US2773676A

US2773676A - Self-contained heating, cooling, and ventilating system

Info

Publication number: US2773676A
Application number: US484172A
Authority: US
Inventors: John R Boyle; Jr John R Boyle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1955-01-26
Filing date: 1955-01-26
Publication date: 1956-12-11
Anticipated expiration: 1973-12-11

Description

Dec. 11, 1956 .1.

SQLF-CONTAINED HEATING, COOLING AND VENTILATING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 26,1955

R BOYLE ETAL 2,773,676

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R5. Jb/zzz]? Boyle, BY Jo/zn/ii B0346, Jrz,

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. R. BOYLE ETAL SELF-CONTAINED HEATING, COOLING AND VENTILATING SYSTEM INVENTOR5 John/J2 50y BY Jolzizflfiqy finwn fw f Dec.11, 1956 Filed Jan. 26, 1955 as, J;

@Mwwt W? United States SELF-CONTAINED HEATING, COOLING, AND VENTILATING SYSTEM The present invention relates to an improved self-contained heating, cooling and ventilating system. Our improved system has been particularly devised for house trailers, but it may also be used in other dwellings, such as small type ranch homes and other homes where space is at a premium.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved self-contained heating, cooling and ventilating unit of very small compact dimensions, which embodies: (1) air heating apparatus, preferably of the oil burner type; (2) air cooling apparatus embodying a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator; and (3) air circulating apparatus embodying a motor driven blower.

Another object of the invention is -to arrange certain of the component parts of the system in a vertically superposed relation so as to obtain a finished unit of tall, nar-row form which will occupy a minimum amount of floor space in the house trailer or in the small home.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detail description of one preferred embodiment thereof. In the accompanying drawings illustrating such embodiment:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the improved unit, corresponding to a section taken on the plane of the line 1-1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a sectional view at right angles to Figure 1, taken on the plane of the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical, sectional view taken on the more rearwardly disposed plane 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately on the plane of the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately on the plane of the line 5-5 of Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately on the plane of the line 6-6 of Figure 2.

The air heating apparatus, the air cooling apparatus and the air circulating apparatus are all assembled within a tall, narrow sheet metal housing 10 of rectangular form comprising a front wall 11, right and

left side walls

12 and 13, and a back Wall 14. This sheet metal housing 10 has a height extending from the floor 16 to the ceiling 17 of the house trailer or small home. As illustrative of the compact floor space occupied by the unit, we have devised one embodiment having a dimension of 20 inches from side wall to

side wall

12 and 13, and having a front to rear dimension of 22 inches from rear wall 14 to front wall 11. The back wall 14 of the unit is usually abutted against the side wall 23 of the house trailer, either midway or near the ends of the trailer, although it might be abutted against an end wall of the trailer, whichever is most convenient. Thecompartment space of the trailer to be heated or cooled is fragmentarily indicated at 24.

The front wall 11 has an opening 26 which is normally closed by a hinged door 27, this opening and door extending vertically from the heater unit, disposed approximately at waist height, up to the blower compartment near the ceiling. This front opening 26 affords convenient access for lighting the heater and filling the oil tank. The top of the front wall 11 has an air discharge outlet 28 through which the heated or cooled air is blown by the motor .driven blower into a ceiling duct 29 "which conveys the air along the ceiling level of the house trailer to outlet registers opening downwardly at spaced points into the compartment space 24, or into the dilferent rooms of the trailer. The bottom of the front wall 11 has a return air grille 31 through which return air is drawn along the floor level of the trailer for reheating or recooling. This return air grille 31 opens into a return air duct 32 defined at the rear by a rear sheet metal wall 33 and defined at the ends or sides by the sheet

metal side walls

12, 13 of the housing 10 (Figure 6), from which it will be seen that the return air duct 32 extends the entire width of the unit housing. If the trailer is of the type equipped with an under floor return air duct, such as indicated at 35, this under floor duct is connected with the return air duct 32 of the unit by an opening 36. v

The rear wall 33 of the return air duct has mounted therein a fresh air damper 38 operable to close a fresh air opening 39 in the rear wall 33; or positionable to close the upper end of the return air-duct 32; or to take any intermediate position for proportioning the amount of return air and the amount of fresh air to be circulated up past the heating apparatus or the cooling apparatus. This damper 38 is mounted on a transverse rod 41 carrying an operating handle 42 at the side of the unit through which the damper may be positioned. As will be later described, the compartment 44 defined to the rear of the wall 33 is a fresh :air compartment in which is housed the electric motor and refrigerant compressor, and which compartment also supplies fresh air to the evaporative condenser of the cooling apparatus, receiving said fresh air from a downwardly opening duct '96. The upper portion of the wall 33 above the fresh air intake opening 39 is sloped rearwardly at 33' and thence joins with an upwardly extending partition wall 46 which extends from side wall 12 to side wall 13 of the housing 10. This partition wall 46 defines a vertical front air passageway 47 and a vertical rear air passageway 48; the front air passageway 47 passing all of the air which is acted upon by "either the air heating apparatus or the air cooling apparatus, and the rear air passageway 48 handling all of the air which acts upon the evaporative condenser of the cooling apparatus. The partition wall 46 has its bottom edge starting at the top of the fresh air compartment 44.

Referring now to the heating apparatus, this is preferably in the form of an oil heater, designated 54, being typically represented by 'a so-called International oil heater of approximately 27,000 B. t. u. The combustion chamber or fire pot of the oil heater is provided with a front access door 55 held closed by a latch 56, which can be readily opened when thelfront door 27 in the front wall 11 of the unit is opened, and through which access is thereby afforded for lighting the heater. The combustion air for supporting combustion in the combustion cham ber of the heater is supplied through a duct 58 which opens from the fresh air compartment 44 and communicates upwardly into the combustion chamber of the heater 54. The products of combustion are taken from the top of the combustion chamber through a stack 61 which joins at its upper end to a rearwardly directed stack section 61', whichin turn joins'to an upper rear stacksection 61" located adjacent to the rear wall 14 of the unit, this latter stack section discharging to atmosphere out through the roof 17 of the trailer. As shown in Figure2, the heater 54 is disposed closer to the left hand side wall 13 of the unit, and an oil supply tank 63 is mounted to one side of the heater 54, adjacent to the other side wall 12 of the unit. This oil tank 63 can be filled through the front access. opening 26 in the fronthousing wall 11. For heat insulating'th'e adjacent portions of the housing walls from the heat of the oil heater 54, a lining of heat insulating material 64 "i's"secure'd to the inner side of the door 27 opposite the oil heater. Also, a sheet metal baflle 65 is interposed between the heater 54 and the adjacent side wall 13 of the housing to prevent excessive heating of this side wall, and similar

sheet metal bafiles

66 and 67 are interposed between the other side of the heater 54 and the adjacent oil tank 64 to prevent excessive heating of the oil tank. The back wall of the heater 54 is heat insulated from the evaporative condenser air channel 48 by a sheet metal baffle 68 and by a body of asbestos insulation or like insulating material 69 intervening between the partition wall 46 and the baffle 68.

If the trailer or home is situated in a locality where gas is cheaper than oil, then the heater 54 can be connected up for burning gas; or if it is situated where electrical heating energy is relatively cheap the heater 54 might be of the electrically heated type; or it might be arranged for burning coal or wood.

The air after moving upwardly past the heater 54 is deflected from the upper end of the passageway 47 through a right angle bend to pass through an evaporator 71 in a direction from front to rear, and thence upwardly into a blower compartment 72. This right angle bend in the air flow is defined between the front wall 11 of the housing and the upper rearwardly positioned extension 4-6" of the partition wall 46. As previously described, the condenser air channel 48 is defined at the front by a sheet metal partition wall 46 extending from side wall to side wall of the main housing, and starting upwardly from the fresh air compartment 44. This partition wall 46 slopes rearwardly at 46' and thence continues upwardly at 46" to form a condenser dis-charge duct 48 which discharges out through the roof 17 of the trailer. The rearwardly directed portion 61' of the combustion chamber stack enters the wall 46" so that the upper end portion 61" of the stack passes up out of the roof of the trailer through the condenser discharge duct 48'.

Referring again to the right angle bend in the air flow defined between the upper portion of the passageway 47 and the blower compartment 72, this right angle bend is defined between a drip pan wall 81 extending forwardly from the partition wall 46", and a superposed upper wall 82 extending rearwardly from the front door 27. These two

walls

81 and 82 extend between the

side walls

12, 13 and have their ends overlapping, and mounted between such overlapping ends is the evaporator 71. This evaporator is preferably of the finned coil type andextends substantially from side wall to side wall of the housing 10.

At the entrance end of the right angle bend leading to the evaporator 71 is an air filter 83 comprising a filtering cell 84 composed of Brillo-Bronze" filtering material, or any other suitable filtering screen or filtering fabric which is supported on a frame 84. This filtering unit 83 is removably supported against a ledge 81' on the drip pan wall 81 and against a depending flange 82' extending downwardly from the front edge of the upper wall 82, whereby the filtering unit 83 can be readily removed through the opening 26, for cleaning or replacing. When the evaporator 71 is operating, the bottom wall 81 functions as a drip pan for collecting all moisture which is dropped out of the air stream as it passes through the evaporator. The rear end of bottom wall 81 slopes downwardly to discharge this collected moisture into the condenser discharge duct 48'.

Mounted in the blower compartment 72 is a centrifugal blower 85 adapted to be driven through a belt drive or direct connected electric motor 86. The inlet of the blower 85 draws air from the blower compartment 72, and the discharge from the blower takes place through outlet opening 28 opening into the ceiling duct 29.

It will be seen from the foregoing that all conditioned air, or all ventilating air, which is to be circulated into the compartment 24 of the trailer, passes through the filter unit 83 and through the evaporator 71. When the heater 54 is operating for heating the air, at which time the blower is operating for circulating the heated air, or when the blower is operating merely for circulating venti- 4 I lating air at atmospheric temperature through the trailer, no refrigerant is being evaporated in the evaporator 71. When the evaporator 71 is operating for cooling the air, the heater 54 is, of course, not operating, but the blower is generally operating for circulating the cooled air.

Referring now to the air cooling apparatus, this comprises a motor driven compressor unit disposed in the fresh air chamber 44 in the base portion of the unit, such motor driven compressor comprising any conventional compressor 91 driven by an electric motor 92. A supporting base frame 93 has mounting through rubber cushion blocks or springs 94 on the bottom wall 95 of the fresh air chamber 44. An air intake 96 for fresh air or condenser air opensthrough the floor 16 of the trailer into the compartment 44, this air intake 96 extending substantially the width of the unit. Where additional compressor ,capacity is desired, two compressor units 90 may be mounted side-by-side in the chamber 44, as indicated by the dotted line illustration of a second compressor unit in Figures 2 and 6.

From chamber 44 the condenser air flows upwardly through condenser channel or passageway 48 to an evaporative condenser 100 disposed in this channel. In its preferred embodiment, this evaporative condenser comprises a vertically mounted electric motor 101 having a downwardly extending shaft 102 carrying an air impelling fan 103 near its upper end, and carrying a water projecting spinner 104 at its lower end. This water projecting spinner 104 rotates within a pair of concentric helical condenser coils 105 and 106, which are wound on the inside and outside respectively of a circularly arranged group of sheet metal fins 107 which lie in radial planes in the group, i. e. each fin is disposed substantially radially with respect to the concentric centers of the two helical condenser coils 105 and 106, the fins serving as spacing members for maintaining the concentric spacing of the inner and outer coils. The water projecting spinner 104 has a vertically tapered pair of diametrically opposite wings 108 which are adapted to lift water from a water tank 111 and spray it against the

coils

105, 106 and the spacing fins 107. The lower portions of the tapered wings are immersed in water in the water tank 111, and these lower portions have cupped or crimped edges which are curled over on those sides of the vanes which are the back sides with respect to the direction of rotation of the spinner. Because of the outwardly tapered divergence of these curled edges on the two spinners, these lower portions of the vanes act to lift the water centrifugally from the tank 111. The upper portions of the wings 108 have toothed or corrugated edges which project the lifted Water outwardly against the condenser coils 105, 106 and spacing fins 107, with the water broken up into small water droplets or fine spray.

Mounted on the motor shaft 102 above the condenser coils and below the air impelling fan 103 is a combined hydraulic balancer and water eliminator 114, This device is of hollow conical form having an inwardly cupped lower edge which collects a hydraulically balancing ring of water therein. The lower end of the shaft 102 has bearing support in the bottom of the water tank 111, and a flexible coupling 116 joins the upper end of the shaft to the motor 101.

Surrounding the evaporative condenser is a casing 121 which has its lower end extending into the water tank 111 and terminating at a level just above the normal water level in said tank. The upper portion of the casing 121 passes through a horizontal cross wall122 which closes off the evaporative condenser air channel 48, thereby compelling all air passing upwardly through the channel 48 to pass through the evaporative condenser casing 121 before being discharged through the condenser discharge duct 48. The above described construction of the evaporative condenser 100.constitutes the subject matter of a separate copending application filed by ourselves and identified as Serial No. 484,952, filed January 31, 1955.

When the air cooling apparatus is to be set into operation, the electric motor 92 driving the compressor 91 is energized, the electric motor 101 of the evaporative condenser is likewise energized, as is also the motor 86 driving the blower 85. The compressed refrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator 71 for cooling the flow of air induced by blower 85, following which the gaseous refrigerant is passed through the compressor and thence through the evaporative condenser 100 for giving up heat to the air stream passing therethrough. The condenser 100 has such a large area of air cooled condensing surface that it can be operated dry with a relatively high degree of efficiency if the trailer is in a locality where water is scarce. Otherwise, a float control valve in the water tank 111 maintains a predetermined level of water in this tank from a suitable source of water supply.

The fresh air damper 38 can be placed in any adjusted position for proportioning the amount of return air to fresh air either when the heater 54 is operating for heating the air, or when the evaporator 71 is operating for cooling the air, or when neither apparatus is operating and the motor driven blower 85 is merely circulating air through the trailer substantially at atmospheric temperature. In either of these three phases of operation, the air is continuously filtered by passing through the filter 83.

The three

electric motors

86, 92 and 101 are preferably 110 volt motors for operation from the lighting and power circuits of trailer camp sites, but with adequate storage battery capacity they could be relatively low voltage battery operated motors.

While we have illustrated and described what we regard to be the preferred embodiment of our invention, nevertheless it will be understood that such is merely exemplary and that numerous modifications and rearrangements may be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a self-contained unit for heating or cooling the air of an enclosure, the combination of a relatively tall narrow housing, a return air compartment in the lower portion of said housing receiving return air from said enclosure, a front air passageway extending upwardly in the front of said housing from said return air compartment, an oil heater in said front air passageway having a combustion chamber, an access opening in the front wall of said housing for affording access to said oil heater, a refrigerant evaporator in said front air passageway at a point above said oil heater, air impelling means receiving air from said front air passageway at a point above said refrigerant evaporator and discharging it from said unit into the enclosure, a rear air passageway in said housing in rear of said front air passageway, a fresh air duct supplying fresh air to said rear air passageway, a motor driven refrigerant compressor in said rear air passageway, a condenser in said rear air passageway receiving the refrigerant from said compressor for condensing it prior to its passage to said evaporator, an exhaust duct exhausting said rear air passageway to atmosphere, a combustion air supply duct drawing air from said rear air passageway at a point below said condenser for supplying combustion air to the combustion chamber of said oil heater, and a products of combustion duct leading from said combustion chamber to said rear air passageway at a point above said condenser, whereby the combustion air supply and the products of combustion are drawn from and returned to said rear air passageway in a shunt path around said condenser.

2. In a self-contained unit for heating or cooling the air of an enclosure, the combination of a relatively tall narrow housing, a return air compartment in the lower portion of said housing receiving return air from said enclosure, a front air passageway extending upwardly in the front of said housing from said return air compartment, an oil heater in said front air passageway having a combustion chamber, an access opening in the front wall of said housing for afiording access to said oil heater, a refrigerant evaporator in said front air passageway at a point above said oil heater, a blower compartment in the upper portion of said housing receiving air from the upper portion of said front air passageway after it has passed in contact with said oil heater and said refrigerant evaporator, a motor driven blower in said blower compartment for discharging such air from said unit into the enclosure, a rear air passageway in said housing in rear of said front air passageway, a fresh air compartment supplying fresh air to said rear air passageway, a motor driven refrigerant compressor in said rear air passageway, an evaporative condenser in said rear air passageway receiving the refrigerant from said compressor for condensing its prior to its passage to said evaporator, an exhaust duct exhausting said rear air passageway to atmosphere, a combustion air supply duct drawing air from said rear air passageway at a point below said evaporative condenser for supplying combustion air to the combustion chamber of said oil heater, and a products of combustion duct leading from said combustion chamber to said exhaust duct at a point above said evaporative condenser, whereby the combustion air supply and the products of combustion are drawn from said rear air passageway and returned to said exhaust duct in a shunt path around said evaporative condenser.

3. In a self-contained unit for heating or cooling the air of an enclosure, the combination of a relatively tall narrow housing, a return air compartment in the lower portion of said housing receiving return air from said enclosure, a front air passageway extending upwardly in the front of said housing from said return air compartment, an oil heater in said front air passageway having a combustion chamber, an access opening in the front wall of said housing for affording access to said oil heater, a refrigerant evaporator in said front air passageway at a point above said oil heater, a blower compartment in the upper portion of said housing receiving air from the upper portion of said front air passageway after it has passed in contact with said oil heater and said refrigerant evaporator, a motor driven blower in said blower compartment for discharging such air from said unit into the enclosure, a rear air passageway in said housing in rear of said front air passageway, a fresh air compartment supplying fresh air to said rear air passageway, a motor driven refrigerant compressor in said rear air passageway, an evaporative condenser in said rear air passageway receiving the refrigerant from said compressor for condensing it prior to its passage to said evaporator, an exhaust duct exhausting said rear air passageway to atmosphere, damper means between said front and rear air passageways for permitting a controlled inflow of fresh air into said front air passageway, a combustion air supply duct drawing air from said fresh air compartment at a point below said evaporative condenser for supplying combustion air to the combustion chamber of said oil heater, and a products of combustion duct leading from the upper portion of said combustion chamber to said exhaust duct at a point above said evaporative condenser, whereby the combustion air supply is drawn from said fresh air compartment and the products of combustion are returned to said exhaust duct in a shunt path around said evaporative condenser.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,001,309 Kelly May 14, 1935 2,150,076 Neubauer et al. Mar. 7, 1939 2,304,359 Hornmel Dec. 8, 1942 2,319,062 Holmes May 11, 1943 2,362,729 Smith Nov. 14, 1944 2,399,950 Steins May 7, 1946 2,509,031 Bockmeyer May 23, 1950 2,694,553 Hicks et al. Nov. 16, 19.53