Patent Application
20150292778
The present application relates to heating and cooling systems. More specifically, the application relates to a condensing unit and fan coil system for heating and cooling systems.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems are very large, expensive systems in commercial and multi-residence buildings. One of the parts of an HVAC system that takes up a large amount of space is the heat pump unit. Due to limited floor-to-floor heights in high-rise residential buildings (typically 8′9″ to 9′6″), these buildings use floor-mounted vertical heat pumps. The pumps are placed in dedicated closets, for architectural and acoustical reasons. Such closets must have clear inside dimensions of at least 30 inches by 30 inches, which represents over 10 square feet of valuable space. Thus, HVAC units often pose challenges in building design and require cumbersome, dedicated HVAC closets.
An alternative to a vertical heat pump unit is a water cooled split system. Such a system has two components: a condensing unit and fan-coil unit. A typical, commercial-sized water cooled condensing unit is designed for 3-6 tons of cooling. The size of such units is still relatively large, for example having dimensions such as 40″ H by 31″ W by 22″ D.
Commercially available fan coil units are designed for low static pressure drops. A typical external static pressure drop (ESP) is 0.25″. This creates problems when filters are required or there is a need for extensive ductwork.
Based on the shortcomings of currently available HVAC systems, it would be advantageous to have smaller HVAC units that still had sufficient capacity to be used in a large commercial or residential building.
The present disclosure is directed to an HVAC system that includes a condensing unit and a fan coil unit. The condensing unit and fan coil system is smaller than currently available commercial HVAC systems. As the inventor of the present application discovered that a typical apartment requires less than 3 tons of cooling, it became apparent that commercially available condensing units are larger and more cumbersome than necessary, and a smaller HVAC system could be developed.
Therefore, the present application provides a considerably smaller condensing unit, which in one embodiment measures only 38″ W×17″ H×11″ D. A fan coil component of the system is capable of handling up to approximately 0.7″ of ESP, while maintaining a slim height of approximately 11″.
The various embodiments of an HVAC system, including a condensing unit and fan coil unit, described herein will help minimize HVAC space requirements in commercial and multi-residence high rise buildings. The condensing unit described herein is configured to provide 3 tons of cooling or less and is generally small enough to be installed in a typical clothing closet, such as on the floor or incorporated into closet shelving. This eliminates the need for a dedicated closet designed specifically for a condenser. A fan coil component of the system may have a height of approximately 10-11 inches, which is considerably smaller than conventional units.
Referring to
Referring to
Various embodiments of the condensing unit 10 may weigh approximately 1-3 tons, for example about 1.5 tons, about 2 tons, about 2.5 or about 3 tons. The condensing unit 10 may also have a lower capacity than a conventional commercial-size condensing unit, such as half of the typical capacity or a maximum capacity of no more than about 3 tons of cooling or of less than about 3 tons of cooling, in various embodiments. Such embodiments will typically be small enough to fit into a small cabinet 17. For example, in some embodiments, the condensing unit 10 may have dimensions no larger than approximately 12 inches deep by approximately 40 inches wide by approximately 20 inches tall. In one particular embodiment, as illustrated in
Referring now to
The fan coil unit 20 may include multiple “quick-connect couplings,” for coupling with a condensing unit via refrigeration lines 32 (
Although this invention has been disclosed in the context of certain embodiments and examples, the present invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the invention and modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the present invention herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/974,555 entitled “Condensing Unit”, as filed on Apr. 3, 2014. The full disclosures of all of the above-listed patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61974555 | Apr 2014 | US |
