WO1996026395A1

WO1996026395A1 - Localized, economical and healthy air conditioner

Info

Publication number: WO1996026395A1
Application number: PCT/AU1996/000102
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kullapat Kuramarohit
Original assignee: Christiansen, John
Priority date: 1995-02-24
Filing date: 1996-02-26
Publication date: 1996-08-29
Also published as: AUPN142295A0

Abstract

A room air control apparatus in which energy is conserved by: 1) reduction in the volume of air to be conditioned by creating smaller localized spaces using partitions (10); 2) in the cooling mode, using the wind chill effect so that the thermostat need only be set at 30 °C; 3) in the heating mode, collecting most of the heated air by reversing the flow of air and by collecting the heat in a height adjustable hood (7); 4) allowing fresh air into the system, particularly when the outside temperature is between 22 °C and 30 °C.

Description

LOCALIZED. ECONOMICAL AND HEALTHY AIR CONDITIONER

Held Qf The Invention

This invention relates to conditioning room air and in particular to an apparatus which is capable of creating a localized comfort zone at a desired spot such as where an occupant normally sits or sleeps (not the whole room). For the sake of simplicity, the invention will be referred to as room air control apparatus.

The academic field of this invention is the Mechanical Engineering in the branch of Air Conditioning and Ventilation.

Aims

The first aim of this invention is to air condition certain volume of air in a most frequently used area where the air volume is less than that of the whole room.

The second aim is to use the outside air at the highest point possible that it is feasible engineeringly, financially and politically (i.e. not to break the rules and regulations of the council or laws of that country). This will improve the health of the occupant/s who use/s that air space in the way they do not breathe in again the air they exhaled which contains C02 and pollutants.

The third aim is to utilize the wind chill effect to save energy. The air passing through the body in the cooling mode will not need to be a slow as 22 to 26 degrees Celsius as in the conventional air conditioner any more but can be as high as 30 degrees Celsius and utilizing the wind chill effect to make the body cool as if the occupant/s stay/s in the room with about 12 degrees Celsius cooler than the blood temperature of 37 degrees Celsius (-5 degrees Celsius for the wind chill effect).

The fourth aim is to have room air control apparatus that can serve as localized air warming apparatus during the winter time as well.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (BULL 2C) Background

With the knowledge of using the flat object to wave infront of the body causing the air to move against the body when one feels hot, this wind chill effect is the main effect using in inventing this room control apparatus. The wind with velocity carries the body heat with it after passing through our bodies by convection. Not only that, the evaporization of our body fluids caused by the striking wind make the body lose more heat through the latent heat of evaporation of such fluids.

The overhead apparatus to prevent the expensive conditioned air from straying away from the body/ies of the occupant/s is the one to make the wind chill effect efficient. Using this finding makes this invention very efficient in saving the energy.

The conventional air conditioner conditons the whole room without considering whether the need to be air conditioned is confined to a small space that is frequently used only.

The cooler air is heavier than the warmer air so the conditioned cooler air can be contained in the space confined around by a series of fences or partitions with door/s.

The conventional air conditioner conditions repeatedly almost the same air that has been used and the health of the occupant/s ruin/s gradually unobservably from inhaling the spent air containing carbon dioxide and some pollutants.

The larger combined surfaces of the whole room walls adjacent to the higher or lower temperature of the other side, cause the great amount of heat to flow through resulting in the unnecessary loss of wealth of the owner of such air conditioner. The higher the gradient of the difference of temperature between both sides, the more the loss of heat (or coolness as the case may be) resulting in the loss of wealth. With the secondary smaller in size air conditioning space, the required air temperature at the inside of the fence or partition of the conditioned space is lower than the inside temperature at the inside surface of the wall of the room in the cooling mode and opposite in the heating mode. This results in the lower heat or coolness loss due to smaller temperature gradient across the room wall when compared to the conventional air conditioner coupled with the smaller surface area of the series of fences or partitions (including door/s) around the localized space that the major heat loss or coolness lass takes place. The creation of another space within the space of the room makes the temperatures at inside surfaces of the spaces vary in values or create steps i.e 30 degrees Celsius inside the localized space, 33 degrees Celsius inside the room and 38 degrees Celsius outside the room in the cooling mode. This difference in temperatures make the loss of energy less due to less steep in the gradient at both the boundary of localized space and the boundary of the room. The same applies to the heating mode.

This invention solves the problem of having to air condition the whole room which is wasteful by partitioning the space on the floor up to the height of about 1.5 meters only where most people need when they sit down or lie down.

This practice will result in a great energy conservation , especially the saving of the electrical power many times when comparing to the conventional whole room air conditioning. The amount of saving varies from room to room, depends on the size of the room and the size of the unit to be localized air conditioned as well as the number of units in the room to be energy conserved. Usually the saving is about 70% comparing to the conventional one.

Nature Of Invention

The invention achieves its objective in the provision of the room air control apparatus comprising : a fresh air intake system that allows fresh air to flow to the occupant/s in the manner that during the cooling mode the top connecting port to the outside air space becomes the inlet port while in the heating mode the lower connecting port to the outside air space becomes the inlet port; a partition around the localized space to be air conditioned; a height adjustable hood above the occupant/s; a floor level air collecting or discharging system that collects or discharge the conditioned air from or to the localized space; a recycle conditioned air system with heat exchanger; and a exhaust air discharge system that allows spent air and pollutant out to the outside of the room in the manner that during the cooling mode the lower port becomes the exhaust port while in the heating mode the higher port becomes the exhaust port; characterized in that the fresh air can go directly to the occupant s or take another route to go pass the heat exchanger first before going to the occupant/s or jointly through both streams; the height adjustable hood is communicable with the fresh air system and the after heat exchanger system of ducts; air flow control is provided that the flow can be regulated by the installation of:

1. fan/s at strategic locations in the system so that the non standard in size and length ducting that creates individual pressure drop characteristic which suites each occupant requirement is/are provided to move the air along no matter one or more streams to the occupant/s, and 2. air valve/s at strategic locations in the system to increase or decrease the flow or stop the flow completely is/are installed to perform such duties; air outlet means is provided to let the exhaust air out to the outside surrounding before reaching the mixing chamber where the spent and fresh air is mixed there; air mixing chamber where the recirculated spent air is to pass this chamber and through the heat exchanger or mixed with fresh air coming by the opening of the valve between the fresh air inlet and the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that let only the recycle air to the mixing chamber by shutting off the fresh air duct from communicable with the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that prevents the spent air from discharging through the exhuast port or outlet port to the outside surrounding or partially lets the spent air discharge while certain amount recycle through the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that prevents the spent air from reaching the mixing chamber or partially let the spent air reach the mixing chamber is provided; means to add another unit of localized space to be air conditioned where the supply duct of the additional unit is joined to the supply duct of the former unit at the point before reaching the occupant/s and the discharge duct of the additional unit is joined to the former discharge duct at any point suitable is provided; heat exchanger is provided inside the duct after the mixing chamber where the refrigerant or the heat transfer medium is passed through to absorb and carry away from the system in the cooling mode and to release the heat to the system in the heating mode; fan speed regulator/s to change the speed of the fan/s at any location so desired so that the velocity, the mixture and the volume of air passing through the occupant/s can be regulated in the form of electrical supply frequency changer or choke coil is/are provided; means to change the condition of air in the system is provided manually or automatically with or without using computerized method; air valve is provided to prevent the fresh air from entering the mixing chamber when the heat exchanger is not in use.

Drawings

The invention will now be described with reference to preferred embodiments as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is the sectional view of a particular embodiment of an air collecting or discharging port underneath the partition panel or fence;

FIG. 2 is the schematic of room air control apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Preferred Embodiments

In FIG. 2, it is seen a fresh air inlet 1 where the fresh air is introduced into the system the whole 100% of the air passing through the occupant/s during summer time in cooling mode when the outside air temperature is between 22 and 30 degrees Celsius or partially passing through at any other temperature outside that range or being completely shut off from entering the system.

In the cooling mode with the outside temperature between 22 and 30 degrees Celsius, the fresh air is allowed to enter the fresh air inlet 1 and pass through valve 3 while valve 2 is fully closed and the fresh air can not enter the mixing chamber 19; the air then passes through fan 5 and strikes the body of the occupant 14 then passes to the space confined by partitions 10 (Fig. 2); the downward velocity of air and the weight of air which is heavier than the air outside the conditioned space make it to traverse downward and hit the floor then change the direction to horizontal one and hit the outside wall of the collecting/discharging air box 11 then transform its velocity head into pressure head and is then forced through the holes 17 (Fig. 1) and accumulated in discharge duct 18 and go through delivery duct 12 which is connected to outlet port 6 and mixing chamber 19; the protruding edge 16 serves as the check valve to prevent the high pressure air to return to the localized space confined by partitions 10; the exhaust air then go out through the outlet port 6 with the exhaust valve 13 fully opened and mixing chamber valve 4 fully closed; the velocity of the downward fresh air is controlled and varied directly with the temperature of the air i.e. the higher the temperature the higher is the speed of the air causing by the increase in frequency of the electrical supply, thus it increases the velocity of the fan that forces the air to be moved at higher speed; the computer may be employed to detect the temperature and adjust the speed of the air through the frequency converter or changer according to the requirement of the occupant who set the programme for it to follow.

When the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, the heat exchanger 9 is activated that either the refrigerant or heat transfer medium must flow through it; this can be done manually or automatically with the automatic controller or automatic controller with computer and computer programme; the coolant is then forced to pass through the heat exchanger and the amount of fresh air is reduced by closing valve 3 and partially opening valve 2; valve 13 is partially closed to let about the same amount of fresh air entering through valve 2 to leave it; valve 4 is fully opened to let the recycle air to pass to the mixing chamber 19 then pass through the heat exchanger 9 and fan 5 and occupant 14 and collecting/discharging air box 11 and enter delivery duct 12; thus complete the cycle; the temperature is set at 30 degrees Celsius where the flow of refrigerant or the cooling medium through the heat exchanger 9 will stop; thus the saving, of no need to further cooling the air down to 22-26 degrees Celsius as employed in the conventional air conditioner, can be achieved.

When the temperature is between 22 and 15 degrees Celsius, the outside air intake at port 6 is kept at minimum through the manipulation of valves and fans in reverse direction so that the air is rising pass the occupant and entering the height adjustable hood at a very slow speed and passing through the heat exchanger which is idle with no heating gas or fluid passing through it to be able to give out heat; and the air is then recirculated through valve 4 delivery duct 12, discharge duct 18, holes 17 (Fig. 1), collecting/discharging air box 11 and then to the occupant to pick up heat from the body and recirculate ; the occupant will wear thick clothing to keep the body warm; part of the spent air can be exhausted through the port 1 via valve 3 while valve 2 is closed;

When the temperature is below 15 degrees Celsius, the heating medium or refrigerant is forced to pass through the heat exchanger 9; the fresh air is partially entered the system at port 6 or completely shut off; the flow of the conditioned air is then reversed; the conditioned air is forced to pass through the heat exchanger 9 where it picks up the heat and travels pass valve 4 which is fully opened and mixes with the cool outside fresh air coming into the system through valve 13 which is partially closed; the air enters delivery duct 12 and passes through discharge duct

18 and distributed to the floor through the holes 17; the hot air then passes through the occupant and rises up by bouyancy force and sucking action of fan 5 with the rotation reversed in heating mode; the height adjustable hood 7 prevents the hot air from escaping to the space inside the room; the spent air is partially left the room through valve 3 via outlet 1 used to be inlet 1 of the cooling mode; the majority of the spent ar is recirculated and passed through heat exchanger 9 again; thus complete the cycle of the heating mode.

It is hard to predict the shape, size of the room and shape of the localized air conditioned unit of each occupant; so it is hard to fix the positions of fans and valves that control the flow of air in the system; so it must be understood that there will be a lot of fans and valves in addition to what is specified in the description and drawings.

Partitions or fences 10 are made of light material with heat insulating materials like glass wool, cotton wool etc.; they are detachable and equipped with the collecting and discharging air box 11 and discharge duct 18 with holes 17 (Fig. 1) and flow back preventer protruding edge 16; the panel of the partition or fence where it is required by the occupant to be the entrance and exit of the localized air conditioned space will have the specially made sliding door made of the same material as the panel of partitions or fences; the size of each individual piece of the partition when not connected with the other to form the fence is about 1.5 meters high, 1.0 meter long and 5 centimeter thick.

Added unit of localized air conditioned space can be connected to the former unit via overhead duct 15 and 15A with the lower duct at the floor via floor delivery duct 12 and 12A as shown in the drawing of FIG. 2 with dotted lines.

The entire contents of the provisional specification and drawings lodged with Australian Provisional Patent Application No. PN 1422 on Febtuary 1995 are hereby incorporated into this specification.

The claims form part of the disclosure of this specification.

Claims

1. The room air control apparatus comprising of: a fresh air intake system that allows fresh air to flow to the occupant/s in the manner that during the cooling mode the top connecting port to the outside air space becomes the inlet port while in the heating mode the lower connecting port to the outside air space becomes the inlet port; a partition around the localized space to be air conditioned; a height adjustable hood above the occupant/s; a floor level air collecting or discharging system that collects or discharge the conditioned air from or to the localized space; a recycle conditioned air system with heat exchanger; and a exhaust air discharge system that allows spent air and pollutant out to the outside of the room in the manner that during the cooling mode the lower port becomes the exhaust port while in the heating mode the higher port becomes the exhaust port; characterized in that the fresh air can go directly to the occupant/s or take another route to go pass the heat exchanger first before going to the occupant/s or jointly through both streams; the height adjustable hood is communicable with the fresh air system and the after heat exchanger system of ducts; air flow control is provided that the flow can be regulated by the installation of:

1. fan/s at strategic locations in the system so that the non standard in size and length ducting that creates individual pressure drop characteristic which suites each occupant requirement is/are provided to move the air along no matter one or more streams to the occupant/s, and

2. air valve/s at strategic locations in the system to increase or decrease the flow or stop the flow completely is/are installed to perform such duties; air outlet mep^~s is provided to let the exhaust air out to the outside surrounding before reaching the mixing chamber where the spent and fresh air is mixed there; air mixing chamber where the recirculated spent air is to pass this chamber and through the heat exchanger or mixed with fresh air coming by the opening of the valve between the fresh air inlet and the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that let only the recycle air to the mixing chamber by shutting off the fresh air duct from communicable with the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that prevents the spent air from discharging through the exhuast port or outlet port to the outside surrounding or partially lets the spent air discharge while certain amount recycle through the mixing chamber is provided; air valve that prevents the spent air from reaching the mixing chamber or partially let the spent air reach the mixing chamber is provided; means to add another unit of localized space to be air conditioned where the supply duct of the additional unit is joined to the supply duct of the former unit at the point before reaching the occupant/s and the discharge duct of the additional unit is joined to the former discharge duct at any point suitable is provided; heat exchanger is provided inside the duct after the mixing chamber where the refrigerant or the heat transfer medium is passed through to absorb and carry away from the system in the cooling mode and to release the heat to the system in the heating mode; fan speed regulator/s to change the speed of the fan/s at any location so desired so that the velocity, the mixture and the volume of air passing through the occupant/s can be regulated in the form of electrical supply frequency changer or choke coil is/are provided; means to change the condition of air in the system is provided manually or automatically with or without using computerized method; air valve is provided to prevent the fresh air from entering the mixing chamber when the heat exchanger is not in use.

2. The room air control apparatus as in claim 1 comprising of the joined together panels to form partitions around the localized air space to be conditioned where the sliding door with the same materials and construction is provided.

3. The room air control apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the door is of folding accordian style type.

4. The room air control apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the door is of the rolling up and down type with the door panal members rolled around the shaft and stored overhead the door way.

5. The room air control apparatus as in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein the downward air flow directly above the occupant issuing from the height adjustable hood is employed.

6. The room air control apparatus wherein the floor level air collecting/discharging box is situated at or near a lower part of the panel that forms the partitions around the localized air space to be air conditioned, such that a protruding edge on the incoming side of the said box is provided to prevent air, inwhich its kinetic energy is being converted to pressure energy there, from leaking back into the localized air space, whereby above the said box, another enclosed box is attached to it with holes communicable with the former one in which the air collected there is communicable with the outside building port and the heat exchanger no matter whether such a set up is with or without the valve/s or fan/s inside the involved air path/s that make them to be communicable to such devices as prescribed before.

7. The room air control apparatus wherein the utilization of the cooling effect of using fresh air blown downward from the height adjustable hood above the occupant when the temperature is between 22 and 30 degrees Celsius.

8. The room air control; apparatus wherein the velocity of air flow is regulated by changing fan speed using the electrical supply frequency converter or changer coupled with the trimming of valves at various locations within the system with or without the aid of the computer and its software.

9. The room air control apparatus creating smaller confinement of localized are space/s within the room which is bigger in size allowing only the said smaller air space/s to be air conditioned but not the whole room.

10. The room air control apparatus for controlling the supply of air to a space, of which space portions are designated for ventilation or air conditioning, said apparatus including hood means lacated above said space portion, where the said space portion or portions is/are surrounded by partitions and one or more doors up to a certain height necessary and an air collecting or discharging system located at or near a lower part of said portion, such that the conditioned air can pass through or pass from said localized air space.

11. The room air control apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.