WO2003073008A1

WO2003073008A1 - An improved structural enclosure for an extractor hood

Info

Publication number: WO2003073008A1
Application number: PCT/IB2003/000673
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudio Calpista
Original assignee: Elica S.P.A.
Priority date: 2002-02-27
Filing date: 2003-02-24
Publication date: 2003-09-04
Also published as: ITRN20020008A1; AU2003209522A1; ITRN20020008A0

Abstract

A structural enclosure (1) for an extractor hood comprises a fixed top (2), which has in it a through hole (3), allowing the fumes moved by a fan unit (4) to flow through it into a flue (5), and which is designed to be connected to the fan unit (4) and the flue (5), with a predetermined relative positional reference, and to directly support electrical components (6, 7) of the extractor hood structural enclosure (1).

Description

An improved structural enclosure for an extractor hood

Technical field

The present invention relates to the manufacture of extractor hoods for domestic uses and, in particular, concerns an improved structural enclosure for an extractor hood that is particularly advantageous for maintenance purposes, but not only for this.

Background art

The conventional design of prior art extractor hoods comprises a structural enclosure essentially in the shape of a parallelepiped or of a truncated pyramid and having a hole through the top of it that connects to a tubular flue through which cooking fumes are extracted.

A fan unit, designed to mechanically move the fumes, is housed inside the structural enclosure. The delivery section of the fan unit is directly connected to the flue through the hole in the top of the hood in such a way as to channel the fumes into the flue. The fan unit is also screwed to the top of the hood and attached to the back of the enclosure by any of a number of different fixed or removable fastening systems.

Normally, the fan unit physically supports the electrical components for powering the extractor hood, as well as the electrical components for controlling the fan unit itself and, in some types of extractor hood, the components for controlling the extractor hood in its entirety.

This constructional design of the fan units makes mechanical and/or electrical maintenance a laborious and time-consuming task requiring two operators working simultaneously.

Thus, one operator working from above on the outside of the extractor hood slackens and removes the screws that attach the fan unit to the top of the hood.

In the meantime, another operator working from below is required to hold the fan unit - so that it doesn't fall while the screws are being slackened and removed - and to take it out of the hood enclosure from underneath, together with all the electrical components connected to it.

The main aim of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages by providing an extractor hood designed to enable a single operator to remove, without help from anyone else, either the fan unit only or the electrical components only, depending on the maintenance operation to be carried out.

Another aim of the invention is to establish an assembly reference for the relative positioning of all the main parts of the extractor hood and that is: single; fixed in space; and accessible directly and independently of the extractor hood parts.

Disclosure of the invention According to the invention, these aims are achieved by a structural enclosure for an extractor hood comprising a fixed top, which has in it a hole, allowing fumes moved by a fan unit to flow through it into a flue, and which is designed to be connected to the fan unit and to the flue with a predetermined relative positional reference, and to directly support electrical components of the extractor hood structural enclosure .

Description of the drawings

The technical characteristics of the invention, with reference to the above aims, are clearly described in the claims below and its advantages are apparent from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention provided merely by way of example without restricting the scope of the inventive concept, and in which:

- Figure 1 is a perspective, partially exploded assembly view of a structural enclosure for an extractor hood;

- Figures 2 and 3 are partially exploded, perspective views of parts of the structural enclosure of Figure 1, as viewed laterally from below and laterally from above, respectively; - Figure 4 is an assembly view of the structural enclosure in its fully assembled form and with some parts cut away in order to better illustrate others.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention

With reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a structural enclosure for an extractor hood, the numeral 4, a fan unit mounted inside the enclosure, and the numeral 5, a flue that fluidly connects the structural enclosure 1 to a stack, not illustrated in the drawings, through which the fumes are expelled.

The structural enclosure 1 comprises a substantially horizontal, fixed top 2 and a series of side walls 16 comprising a back, labelled 15, and together delimiting a fume extraction compartment 17.

The fixed top 2 has a through hole 3 made in it designed to allow the fumes from the compartment 17 to flow through it into the flue 5 above .

In addition, the fixed top 2 is designed to be connected to the fan unit 4 and to the flue 5 providing them with a predetermined and fixed relative positional reference. It is also designed to directly support some important electrical components 6, 7 of the extractor hood.

Looking in more detail, the fluid connection of the fan unit 4 is obtained through an annular union 8 forming part of the fixed top 2 and designed to connect the fixed top 2 : on one side to a delivery section 9 of the fan unit 4 located inside the structural enclosure; and on the other side to the flue 5.

Once the delivery section 9 has been axially inserted into the annular union 8 by pushing the fan unit 4 in its entirety from the bottom up - as shown in Figure 1 - fixing means (not illustrated) , interacting with the mounting elements 14 on the casing of the fan unit 4, allow the fan unit 4 to be attached to, or removed from, the back panel 15 by the simple action of a single operator working, without impediments, from underneath the enclosure 1, that is to say, directly from the extraction compartment 17. For the connection of the electrical components 6 and 7 of the extractor hood enclosure 1, the fixed top 2 of the enclosure 1 features a preformed housing 10, preferably in the shape of a parallelepiped, designed to accommodate the electrical components 6,7 of the extractor hood. The housing 10 communicates with the underlying extraction compartment 17 where the fan unit 4 is mounted and which is also accessible from the opposite side, that is to say, from the outside of the enclosure 1, as shown more clearly in Figure 3. On the side facing the extraction compartment 7, the housing

10 is designed to receive the electrical components 6 for powering the extractor hood, that is to say connectors 11 that can be plugged into, and unplugged from, the housing 10 by working manually directly from the inside of the extraction compartment 17, that is to say, from where the fan unit 4 is located.

On the outside of the enclosure 1, the housing 10 is designed to accommodate an electrical component 7 forming part of the control system of the extractor hood. The electrical component 7 illustrated in the drawings for example consists of one or more electronic cards carrying the control circuitry of the extractor hood, these electronic cards being slotted inside a box-shaped protective receptacle 13, which can be inserted into the housing 10 from the outside of the enclosure 1, and being equipped with pins 12 shown in Figure 2. The fixed top 2 features means, for example of the quick- release type, for engaging and disengaging the electrical components 6,7 and/or the box-shaped receptacle 13 containing part of them, so that the parts of the extractor hood enclosure 1 requiring maintenance or checking can be disconnected and connected selectively and independently of the other parts. The fixed top 2 also accommodates the connections 18 for the main domestic power supply.

Thanks to the accessibility of the housing 10 from the underside of the structural enclosure 1 and the fact that the power supply components 6 can be disconnected directly from the extraction compartment 17 inside the structural enclosure 1, the fan unit 4 can be disconnected either mechanically or electrically by a single person working underneath the structural enclosure 1.

Instead, when the parts requiring attention are the electrical control components, the same person working on the outside of the structural enclosure 1 has direct access to the box-shaped receptacle 13 and can remove the latter together with the electronic cards it contains .

The structural design of the fixed top 2 described above, besides fully achieving the above mentioned aims, offers numerous other advantages, including the following:

- a higher degree of constructional standardisation, thanks to the fact that the same fixed top 2 can be used not only with structural enclosures 1 of economical extractor hoods, whose only electrical components are those for the power supply, but also with more expensive, multipurpose structural enclosures 1 equipped with electronic control components 7;

- easier and quicker customisation of the extractor hood structural enclosure 1 by simply substituting the box-shaped receptacle 13 and the circuitry it contains with another box- shaped receptacle 13 that is identical but contains differently programmed circuits;

- greater constructional simplicity for the production of the extractor hood structural enclosure 1 making it easier and more convenient for a single person working on one side only to mount the fan unit 4 on the structural enclosure 1 both mechanically and electrically.

Another equally important advantage is the fact that the electronic components are doubly protected against the risk of faults and/or fire: firstly because they are located outside the extraction compartment 17 and are therefore unaffected by the hot, greasy fumes from the cooking area; and secondly because they are protected by the walls of the receptacle 13 that encloses them. Moreover, it should also be stressed that locating the electronic components in a cooler area enhances their dependability, which, on the one hand, increases the working life of the components, and, on the other, permits use of electronic components that are designed to work at lower temperatures and therefore cost less. Yet another advantage of the invention, regarding the economization and rationalization of certain constructional aspects, derives from the fact that, in the assembly lines of the extractor hood structural enclosures, the special structure of the box-shaped receptacle 13, containing the electronic circuitry, permits use of "blank" electronic components until the end of the assembly process. The cards are programmed at the end of the assembly process by connecting them - for example through the pins 12 - to a programming device which quickly transfers a specific program or required setting to the cards. Not having to keep a stock of cards that are preprogrammed according to the buyers of the different extractor hood models - for example companies that purchase the product and then resell it after customising it - allows significant advantages in terms of smaller numbers of components to be managed and handled in production warehouses, spare parts departments and in the assembly lines themselves.

It will be understood that the invention described may be useful in many industrial applications and may be modified and adapted in several ways without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept. Moreover, all the details of the invention may be substituted by technically equivalent elements.

Claims

1. A structural enclosure for an extractor hood comprising a fixed top (2) , which has in it a through hole (3) , allowing the fumes moved by a fan unit (4) to flow through it into a flue (5) , and which is designed to be connected to the fan unit (4) and to the flue (5) , with a predetermined relative positional reference, and to directly support electrical components (6, 7) of the extractor hood.

2. The enclosure according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises a union (8) designed to connect the fixed top (2) : on one side to a delivery section (9) of the fan unit (4) ; and on the other side to the flue (5) .

3. The enclosure according to claim 1, characterised in that the fixed top (2) features at least one preformed housing (10) designed to accommodate at least one electronic component (6, 7) .

4. The enclosure according to claim 3, characterised in that the housing or housings (10) is/are designed to receive an electrical component (6; 11) that supplies power to the extractor hood structural enclosure (1) .

5. The enclosure according to claim 3, characterised in that the housing or housings (10) is/are designed to receive an electrical component (7) forming part of the control system of the extractor hood structural enclosure (1) .

6. The enclosure according to claim 3, 4 or 5, characterised in that it comprises means for engaging and disengaging the electrical components (6, 7) connected to the fixed top (2) and/or to the housing or housings (10) .

7. The enclosure according to any of the foregoing claims from 1 to 6, characterised in that the fixed top (2) includes at least one box-shaped receptacle (13) connectable to it and designed to protect the electrical components (6, 7) .

8. The enclosure according to any of the foregoing claims from 3 to 6, characterised in that the fixed top (2) includes at least one box-shaped receptacle (13) connectable to a housing (10) and designed to protect the electrical components (6, 7) .

9. The enclosure according to claim 7 or 8, characterised in that the box-shaped receptacle (13) is removably connectable to the fixed top (2) .

10. The enclosure according to any of the foregoing claims from 3 to 9, characterised in that the fixed top (2) mounts at least one electrical component (7) forming part of the control system of the extractor hood structural enclosure (1) on the side opposite that where the fan unit (4) is mounted.

11. The enclosure according to any of the foregoing claims from 3 to 10, characterised in that the fixed top (2) mounts at least one electrical component (6) forming part of the power supply system of the extractor hood structural enclosure (1) on the side opposite that where the fan unit (4) is mounted.