1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to pliable air ducts and more specifically to the air permeability of such a duct.
2. Description of Related Art
In HVAC systems (heating, ventilating, air conditioning), conditioned supply air discharged from a blower is often conveyed to various rooms or areas within a building by way of ductwork. Conventional ductwork is typically formed of sheet metal and is often installed above ceilings for convenience and aesthetics. But in warehouses, manufacturing plants and many other buildings, the ducts are suspended from the roof of the building and are thus exposed. This not only creates a poor appearance in many cases, but can create other problems as well.
For example, temperature differentials between an air duct and the air on either side of the duct wall can create condensation on both the interior and exterior of the duct. The presence of condensed moisture on the interior of the duct may form mold or bacteria that the duct then passes onto the room or other areas being supplied with the conditioned air. If an exposed sheet metal duct conveys relatively cool air, condensation can form on the exterior of the duct. The condensate may then drip onto the floor, inventory, and personnel below. The consequences of the dripping can range anywhere from a minor irritation to a dangerously slippery floor for the personnel, or complete destruction of the products it may drip on (especially in food-processing facilities).
Further, metal ducts with localized discharge registers have been known to create uncomfortable drafts and unbalanced localized heating or cooling within the building. In many food-processing facilities where the target temperature is 42 degrees Fahrenheit, a cold draft can be especially uncomfortable and perhaps unhealthy.
Many of the above problems associated with exposed metal ducts are overcome by the use of fabric ducts, such as DUCTSOX fabric ducts by Frommelt Safety Products Corporation of Milwaukee, Wis. Such ducts typically have a fabric wall that is air-permeable to broadly and evenly disperse the air into the room being conditioned or ventilated. If greater airflow in needed in certain areas, the fabric duct can be provided with additional discharge openings, such as air registers or cutouts in the fabric.
The porosity of conventional fabric can pass a substantial amount of air, which can be desirable in many applications where the airflow through the pores of the fabric is used primarily for evenly dispersing air into a room. However, some applications require airflow that is more directed toward certain areas of a room. In such cases, it may be desirable to have relatively large discharge openings provide most of the air airflow, while the pores of the fabric provide only enough airflow to inhibit dust and condensation from accumulating on the outer surface of the fabric material.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to acquire an air duct material whose porosity provides an appropriately small amount of airflow, such as 2 cfm (two cubic feet per minute of air across one square-foot of material subject to a 0.02 psi air pressure differential). Standard fabric materials have been found to pass 40 cfm or more. Such materials have been calendered in an attempt to reduce the materials porosity. Although calendering conventional fabric does reduce its porosity temporarily, much of the effect is lost after the material is washed. Thus, simply calendering just any porous fabric is not a permanent solution to the problem.
An air duct consists of an air permeable material that passes air therethrough at a flow rate that is substantially less than what the air duct discharges through other larger openings.
In some embodiments, an air duct is made of a porous fabric that is plastic coated to reduce, but not eliminate, the fabric's porosity.
In some embodiments, an air duct includes a pliable sheet that includes a porous fabric base. The sheet is coated with a plastic that renders the sheet substantially impermeable to air. The sheet is provided with discharge openings for supplying air to a room, and is perforated with much smaller openings that help inhibit the formation of condensation or inhibit the accumulation of dust.
In some embodiments, an air duct with primary discharge openings and much smaller pores or perforations is made of a fabric with anti-microbial properties.
In some embodiments, an air duct is made of a plastic coated porous fabric that is calendered to reduce the fabric's porosity.
In some embodiments, the an air duct is made of a fabric sheet having numerous minute pores or perforations that convey only one to four CFM/ft2 (cubic feet per minute per square-foot of material) when a 0.02 psia pressure differential exists across the sheet.
In some embodiments, an air duct material is perforated by displacing material rather than by removing a significant portion of it. Displacing material not only helps reinforce the periphery of each perforation, but also helps reduce the amount of scrap during the perforating process.
In some embodiments, an air duct includes a fabric sheet having a base material of polyester for strength and porosity, and having an acrylic or polyurethane coating to reduce or eliminate the base material's porosity.
In other examples, an air duct comprises a pliable sheet configured to convey air, wherein the pliable sheet has a porosity formed by an emorizing or sueding process, wherein the pliable sheet includes a plurality of discharge openings that each provide a first area and wherein the porosity of the pliable sheet provides a plurality of second areas, with the first area being greater than the second open area.
In some examples, an air duct, comprises a pliable sheet configured to convey air, wherein the pliable sheet includes a fabric base material that is porous and a plastic coating on the fabric base material that reduces the porosity of the fabric base material yet leaves the pliable sheet porous, wherein the pliable sheet includes a plurality of discharge openings that provide a first open area and the porosity of the pliable sheet provides a second open area with the first open area being greater than the second open area.
In some yet other examples, a method of creating an air duct comprises applying pressure to a pliable sheet having a porosity below a desired porosity to increase the porosity of the pliable sheet to the desired porosity; and configuring the pliable sheet to convey air.
In some examples, a method of creating an air duct comprises applying pressure to a pliable sheet to decrease a porosity of the pliable sheet; after the application of the pressure, applying a plastic coating to the pliable sheet; and configuring the pliable sheet to convey air.
An air duct 10, shown in
Most of the air delivered to the rooms comes from discharge openings 16 in duct 10, as indicated by airflow arrows 18. Openings 16 can assume a variety of forms including, but not limited to cutouts, discharge registers, and screens.
To help inhibit condensation or dust from accumulating on the surface of duct 10, the fabric wall between discharge openings 16 is provided with another set of much smaller openings 20. Openings 20 allow the fabric wall of the duct to breathe in the areas between discharge openings 16. A slight current of air 22 passing outward through the duct wall may help keep dust from settling on the exterior of the duct. But also, when duct 10 is conveying cool air, a small current of cool air passing through the duct's fabric wall tends to keep the warmer room air slightly away from the exterior surface of duct 10. Thus, moisture in the warmer room air is less likely to condense on the surface of duct 10.
The actual size, number, and spacing of smaller openings 20 can vary; however, there does appear to be an optimum design range. The relative open areas of openings 16 and 20 should allow about ten percent (preferably less than more) of supply air 14 to pass through smaller openings 20 and about ninety percent through discharge openings 16. Sheet 12 should preferably pass one to four CFM/ft2 with a 0.02-psi pressure differential across sheet 12 (i.e., 0.02 pounds per square inch of air pressure should force one to four cubic feet of air across a one square-foot of sheet material every minute). Higher airflow rates through smaller openings 20 reduce the amount of air that discharge openings 16 can direct to specific areas, while lower airflow rates are less effective at reducing condensation or dust. In some cases, positive results are achieved when openings 16 are able to pass more than twenty times as much air as smaller openings 20. Moreover, the distribution of openings 20 should be sufficiently dense to provide an even flow of air through sheet 12. To avoid having smaller openings 20 direct too much airflow in any particular direction, openings 20 are preferably distributed over nearly the full circumference or perimeter of duct 10.
To achieve appropriate airflow characteristics, sheet 12 may consist of a fabric base material 24 with a plastic coating 26, as shown in
The process of producing sheet 12 is schematically illustrated in
In an alternate embodiment, shown in
Just as with the embodiment of
A technique for producing a pliable sheet, alternative to that shown in
The pliable sheet 100 is compressed between two rollers 104 and 106, which have abrasion surfaces, 108 and 110, respectively. The abrasion surfaces 108, 110 have protrusions 112 compressing against the surface of the pliable sheet 100 to create the desired level of porosity. Thus, the process of
The abrasion surfaces 108 and 110 may be formed of sandpaper or other rough surfaces, such as a surface coated with industrial diamond particles. The protrusions 112 may be periodic or aperiodic. In an example, the protrusions 112 cover the entire surface 108 and 110.
Although the pliable sheet 100 is illustrated in
Another suitable process is a calendering process like that of
While the tubular pliable sheets 124 and 160 are shown having a uniform cross-sectional shape that is circular, the sheets 124 and 160 may be formed into other cross-sectional shapes and may be uniform or non-uniform across their tubular length.
Although the invention is described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications are well within the scope of the invention. For example, the pliable sheets described herein do not have to include a fabric base. The sheets could simply be a pliable air impermeable plastic sheet that is perforated with micro-perforations or pinholes to achieve desired flow characteristics. And in the case of the emorizing and sueding techniques described with reference to
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/951,717, filed on Sep. 13, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,430.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3195296 | Janson | Jul 1965 | A |
3357088 | Hoffman | Dec 1967 | A |
3607341 | Goins et al. | Sep 1971 | A |
3911962 | Chomat et al. | Oct 1975 | A |
3940917 | Strachan | Mar 1976 | A |
4017282 | Zahka et al. | Apr 1977 | A |
4463483 | Holm | Aug 1984 | A |
4699133 | Schafer et al. | Oct 1987 | A |
4951366 | Geller | Aug 1990 | A |
5024877 | McCullough et al. | Jun 1991 | A |
5095942 | Murphy | Mar 1992 | A |
5111739 | Hall | May 1992 | A |
5123595 | Doss | Jun 1992 | A |
5167577 | Kristensson | Dec 1992 | A |
5368341 | Larson | Nov 1994 | A |
5401793 | Kobayashi et al. | Mar 1995 | A |
5490813 | Danielsen | Feb 1996 | A |
5655963 | Paschke | Aug 1997 | A |
5725427 | Koerber | Mar 1998 | A |
5769708 | Paschke | Jun 1998 | A |
5782689 | Woolsey et al. | Jul 1998 | A |
5855154 | Schakel et al. | Jan 1999 | A |
5961044 | Dalbec | Oct 1999 | A |
5996281 | Takano | Dec 1999 | A |
6002333 | Hickey | Dec 1999 | A |
6280320 | Paschke | Aug 2001 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0175892 | Apr 1996 | EP |
0840072 | May 1998 | EP |
0899519 | Mar 1999 | EP |
2713317 | Jun 1995 | FR |
63-003143 | Jan 1988 | JP |
03-110342 | May 1991 | JP |
06094295 | Apr 1994 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20040029522 A1 | Feb 2004 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 09951717 | Sep 2001 | US |
Child | 10441904 | US |