Patent Application
20220362705
The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of air systems of existing art and more specifically relates to an air purification system for a vent.
A make-up air system is an air system that pulls in fresh air from outside a building to inside the building and circulates the air through rooms and common areas of the building. Make-up air systems are typically recommended and used in buildings with a great need for ventilation and improved air quality. Particularly, make-up air systems are used in commercial buildings such as office buildings and hotels; and shared accommodation buildings such as condominiums and apartment buildings.
Because these buildings generally have capacity for hundreds to thousands of people it is of great importance to be able to supply high air quality and substantially reduce the incidence of pollen, pet dander, pet hair, mold, and pathogenic matter in the air circulated within the building. This is of particular importance in times of epidemic and pandemic to minimize the spread of disease. However, make-up air systems do not currently have an acceptable means of filtering air being circulated through the building. As such, a suitable solution is desired.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known air system art, the present disclosure provides a novel air purification system. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a system for installation in a vent of a building to filter air before being vented into a room of the building.
An air purification system is disclosed herein. The air purification system may be configured for installation over a vent. The vent may be integral to a wall surface in a room of a building. The vent may be configured to vent moving airflow conveyed from ductwork in an air system of the building. The air purification system may include a housing including a top-side opposite a bottom-side, a right-side opposite a left-side and a front-side opposite a rear-side all relative to the wall surface. The front-side may be substantially open and the rear-side may be configured for placement over the vent and thus configured to receive the moving airflow.
The housing may be defined by a rear-section relative to the rear-side and a front-section relative to the front-side. The rear-section may include a filter-compartment configured to removably house a filter-means, the filter-means configured to filter particles from the moving airflow. The front-section may include a set of horizontal-slats. Each of the horizontal-slats may be angled to let filtered airflow (filtered by the filter-means) through the front-side of the housing and into the room of the building. Further, a movement-mechanism may be provided. The movement-mechanism may be in communication with the filter-compartment and configured to selectively raise and lower the filter-means from bottom-side of the housing.
According to another embodiment, a method of use for an air purification system is also disclosed herein. The method of use includes providing the air purification system as above, installing the filter-means in the filter-compartment of the rear-section; and installing the housing over the vent, the rear-side being placed thereover to receive the moving airflow such that the filter-means is able to filter the moving airflow before being vented into the room.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, an air purification system, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.
As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an air purification system and more particularly to an air purification system for installation over a vent as used to improve air quality in a building. Generally, disclosed is an improved vent louver system which may include a housing having horizontal slats disposed on a front-side thereof and a rear-side for installation over a vent. The vent louver system may further include a filter safety cage. A filter, preferably a HEPA filter, may be removably placed within the filter safety cage and configured to filter particles such as viruses, pet hair, smoke, dust, etc. from air vented through the vent. The filter safety cage may include a roller rod and ratchet combination for safely lowering and raising the filter safety cage from the housing to change the filter.
The filter safety cage may include an aluminum L frame attached to a thin metal rope/metal rod which is connected to the ratchet. Further, the filter safety cage may include a lock mechanism. The lock mechanism may consist of the filter safety cage including a keyhole, and a handheld key or an extension pole including a key for mating with the keyhole. The extension pole may include a handle at one end, and the key at an opposite end. The handheld key may include a body having a key at one end. Further, the key may include an LED light for illuminating the keyhole on the filter safety cage.
Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in
The air purification system 100 may include a housing 110 and a movement-mechanism 140. As shown in
As
As shown in
The rear-section 121 may include the filter-compartment 123 configured to removably house the filter-means 132. The filter-means 132 may be configured to filter particles from the moving airflow before it passes through the set of horizontal-slats 127 (and into the room of the building). The filter-means 132 may be configured to remove a substantial number of particles such as dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, viruses, etc. from the moving airflow. For example, the filter-means 132 may be configured to remove at least 99.97% of particles having a size of 0.3 microns (and larger). As such, preferably, the filter-means 132 may be a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter. The HEPA filter may be easily cleanable and/or disposable such that the HEPA filter may be easily replaced. The filter-means may be provided with the air purification system 100 or may be a standard filter-means, HEPA filter, etc.
As shown in
The movement-mechanism 140 may be in communication with the filter-compartment 123 and configured to selectively raise and lower the filter-means 132 from the bottom-side 114 of the housing 110. Preferably, the movement-mechanism 140 may be in communication with the filter-receptacle 130 and configured to selectively raise and lower the filter-receptacle 130 from the bottom-side 114 of the housing. In this embodiment, the movement-mechanism 140 may be attached to the filter-receptacle 130.
In some embodiments, the bottom-side 114 of the rear-section 121 of the housing 110 may include an opening 129 (
As shown specifically in
The movement-mechanism 140 may further include at least one gear assembly 146. In some embodiments, the at least one gear assembly 146 may include a ratchet having an integral gear. Further, a pin may be included for engaging with, and locking, the integral gear. The at least one gear assembly 146 may be attached to the horizontal roller-rod 144 or housed therewithin. The at least one gear assembly 146 may be configured to control the raising and lowering of the filter-receptacle 130 and prevent excessive raising/lowering thereof, and/or excessive speed thereof.
Further, in some embodiments, the roller-assembly 142 may include at least one spring 148 as shown in
The at least one spring 148 may be configured to hold the filter-receptacle 130 in a raised position (whereby the filter-receptacle 130 is secured within the housing 110). The pulling force, along with the at least one gear assembly 146 and pin may counteract a bias of the at least one spring 148 so that a user is able to lower the filter-receptacle 130. The at least one gear assembly 146 and pin may then “lock” the filter-receptacle 130 in a desired lowered position. In some examples of this embodiment, the horizontal roller-rod 144 may include a set of components for facilitating rotation thereof, such as a spring accumulator, a connector rod, etc.
In some embodiments, the roller-assembly 142 may be manually actuated. For example, the filter-receptacle 130 may be selectively lowered manually by the user by pulling (downward) on the filter-receptacle 130 (the “pulling force”) and locked into the desired lowered position by the at least one gear assembly 146 and pin. The filter-receptacle 130 may then be selectively raised manually by the user by pushing (upward) on the filter-receptacle 130.
Alternatively, or in addition to this, in embodiments including the at least one spring 148 configured to hold the filter-receptacle 130 in a raised position, the user may disengage the at least one gear assembly 146 and pin, thereby allowing the tension held in the at least one spring 148 to raise the filter-receptacle 130 into the housing 110. Further, in this embodiment, the roller-assembly 142 may include a handle or cord means (not illustrated). For example, the roller-assembly 142 may include a cord in communication with the at least one gear assembly 146. In another example, the filter-receptacle 130 may include a handle for assisting in the manual pulling thereof.
In additional embodiments, the roller-assembly 142 may be automatically actuated. In this embodiment, the movement-mechanism 140 may include at least one motor 147. The at least one motor 147 may be disposed within the horizontal roller-rod 144 and configured to automatically actuate raising and lowering of the filter-receptacle 130. In some embodiments, the at least one motor 147 may be triggered via a switch. In other embodiments, the at least one motor 147 may be triggered via a remote control. In this embodiment, the roller-assembly 142 may include a receiver for receiving a signal from the remote control. In other embodiments, the at least one motor 147 may be activated via at least one sensor. In this embodiment, the roller-assembly 142 may include the at least one sensor, a controller for facilitating communication between the at least one motor 147 and the at least one sensor, and a power source 143. For example, the power source may include batteries. For example, AA batteries. In this embodiment, at least a portion of the front-section 125 may be removable from the housing 110 to enable a user to easily change the batteries when needed. In some examples, the rear-section 121 and the front-section 125 may each include at least one bracket-means 109 (
It should be appreciated that the at least one gear assembly 146 is not limited for use with the roller-assembly 142, and It should also be appreciated that the movement-mechanism 140 is not limited to the roller-assembly 142 discussed above. For example, in some embodiments, the movement-mechanism 140 may include a rope and gear assembly (not illustrated). The rope and gear assembly may include at least one gear and least one rope to act as a pulley system. For example, in some embodiments, the at least one gear may include the ratchet having an integral gear as discussed above. The at least one rope may be a thin metal rope. The at least one rope may be in communication with the at least one gear and configured for movement over the at least one gear such that a pulling force exerted on the at least one rope selectively raises and lowers the filter-receptacle 130 (or just the filter-means 132 in some embodiments) from the bottom-side 114 of the housing 110.
For example, in some embodiments, the at least one rope may be threaded, at one end, into the ratchet, thus placing it in communication with the integral gear. At an opposite end, the at least one rope may be attached to the filter-receptacle. As such, when a user pulls on the one end of the at least one rope, the movement of the at least one rope about the at least one gear may raise or lower the filter-receptacle, as the gear is driven to rotational movement by the pulling force exerted on the at least one rope.
In other embodiments, the filter-receptacle 130 (or filter-means 132) may include a tooth or other protrusion (not illustrated) configured for engaging teeth of the at least one gear assembly 146, thereby facilitating up and down movement of the filter-receptacle 130 or filter-means 132. In other embodiments still, the housing 110 may include a track-assembly (not illustrated) and the filter-receptacle 130 or filter-means 132 may include a means of engaging with the track-assembly to facilitate the up and down movement of the filter-receptacle 130 or filter-means 132.
As shown in
As
The elongated shaft 154 of the pole 151 may allow the user to easily reach the lock-mechanism 134 therewith. This may be particularly useful for vents that are located high on the wall surface 10. The elongated shaft 154 may be extendable. Preferably, the elongated shaft 154 may be telescopic. In some embodiments, as shown in
Referring now to
Further steps may include the changing of the filter-means as discussed above. These further steps may include step four 1204, selectively lowering the filter-means from the filter-compartment via the movement-mechanism, as needed (for example when the filter-means becomes clogged); step five 1205, replacing the filter-means with another filter-means; and step six 1206, raising the ‘another’ filter-means into the filter-compartment via the movement-mechanism. Further, in some embodiments, instead of the replacing the filter-means with another filter-means, the filter-means may be cleaned and placed back into the filter-compartment/filter-receptacle.
It should be noted that steps four (1204), five (1205) and six (1206) are optional steps and may not be implemented in all cases. Optional steps of method of use 1200 are illustrated using dotted lines in
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
