US2654305A

US2654305A - Air distribution system

Info

Publication number: US2654305A
Application number: US726906A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert C Robertson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1947-02-06
Filing date: 1947-02-06
Publication date: 1953-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 1970-10-06

Description

Oct. 6, 1 953 R. c. ROBERTSON 0 AIR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM I Filed Feb. 6, 194'? 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ROBERT C. ROBERTSON ATTORNEY 6, 1953 R. c. ROBERTSON 2,654,305

AIR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Filed Feb; 6, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3;

uuununhnm BY 41 m/13 r 6 W ATTORNEY Patented Get. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM Robert C. Robertson, Scarsdale, N. Y. Application February 6, 1947', Serial No. 726,906

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to air-conditioning, and more in particular to the distribution of air into a room (the term room here means any enclosure) with a simultaneous mixing of the incoming air with the body of air in the enclosure.

An object of this invention is to provide a system whereby a stream of conditioned air may be distributed in a controlled and dependable manner. A further object is to provide for the mixing of a stream of air with a body or air in a thorough and efiicient manner without the objectionable features present in prior systems. These and other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out below.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and in the several steps and relation and order of each of the same to one or more of the others, all as will be illustratively described herein, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation with parts broken away of a distributor constituting one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan View of the embodiment of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical section of the embodiment of Figure 1 with a schematic showing of the manner in which an incoming stream of air may be distributed into and mixed with the air in a room; and

Figures 4 and 5 are fragmentary side elevations of two similar embodiments of the invention.

In the past attempts have been made to distribute air into a room without causing objectionable drafts and without Stratification of the air in the room. Certain of these attempts have been somewhat successful but from a commercial standpoint they have certain inherent faults. For example, certain of these distributing systems are quite noisy and this is objectionable in many installations. In fact, this fault has been a very serious handicap to promoting the adoption of air conditioning equipment. This noise is generally caused by turbulence in the air accompanying changes in the direction of movement of fast moving streams of air and also by turbulence accompanying the mixing of a stream of incoming air with air from the room.

Proposals have been made to eliminate this noise by reducing the rate of flow of the incoming air, but this reduces the capacity and the efficiency of the system. For example, assuming that a system is designed for a particular installation with a specific rate of entry of the conditioned air, then if the rate of flow of air is reduced after installation for the purpose of avoiding objectionable noise the operating conditions are changed throughout the entire system. Thus, the reduction in the rate of flow causes the reduced amount of air which is circulated to be cooled excessively and the incoming air is not mixed thoroughly with the air in the room. Furthermore, the excessive cooling may cause difficulties with the refrigeration system and may cause an excessive condensation of moisture from the air. In any event, when excessively cooled air is introduced into a room without thorough mixing there are cold drafts and strata of excessively cold air in the room.

With certain of the prior systems, air distributors have been provided where air is drawn from the room into a mixing zone within the distributor where the incoming air is mixed with the air from the room. Generally, these arrangements cause excessive turbulence and vibration noises when the system is used with any degree of efficiency; furthermore, normally the air in the room is somewhat contaminated by smoke and other dirt, and, therefore, streams of air entering the distributors from the room deposit dirt upon the distributor or wall surfaces. When the air distributors are within the public view it is desirable to maintain a clean, neat appearance, but in these prior systems the dirt soon collects on the wall surfaces to such an extent that this neat appearance is not maintained. Furthermore, this dirt tends to collect into large pieces or agglomerates which become dislodged and are then thrown into the room with the incoming air.

In accordance with the present invention air is distributed into a room and is mixed with the air therein without objectionable noise. Furthermore, the mixing of the incoming air with the air in the room is carried on in a thoroughly dependable manner without depositing dirt upon the decorated surfaces; and, the rate of flow of air into the room may be quite substantial and the most exacting requirements of commercial practice may be satisfied with distributors of more or less standardized construction and design.

In the illustrative embodiments of the invention, the incoming stream of air is carried through air distributing ducts to one or more distributor outlets and the arrangement is such that the air changes direction only when flowing at a slow rate or when in a plenum chamber.

Referring particularly to Figure 1 of the drawings, a stream of incoming air passes downwardly through a vertical conduit 2 and into a plenum chamber 4 formed between an upper distributor member 6 welded to conduit 2 and a lower plaque member 8. Plaque member 8 is dish-like in configuration and member is generally frusto-conical, and the two members have lips l0 and i2, respectively, which cooperate to form an annular jet [3 which surrounds plenum chamber ti. Plaque member 8 is held in place by a screw 14 which extends through a sleeve l6 integral with the plaque member, and which is threadably received in a fixed sleeve 18 formed in a bracket 20 (see Figure 2). Bracket 29 is formed by two strips of sheet metal which are welded together and are positioned diametrically with respect to conduit 2 with their ends welded to the conduit. As pointed out above screw [4 is threaded into sleeve l8 and it supports plaque member 8 so that the plaque member may be raised and lowered by turning the screw with a screw driver, and this moves lip It to and from lip l2. Thus in practice the plaque member is adjustably positioned to give the desired cross-section to jet 13.

During use a stream of air flows at a rapid rate downwardly through conduit 2 but the how is steady and is along a straight path so that no appreciable noise is created. At the bottom of the conduit the air enters plenum chamber 4 and is directed horizontally in an annular stream from jet IS. A static-pressure head is maintained in plenum chamber 4 and the size and shape of the plenum chamber is such that the air does not move rapidly within the plenum chamber and there is no appreciable turbulence.

In Figure 3 the shapes of lips Ill and 12 which define jet l3 are shown and the air movements from and around the jet are indicated somewhat schematically. The air paths indicated by the arrows are illustrative of the air movements in a radial plane, it being understood that the jet is annular so that in fact air is directed evenly from the entire periphery of the distributor. The air movement outwardly from jet i3 is indicated by the straight arrows 22 and adjacent the jet the movement is quite rapid. This outwardly moving stream of air tends to carry with it the air in the zones directly above and below it, with air joining the outwardly moving stream along two curved planes indicated by the

broken lines

26 and 28, so that between these planes there is an outwardly moving stream of air of ever-increasing cross-section. Beneath the plane of line air is picked up as indicated by the curved lines 23, and above the plane of line 28 air is picked up as indicated by the curved lines 24. The increase in the cross-section of the stream of air is accompanied by a reduction in the speed of flow, and, at the same time, the air joining the outfiowing stream is thoroughly mixed with the air from the jet. In this way, as the speed is reduced the temperature and humidity condition of the stream approaches that of the surrounding air. In addition to the air movements indicated there is a general circulation of air in the room, with the flow outwardly from the jet being of decreasing intensity, and with the general movement toward the curved planes represented by lines 25 and 28 being such that the air above and below the level of the distributor is circulated steadily but without there being drafts or cold strata of incoming air.

In spite of the air circulation which is obtained by this distributor it has been found that there is no substantial flow of air along the bottom surface of plaque member 8 or along the upper surface of member 6. The main portion of the air which is mixed with the incoming air flows to a zone spaced from the distributor and it does not come into contact with the distributor. Thus, the top and bottom surfaces of members 6 and 8 do not become soiled by the accumulation of dirt and at the same time a thorough mixing action is obtained without excessive turbulence and without the objectionable noise referred to above. Under some circumstances, there may be some flow of air back to lips Iii and I2, and therefore, some accumulation of dirt on the opposing surfaces of these lips. However, this dirt may be removed readily, and even if not removed, it does not interfere with the general neat appearance of the distributor.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 the stream of air is directed horizontally, but under some circumstances it is desirable to direct the stream of air downwardly or upwardly and this is possible by merely using a lower plague of a different diameter from that of the upper distributor member. For example, in Figure 4 plaque 38 is of slightly less diameter than member 6 so that the stream of air is directed downwardly at an angle of about 22 /2. the same as explained in connection with Figure 3, except that the stream is directed downwardly as indicated. In Figure 5 a plaque 32 is provided which is of even lesser diameter than plaque 35] so that the stream is directed downwardly at an angle of about 45. When it is desirable to direct the stream of air upwardly the lower plaque is appropriately larger. Thus, in practice a single upper distributor member 6 may be used selectively with any one of a large number of lower plaques so as to obtain the desired direction of flow, or a number of upper distributors of diiferent sizes may be used selectively with a single sized plaque 8 to obtain the same results.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the mechanical features of the above invention and as the art herein described might be varied in various parts, all without departing from the scope of the invention, it is to be understood that all matter hereinabove set forth, or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In an air distributor, the combination of, a conduit means forming an air passageway, a first distributor member connected to said conduit means and flaring radially outwardly therefrom, a second distributor member of generally inverted conical shape positioned in axial alignment with said first distributor member and forming with said conduit means and said first distributor member a plenum chamber into which the air flows and within which the velocity of the air is substantially reduced, supporting means connecting said second distributor member to said conduit means, said first and second distributor means presenting opposed converging walls which have substantially greater radii than said conduit means tending to direct the air radially outwardly with respect to said axis, said first and second distributor members having opposed discharge lips at their outer edges which are curved away from each other and form an air distributor jet through which the air is directed at a rapid rate in a generally radial direction with respect to said axis.

Here the mixing action is 2. In an air distributor as described in claim 1, wherein said first and second distributor members are outwardly converging members and said lips are annular, and wherein said supporting means include an axially positioned adjusting screw which may be turned to raise and lower said second distributor member.

3. In an air distributor as described in claim 1, wherein said second distributor member has a Number slightly smaller radius than said first distributor 10 member, whereby said lips direct the air radially and axially with respect to said axis.

ROBERT C. ROBERTSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ame Date Number N Esty Apr. 21, 1908 Number