Patent Application
20240200823
The invention relates to ventilation devices integrated with mesh screens and intumescent material.
Different vent configurations exist in the construction industry for installation into structures for aiding the attic or some conduit of a building to better control air flow. Air circulation in these cavities is important for keeping inside of the structure cool or warm, depending on the season.
Some designs in the field allow for greater air flow while others restrict airflow, depending on the particular configuration. For example, a commercially available vent designed by BrandGuard incorporates a staggered “U” shaped baffles which also has a mesh screen on the internal facing side along with intumescent material incorporated within the vent.
Another vent design, incorporates a honeycomb configuration with intumescent material inside of the honeycombs. Intumescent materials are designed to react to heat when fire comes in close proximity to them. Namely, when a high enough heat is in close proximity, these materials swell up, providing a barrier and in closely spaced configurations, even constrict flow of air or other particles. One such vent exists that is marketed under the Vulcan Vent brand as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,413,024B1.
Yet other designs incorporate filter pads and a screen, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,822,532B2 where products are marketed under the Embers Out brand.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a device, including a metallic frame with a front and back opening and angled baffles contained within the metallic frame.
Furthermore, the angled baffles are staggered one on top of the other, with a gap in between each of the angled baffles, such that each angled baffle is secured to two sides of the frame.
Moreover, the angled baffles are oriented in an inverted “V” shape such that the concave part of the inverted “V” shape is facing towards the bottom of the metallic frame.
Additionally, the angle created inside of the concave part of the inverted “V” shape measures 45 degrees.
The device also integrating a primary mesh screen covering the back opening of the frame. Such that the primary mesh screen has openings measuring 1/16 by 1/16 inches or measuring ⅛ by ⅛ inches.
Furthermore a secondary mesh screen is located between any two angled baffles where a gap exists and thereby communicatively connecting those two angled baffles together. The secondary mesh screen has openings measuring 1/16 by 1/16 inches or measuring ⅛ by ⅛ inches.
Moreover, the device can incorporate both a primary mesh screen covering the back opening of the frame and a secondary mesh screen located between any two angled baffles where a gap exists and thereby communicatively connecting those two angled baffles together. Such that the primary mesh screen and/or the secondary mesh screen have openings measuring 1/16 by 1/16 inches and/or openings measuring ⅛ by ⅛ inches.
The device's angled baffles can further have lip sections such that one of the lip sections, that is facing towards the front opening of the metallic frame, incorporates an intumescent material on the inside part of that lip section. In conjunction with that, the front opening of the metallic frame also has a top portion that incorporates an intumescent material on the inside part of that top portion
Additionally, only the front opening of the metallic frame has a top portion that incorporates an intumescent material on the inside part of that top portion.
Finally, where the device incorporates an intumescent material, it is of an intumescent tape.
Furthermore, the device incorporates a secondary mesh screen in between the angled baffles and a primary mesh screen covering the back side of the frame.
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention are shown in the drawings and will be described below with reference to the figures, whereby elements having the same effect have been provided with the same reference numerals. The following is shown:
The present device is composed of a frame, baffles, a primary mesh screen, a series of secondary mesh screens, and intumescent material.
In
The frame 105 is generally made of some type of metal such as aluminum, steel, or some type of metal alloy. In some instantiations, this material can be some standard material such as 26 gauge ASTMA-653 galvanized steel or ASTM-792 galvalume. The frame 105 is designed to fit into a wall, a roof, roof siding or another similar structure. The frame 105 provides the structural support for incorporating the angled baffles 103. These angled baffles 103 are staggered one on top of the other with a gap (not numerated) in between them allowing air to pass through. This gap can measure up to one inch but is not limited to that opening size. The angled baffles 103 can be made of the same type of material that the frame 105 is able to be made of.
The angled baffles 103 are exposed to the front of the device 100 where as the back 101 of the device 100 points towards inside of the structure the device 100 is installed in. Thus, the viewer does not generally see the back 101 of the device 100 from outside of the structure.
In
Furthermore, the secondary mesh screen 203 is shown in between gap 201 that is installed within the device 200 itself. The secondary mesh screen 203 is also incorporated in a staggered configuration as discussed below. The secondary mesh screen 203 can be made of some type of metal with a mesh pattern of ⅛ or 1/16 of an inch to allow for adequate airflow. Larger mesh patterns would allow fire embers to pass through the device 200 and too small of a mesh pattern would restrict too much of the air flowing through the device 200. The secondary mesh screen 203 can be made of the same material as the baffles 103.
The secondary mesh screen 203, based on testing conducted per ANSI/AMCA 500-L-07 standards, and 2018 International Building/Residential Code standards, allows for fee air passage of 47.6% for a screen with a 1/16× 1/16-inch opening.
In
In
The secondary mesh screen(s) 407 is/are shown such that it/they sit flush with one half side of the angled baffle 403 (e.g. from the top, the second in the series) and connecting on the edge of the mesh screen 407 to the underside of another half side angled baffle 403 (e.g. from the top, the first in the series). Thus, the secondary mesh screen 407 cuts across the gap 402, at an angle, towards the front side of the device 400.
In
As can be seen, the gap 502 is punctuated with the secondary mesh screen 507 which permits air to flow through and almost entirely curtails the ability of embers to pass through the device 500. Moreover, in case any loose embers happen to penetrate through the secondary mesh screen 507, they are then blocked by the primary mesh screen 501. By that time, whatever ember happened to flow through, would have been extinguished as they would be redirected through these angled baffles 503 with the resistive barriers of the secondary mesh screen 507 and/or the primary mesh screen 501.
The pairing of the designed angled baffles 503, the secondary mesh screen 507, and the primary mesh screen 501 curtail the ability of embers and radiant heat to affect the structure while maintaining a good air flow to ventilate the structure. It is worthy to note that the combination of the secondary mesh screen 507 and the primary mesh screen 501 are set in such a distance and configuration as to not abate the ability for air to flow freely.
In
In
In addition, it should be noted that in these embodiments, the present device 600 can incorporate the secondary mesh screen 607 and/or the primary mesh screen 601 and/or the intumescent material 611.
Based on testing compliant with ASTM E2886/E2886M-14 and E2912-17 standards, the device 600 withstood the flame penetration and the ember intrusion test such that no ember intrusion was detected and no ignition or charring occurred compliant with California Building Code, Section 706A.2
Though the present disclosure discusses the vent being placed on a roof or attic, it should be understood that the vent may be placed on any structure or in any area which may require ventilation. This may include between floors within a structure or any other location which would allow for mounting of such a vent and where ventilation may be desired.
Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to certain preferred configurations thereof, other versions are possible. The invention can be utilized in any installation where it would be proper. A person skilled in the art may make many variations and modifications to the disclosed embodiments utilizing functionally equivalent elements to those described herein. Any and all such variations or modifications as well as others which may become apparent to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the invention should not be limited to the versions described above.
It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including should be interpreted as “including but not limited to the term “having should be interpreted as “having at least, the term “comprises’ should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to.” etc.)
It should also be understood, that although various compounds, compositions, methods, and devices are described in “open” terms of “comprising.” “including,” or “having various components or steps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), the compounds, compositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of or “consist of the various components and steps, and such terminology should be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups. This paragraph is not meant in any way to limit the meaning of “comprising”, “having or “including” (and other verb forms thereof), which are to be interpreted as open-ended phrases meaning “including but not limited to consistent with patent law and custom. The intent of this paragraph is merely to indicate that the closed-member groups defined by the “consisting of or “consisting essentially of language are lesser included groups within the open-ended descriptions and to provide Support for claims employing the “consisting of or “consisting essentially of language.
With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as “up to.” “at least and the like include the number recited and refer to ranges which can be Subsequently broken down into Subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 Substituents refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 Substituents. Similarly, a group having 1-5 substituents refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents, and so forth.
This application is related to and claims domestic priority benefits under 35 USC § 119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/387,352 filed on Dec. 14, 2022, the entire contents, of the aforementioned application, are expressly incorporated hereinto by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63387352 | Dec 2022 | US |
