The invention described herein relates to systems and methods of conditioning the environment using a multi-purpose fan system. More specifically, the inventions described herein include systems and methods of conditioning interiors, including temperature, humidity, and air purity, as well as serve as fire sprinkler and containing numerous sensors.
In conventional housing environment conditioning state systems, there is generally a central unit located in a basement or utility closet and piping or duct work that is routed to the entire house to condition the various rooms. Another unit that is becoming more common in the United States is the split system unit in which an interior unit has air passed by a coil to condition the air while conducting tubing is run from this unit to a second coil unit outside the house. The pressure and temperature of the system can be used to either draw heat from the outside to heat the house or expel heat to the outside to cool the house.
Traditional systems that use oil and gas or electrically-powered central air units require large ducts to bring the warm or cold air to each room, loosing energy along the way—such as from basements through a building or a house. The installation of ducts for HVAC systems requires extensive labor, particularly in homes without HVAC systems.
It is recognized that a unit, a climate control system or universal ceiling fan that has all of the components for maintaining the climate of a room all in one unit that is compact and an efficient manner is desired.
The invention reduces the electrical energy needed to heat a space by using heated ceiling fans to spread heat more evenly and quickly, and to move the warmest air downwards from the upper area of the room where the rising heat stagnates, as a more efficient mode than traditional electrical heating such as pumps, heated boards, and others. For further efficiency, the invention includes a sensor that reduces or deactivates heating or cooling when no one is in a room.
One of the goals of the invention is to provide a means for adding cooling and heating systems in a room without requiring the extensive installation of the traditional HVAC system.
In an embodiment, a climate control system adapted for a room having a ceiling, the climate control system includes a central unit mounted to the ceiling. The central unit has a rotary portion. A plurality of fan blades is carried by the rotary portion. The fan blades are adapted to direct air within the room by rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise. The climate control system has a water line to deliver water to the central unit. The system has at least one nozzle carried by the central unit for generating mist from the water.
In an embodiment, the fan blades of the system each have a heating element for producing heated air. The fan blades rotate to push heated air downward away from the ceiling.
In an embodiment, an air conditioning unit is carried by the central unit of the system. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing at least one duct from the central unit for exhausting warm air from the air conditioning unit and a drain tube for draining water.
In an embodiment, a dehumidifier unit carried by the central unit of the system. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing a drain tube for draining water.
In an embodiment, the system has an air purifier having a filter and an air exchange. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing at least one duct from the central unit for air exchange.
In an embodiment, the system has at least one sensor for monitoring room air quality. In an embodiment, the sensor includes a fire sensor, a heat sensor, a smoke detection sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and an air quality sensor.
In an embodiment, the system has a dehumidifier unit carried by the central unit. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing a drain tube for draining water.
In an embodiment, the system has a fire sensor wherein the nozzle can be used for fire suppression.
In an embodiment, a climate control system adapted for a room having a ceiling, the climate control system includes a central unit mounted to the ceiling. The central unit has a rotary portion. A plurality of fan blades is carried by the rotary portion. The fan blades are adapted to direct air within the room by rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise. At least one of the fan blades has a heating element for producing heated air and the fan blades rotate for pushing heat downward away from the ceiling.
In an embodiment, the climate control system has a dehumidifier unit carried by the central unit. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing a drain tube for draining water.
In an embodiment, the dehumidifier has coils on the fan blades for dehumidifying the air as the fan blades rotate. In an embodiment, the fan blades have at least one flap that opens up to create more surface area.
In an embodiment, the system has an air purifier having a filter and an air exchange. The system has a conduit extending from the central unit to a wall for routing at least one duct from the central unit for air exchange. In an embodiment, the fan rotates to direct air as desired by the air purifier unit.
In an embodiment, the system has a circular coil heat element underlying the circular unit.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
A climate control system adapted for a room having a ceiling has a central unit mounted to the ceiling. The central unit has a rotary portion. A plurality of fan blades is carried by the rotary portion. The fan blades are adapted to direct air within the room by rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise. The fan blades have heating elements for producing heated air. The fan blades rotate to push heat downward away from the ceiling. The climate control system has a water line to deliver water to the central unit. The system has at least one nozzle carried by the central unit for generating mist from the water. The system has at least one sensor for controlling the system. Additional elements can include air purification, air conditioning, and dehumidification. A conduit extends from a central unit to a wall for routing air ducts, a water pipe, a drain tube for draining water.
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The climate control system 20 has a large cylindrical portion 30 that overlies the central unit 22. The climate control system 20 has a prime mechanical unit 50, as described below, located in the large cylindrical portion 30. The central unit 22 has a plurality of small openings 34 on the cylindrical portion 36 of the smaller central unit 22.
The climate control system 20 in addition has a metal element 42 on the edge 44 or rim of at least one fan blade 28. The metal element 42 is heated to generate heat which is transferred to the air and thus the room. As explained below, the climate control system 20 has a transfer mechanism for transferring electricity, air, and water to the rotating fan blades 28.
In addition, the climate control system 20 has a sensor unit 46 with a plurality of sensors such as the temperature sensor 48. The control of the heating of the metal element 42 is done per an algorithm with data collected from a sensor unit 46 that has a temperature sensor 48.
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The air conditioning unit 54 has an evaporator coil 72, an evaporator fan 74, and an expansion device 76 in the inside portion 56. The air conditioning unit has a condensing coil 78, a condensing fan 80, and a compressor 82 in the outside portion. The inside portion 56 has an air intake 88 which draws air from the room 12 via a plurality of openings 136 and 142, such as in
The outside portion compartment 58 of the air conditioning unit 54 has an air intake 94 from the outside and an air exhaust 96 which exhausts the hot humid air to the outside 18 of the house. The air intake 94 and the air exhaust 96 are connected to the outside through a conduit 98. In addition, the outside portion 58 of the air conditioning unit 54 has a connection to a drain tube 102 that moves water out of the outside portion 58. The drain tube 102 extends through the conduit 98 to a household drain. It is recognized that the drain tube 102 could also extend to outside 18 of the house. The drain tube 102 has a pump for moving the water from the prime mechanical unit 50.
The humidifier unit 60 has a water input 104, which receives the water from the house plumbing through the conduit 98. The humidifier unit 60 has a valve 106 that is controlled by a processor 108. The processor 108 is connected to a humidity sensor 112, such as represented in
The dehumidifier unit 62 has a cooling coil 116 that is used to extract the moisture as a liquid when the air passes over the coils. The air is then passed over a heating coil 118. The dehumidifier unit 62 has a fan 120 to move the air over the coils 116 and 118. The dehumidifier unit 62 in addition, similar to the air condition unit 54, has a compressor 122 and an expansion device 124.
The dehumidifier unit 62 has connection to the room 12, via the air intake 88 and the air exhaust 90, and the outside 18, via the air intake 94 and the air exhaust 96. Generally when the dehumidifier unit 62 is running, the connection only to the room 12 is open; the connection to the outside 18 is closed.
The air purifier unit 64 has a filter system 128. In addition, the air purifier unit 64 has a heat exchanger 130 to adjust the temperature of any air brought in from the outside to closer to the room 12 (e.g., raise the temperature of air from outside in the winter by gathering heat from the air that is being exhausted from room 12 via pulling air from air intake 88 of the room and pushed out the air exhaust 96 to the outside 18.)
It is recognized that various components can be combined completely or in part. For example, the air conditioning unit 54 and the dehumidifier unit 62 are shown separately, the components could be combined to both reduce weight and cost. Potentially the valving and circuitry would become more complex.
For clarity, not all of the components and interface are shown. For example, not all of the pumps, valves, and fans associated with the prime mechanical unit 50 are shown.
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The air conditioning unit 54 draws air from the room 12 via the openings 136 and 142 into the air intake 88. The conditioned air is returned to the room 12 via the small openings 34 via the air exhaust 90 from the air conditioning unit 54. While cold air sinks, the fan blades 28 in addition move the air around the room 12.
The dehumidifier system 150 of the climate control system 20 has an area 146 on at least one of the fan blades 28 with a plurality of openings 148 on the surface. The openings 148 allow air with moisture to pass by an evaporator coil; the movement of the fan blades 28 is in place of a fan such as in the prime mechanical unit 50. The moisture is collected and drawn back to the prime mechanical unit 50 as explained in part with respect to
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The large cylindrical portion 30 of the climate control system 20 overlies the central unit 22. The central unit 22 has the plurality of small openings 34 on the cylindrical portion 36 of the smaller central unit 22. The conduit 98 extends from the central unit 22 to the wall 16 along the ceiling 14 of the room 10.
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As indicated above, the fan blades 28 have certain elements such as the metal element 42 that require power. In addition, the fan blades 28 can provide misting such as shown in
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The fan blades 28 of the climate control system 20 are shown in an absorbing position where a flap 88 flips from the fan blade 28 is shown. The climate control system 20 moves the flap 88 to the absorbing position when the humidity sensor 112 reads humidity above a certain level. The open flap method captures more air than drawing into the central unit 22 or the fan blades 28 shown in
In an alternative, the fan blades 28 of the climate control system 20 can be rotated initially to pull the humid or stale air up. The flap 88 on each fan blade 28 are then open to better ingest the air. The flap 88 is then closed and the process is repeated.
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In one embodiment, the algorithm is designs to wait at least three minutes from removing stale air before bringing in fresh air in order to avoid brining in the same air. The intake and the outtake fans never work at the same time. Alternatively, a single duct can be sufficient as it only needs to work in one direction at any given time.
In an alterative embodiment, the pair of duct ports 196 and 198 are designed and spaced such that a minimal percentage of air pulled into the room came from the exhaust port.
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If the climate control system 20 determines that the humidity is high as represented by block 218, the system 20 via one of the processing unit such as the central processing unit 68, sets the fan to rotate so the air is drawn up in order to draw the air into the various openings 136 and 142 suctioning the humid air to the outside. The system 20 then brings fresh air from the outside. In addition, the climate control system 20 turns the dehumidifier unit 62 on to dry the air.
If the climate control system 20 determines that the air purity is low as by the air purity sensor 212 as represented by block 220, the system 20 via one of the processing units such as the central processing unit 68, turns the air purifier unit 64 which both exhaust stale air The system 20 uses the rotating fan blades 28 to pull the air up and in addition fans within the mechanical unit 50 to suction the low purity air to outside via the duct 96 in the conduit 98 as referenced by block 232 and block 242 and draw fresh air as referenced by block 234 and block 244.
If the climate control system 20 determines by the temperature sensor 38 that the temperature is low as represented by block 222, the system 20 either turns the heat on or turns air condition off dependent on the temperature. The fan blades 28 are rotated push the air down as represented by block 236.
If the climate control system 20 determines by the temperature sensor 38 that the temperature is how as represented by block 224, the system 20 either turns the heat off or turns air conditioning on dependent on the temperature. The fan rotates as represented by block 238.
If the climate control system 20 determines that the air purity is low as represented by block 220, the system 20 via one of the processing units such as the central processing unit 68, turns on the air purifier unit 64 which both exhaust stale air includes rotating the fan blades 28 and fans in the prime mechanical unit 50 as referenced by block 232 and block 242 and draws in fresh air as referenced by block 234 and block 244.
The fan is set to rotate so the air is drawn up in the center of the room and pushed down at the edges of the room 12 as represented by circle 230. In addition, the climate control system 20 turns the dehumidifier unit 62 on to dry the air. In addition, the system 20 forces air out of the room 12.
The climate control system 20 turns the valve 106 on to allow the misters to produce mist as represented by block 240.
The climate control system 20 has numerous features to save energy including energy lost along ducts by supplying the heat or cool air directly from the unit in the room—i.e. energy lost along extensive ducts in exiting models. In addition, energy is saved by the efficient use of sensors which activate the unit only when detecting movement in the vicinity.
The fan blade 28 of the climate control system saves energy by keeping the warm air from stagnating at the top of a room. Without the fan, the warmest air in a room rises, stagnating at the highest levels. The fan helps move the warm air downwards—adding further efficiency to the existing alternatives.
In addition to energy savings, there are potential space saving by increasing the availability of square footage by eliminating the need for various power units such as gas furnaces, as wells as the spaces required for ducts throughout a building or a house.
As indicated above, the climate control system contains all the elements to control the environment. In addition to air circulation, the climate control system can as well as serve as a fire sprinkler. As such it brings economies of scale for new construction where the cost and installation for separate projects for fire sprinklers piping, central air with extensive ducts. It also brings economies of scale by providing all-in-one air quality control such as humidity and air purity, as well as sensors for alarms. The sensors 46 can also include a smoke detector sensor and a high-temperature sensor which can and activate the sprinklers
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The foregoing embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects illustrative rather than limiting on the invention described herein. The true scope of the invention is thus indicated by the descriptions contained herein, as well as all changes that come within the meaning and ranges of equivalency thereof.
It is recognized that the humidifier unit 60 can also supply water as part of a fire suppression system. It is recognized that the climate control system 20 can have a sensor for fire and/or carbon dioxide.
It is recognized that there are various methods of achieving each of the functions described above. For example, there are numerous methods of dehumidifying the air including through a desiccant that absorbs moisture. The desiccant is heated to release the moisture. The system can use alternative methods of achieve the function.
It is recognized that a heating unit can be placed in the prime mechanical unit 50. It is also recognized that the air conditioning unit 54 can be tailored to be also a heating unit.
It is recognized that the climate control system 20 can have additional sensors such as to measure the level of carbon dioxide and trigger intake of fresh air and the removal of stale air. It is recognized that other air quality such as particle counting meter can be included.
It is recognized that while the house is used in describing the embodiment that the system can be used in other types of buildings.
This patent application claims the benefit of provisional application 62/548,137 filed Aug. 21, 2017, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62548137 | Aug 2017 | US |