosse, Wis., assignor to The Trans Company, La Crosse, Wis.

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a distributor for a stream of moving .air or gas, and it is particularly adapted for mounting on a unit heater or on a duct outlet from which conditioned air or gas is flowing.

An object of the invention is to provide a distributor which may be adjusted to vary the amount of deflection of an air or gas stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which may be adjusted to give different angles of deflection of the air or gas at different points around the axis of the air or gas stream and thus control the cross-sectional shape of the discharged stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which is particularly adapted for use in a fluid stream flowing from a propeller fan, because it changes the normal spiral movement of the stream into a substantially straight line flow and in this way increases the distance that the fan throws the fluid.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which has two series of air deflecting members substantially coextensive with each other in the air stream and arranged to simultaneously guide the air with respect to each of two planes which are at substantially right angles to each other and which extend generally longitudinally of the air stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide one unitary assembly for guiding the air with respect to one plane and another unitary assembly for guiding the air with respect to another plane and means for mounting each assembly alone or .in combination on an air outlet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and which satisfies all the requirements of good air distribution.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the drawings which form a part of this application, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the distributor of the present invention shown in position on a unit he er;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the vertical vane assembly; 4

Fig. 4 is a side view of the horizontal vane assembly attached to a unit heater;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is perspective view of a vertical vane assembly;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side view of the vertical vane assembly of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is side view of a modification of the invention in which the vertical vanes are attached directly to the horizontal vanes; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the modification of Fig. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, the distributor of the present invention is shown attached to a unit heater indicated generally by the numeral I0, in which is mounted a heat exchange unit not shown. A fan, not shown, propels air through the unit heater iii and the heat exchanger mounted therein. A front plate i2 having a quadrangular opening surrounded by a flange it is secured to the unit heater by four screws 16. A plurality of horizontal vanes is are positioned in the opening in the front plate !2 and secured by screws 26 to the flange it which surrounds or defines the opening in the front plate l2. The

horizontal vanes H3 have a downwardly extending flange 22 at each end, and the flanges each have a hole therein for receiving the screws 20. The screws 20 hold the flanges 22 in frictional engagement with the flange i4 so that the vanes can be pivotally adjusted about the screws 20 as pivots, but the friction is suificient to prevent unintended movement of the vanes. The vanes 18 are substantially flat, but they are shown as having a very slight curvature primarily for the sake of appearance.

Vanes similar to the vanes iii are old in the prior art for directing the flow of a stream in one plane. .Such vanes alone do not completely control the movement of the air, because the direction of flow parallel to the vanes is not controlled and spiral flow of the air discharged from a propeller fan is not effectively straightened. In order to provide a distributor which will have the highly desirable functions described above, I provide a combination of coextensive horizontal and vertical vanes which simultaneously operate upon the air stream at the same point in its path of movement.

A plurality of vertical vanes 24 are positioned in the opening defined by the flange M of the front plate l2. These vertical vanes 24 extend across the spaces between the horizontal vanes l3. The vanes 24 are held in a unitary assembly as shown in Fig. 3. A quadrangular frame 26 which supports the vanes 24 is constructed and arranged to fit into the opening in the front plate l2 defined by the flange l4. Each side of frame 26 has flanges 28 and 3!]. Vane supporting bars 32 are secured to the

flanges

28 and 30 by rivets 3| as shown in Fig. 3. The vane supporting bars 32 are frictionally held by the rivets 3| to the

flanges

28 and 30 to permit pivotal adjustment of the supporting bars 28 but to prevent unintended movement thereof. A plurality of vanes 24 are pivotally attached to the vane supporting bars 32 by rivets 34 as shown in Fig. 6. The rivets 34 hold the vanes 24 in frictional engagement with the supporting bars 32 to permit adjustment and prevent unintended movement of the vanes 24. The frame 26 has a bottom flange 36 which has two pins 38. The bottom portion of the flange I4 has two holes 40, shown in Fig. 4, each receiving one of the pins 38 to hold the bottom portion of the assembly of Fig. 3 in position on the front plate I2. The upper portion of the vane assembly of Fig. 3 is fastened to the front plate l2 by removing the screw 20 which holds the uppermost horizontal vane IS in position. The flange 28 is then held with its hole in register with the hole in the vane I8 and the screw 20 is again threaded into the flange I4 to hold the upper portion of the vane assembly of Fig. 3 securely in position on the front plate l2. In the above described manner a vertical vane as-, sembly may be very easily fastened to an existing unit having only the horizontal vanes 18.

Figs. 8 and 9 show a modification of my invention, in which the vertical vanes 42 are riveted to the horizontal vanes 44. The horizontal vanes 44 of this modification are similar to the horizontal vanes of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. l-7 except that they have a plurality of holes for receiving rivets 46 which also extend through holes in the vertical vanes 42 to irictionally hold the vertical vanes against unintended movement, but at the same time permitting pivotal adjustment. The horizontal vanes 44 have apertured flanges 48 which receive screws 20 to secure the vanes in frictional engagement with the flange M of the front plate I2. The vertical vanes 42 have upper edges 50 which conform to the contour of the horizontal vane 44 and lie closely adjacent to the under surface of the horizontal vane. The lower edge has a substantially horizontal portion, but the lower inner corner is cut away at an angle to prevent interierence with the next adjacent vane 44 when the vanes are in downwardly adjusted position.

As described above, the distributor of my invention has individually pivotally adjustable horizontal and vertical vanes arranged coextensively in the air stream to simultaneously deflect the air in planes at substantially right angles to each other. Such an arrangement is a decided improvement over two series of vanes which act separately at different points in the air stream, because the coextensive vanes cooperate with each other to provide a multiplicity of conduits which accurately direct each portion of the stream in the desired direction. The co-extensive vanes of the present invention also offer less resistance to air flow and occupy less space than the distributors of the prior art which have two series of vanes spaced at different points in the general direction of flow.

The terms horizontaland vertical have been used to refer to the vanes l8 and 24 respectively. It should be understood, however, that these terms have been used merely to indicate the inclination of the vanes with respect to each other and that the distributor may be mounted at various inclinations in which the vanes I8 and 24 are not horizontal and vertical respectively.

Although I have described specifically the preferred embodiments of my invention, I contemplate that many changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of my invention, and I desire to be limited only by the claims.

I claim:

1. A distributor for directing the flow of an air stream flowing from an outlet comprising a frame, a plurality of first air turning vanes pivotally supported by said frame about substantially parallel axes lying substantially in a single plane and a plurality of second airturning vanes, means pivotally supporting said second air turning vanes with respect to said frame about axes substantially parallel to the axes about which said first vanes pivot, and means supporting said second air turning vanes for p l adjustment about axes substantially perpendicular to their first pivotal axes.

2. A distributor for directing the flow of an air stream comprising a first frame, a plurality of first substantially planar air turning vanes, means spacedly mounting said first air turning vanes for pivotal adjustment on said first frame about spaced parallel axes, a second frame secured to said first frame, a plurality of support members. means pivotally adjustably mounting said support members on said second frame about axes which are substantially parallel to the pivotal axes of said first air turning vanes, a plurality of second substantially planar air turning vanes, means pivotally adjustably mounting said second air turning vanes on said support members about axes which are substantially perpendicular to the pivotal axes of'said support members, the planes of said second air turning vanes intersecting the planes of said first air turning vanes and the first and second air turning vanes being constructed and arranged to be substantially coextensive along the intersection of their planes.

OTTO A. LABUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,299,659 Barrs Apr. 8, 1919 1,554,914 Guthier Sept. 22, 1925 1,850,822 Young Mar. 22, 1932 2,034,231 Fox Mar. 17, 1936 2,135,810 Germonprez Nov. 8, 1938 2,285,984 Kietzmann June 9, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7 100,536 Sweden Dec. 23,1940