The present invention generally relates to gas separation and air filtration. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a portable, screening device for removing odors, noxious vapors and volatile organic compounds (i.e., gaseous pollutants) that pass through it.
Replaceable air filters for cleaning the air that passes through them are well known in the art. Examples include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,526 to Mead (bracket structure mounted on fan for receiving a filter in sliding fashion); U.S. Pat. No. 7,393,272 to Sundet (adhesive-attached hooks mounted on the sides of the fan, with elastic straps extending through the hooks to hold a filter to the face of the fan); U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,838 to Volo et al. (stick-on right-angled brackets mounted on the fan with adjustable clearance to snugly hold filters against the faces of a fan); U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,426 to Whittemore (filter frame removably mounted against the face of a box fan with straps or cords to receive a filter), and U.S. Pat. No. 8,979,965 to Minaeeghainipour (magnetically mounting filter to fan).
Other examples include those that use the known ability of activated carbon granules to clean odors, noxious vapors and volatile organic compounds (i.e., gaseous pollutants) from the air that passes over these granules. When this technology is incorporated into the typical design for replaceable air filters (i.e., a flat, fibrous mat of a specified thickness), it usually involves spraying a liquid form of activated carbon onto these filters. The disadvantages of this spraying are the increasing of such sprayed air filters' resistance to air flow through them, and a reduction in the duration of their useful lives before they need to be replaced. Additionally, the effectiveness of such sprayed, air filters in cleaning odors, noxious vapors and volatile organic compounds (i.e., gaseous pollutants) from the air that passes through them is reported greatly reduced compared to that of passing air through beds of activated carbon granules that have the same thickness as such a sprayed air filter.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,703,074 to Coomes (the present inventor) discloses an air cleaning device or screen assembly that uses replaceable, activated carbon granules to remove gaseous pollutants from air that passes through the device. An accessible, confined space between a set of screens is used to hold the carbon granules in place. A key advantage of this invention is that it is reusable by periodically replacing its carbon granules.
Despite these previous attempts at cleaning gaseous pollutants from air using the known cleaning attributes of activated carbon, there continues to exist the need for a device that can clean gaseous pollutants from air in a convenient, safe, economical and aesthetically acceptable manner. The present invention seeks to provide such a device.
Recognizing the need for a device that can clean odors, noxious vapors, and volatile organic compounds (i.e., gaseous pollutants) from air in a convenient, safe, economical and aesthetically acceptable manner, the present invention seeks to provide such a device.
Various aspects, advantages, features and embodiments of the present invention are included in the following description of exemplary examples thereof, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. All patents, patent applications, articles, other publications, and things referenced herein are hereby incorporated herein by this reference in their entirety for all purposes. To the extent of any inconsistency or conflict in the definition or use of terms between any of the incorporated publications, documents or things and the present application, those of the present application shall prevail.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In its simplest terms, the present invention is a portable device 1 for removing gaseous pollutants from the surrounding air. It includes: a portable enclosure 100 having a boundary 101 that encloses an interior region 102 with an opening 103 that provides for access to the interior region, a fan 110 situated in the interior region, a screening element 4 that has a defined porosity and is configured to adjustably and temporarily enclose a confined space 60 and also cover the opening, a plurality of activated carbon granules 90 of a specified size that are situated in the confined space, wherein the screening element porosity is selected so as to generally prevent the activated carbon granules from passing through the screening element 4, and wherein the screening element's adjustability enables temporary access to the confined space in order to remove and replenish the activated carbon granules 90.
Also shown in
For the purposes of the screening element 4 of the present invention, we specify the sizes of the activated carbon granules 90 that are suitable for use with it as being characterized by having a size such that approximately 90% by weight of these granules pass through a sieve in the range of a #3-#5 sieve, and approximately 90% by weight are captured by a sieve in the range of a #7-#9 sieve.
Having settled on the use of the above sized activated carbon granules 90, we experimented with various combinations of screening materials to identify a combination what would be effective in preventing these granules from passing through the top and bottom screens of the screening element 4 of the present invention. The following combination of three screens for both the top and bottom frames was found to be highly effective: (a) a fine screen 20A, 40A that has a plurality of openings, and with each of these openings having a surface area that is in the range of 0.0035-0.0160 inches2 (e.g., as might be made by a screen having 1/16 inch by 1/16 inch square opening and made from PVC coated, nylon wire), (b) a hardware cloth, metal (e.g., galvanized steel) screen 20B, 40B that is made from 19 gauge wire and has square shaped openings with the length of the sides of these squares being in the range of ¼ inch to ¾ inch, and (c) a coarse screen (e.g., made from expanded metal [galvanized steel]) 20C, 40C that is made from 18 gauge wire and has diamond shaped openings, and with each of these having four corners where the length dimension between the closest of these corners is in the range of 0.75-1.5 inches.
It is a simple matter to use the screening element 4 of the present invention. When the gaseous pollutant extraction ability of an initial portion of granules, that have been placed in the confined spaced between the top and bottom frames, is no longer effective (i.e., the granules are expired), the wing nut 72 is removed and the top frame is moved away from the bottom frame to allow the initial portion of granules to be removed and replaced by another portion of fresh granules. The top frame 10 is then again placed over the bottom frame 30 and they are again temporarily locked together until the next time the granules need to be replaced.
Many materials of construction (e.g., wood, heavy-duty carboard) can be used to fabricate the frames of the screening element 4 of the present invention. The early prototype frames of the screening element 4 of the present invention were fabricated from aluminum in order to minimize the frames' weight while also providing them with sufficient rigidity.
Later prototypes were fabricated from bamboo for aesthetic and other reasons. These bamboo air cleaning devices all had rectangularly shaped frames. See
To enhance the cleaning effective of the present invention, air is forced to twice flow through its screening element 4. This screening element is used in front of the air intake and exhaust portions of a two portion (a top or exhaust portion 103A and a bottom or intake portion 103B) opening 103 in the boundary 101 that encloses the interior region 102 of the portable enclosure or box 100.
A squirrel cage fan 110 is attached to the rectangular-shaped, bottom 108 portion of this box. This fan is used to draw air into the box's interior region though the bottom portion 4A of this screening element 4 and then to exhaust the air through the top portion 4B of this screening element. See
In the embodiment shown in
The device's fan 110 is attached to the bottom portion of this box. An appropriately sized duct 116 or ductwork (including any necessary baffling) is used to connects the fan's entrance and exit to the respective intake and exhaust portions of the enclosure's opening. This ductwork for the embodiment shown in
A key advantage of the screening element of the present invention is that it is designed to be, with the replenishment of its activated carbon granules, reusable (which reduces its overall operating costs because only its granules have to be replaced).
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the present invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described herein. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention that is set forth hereafter in the claims to the invention.
This Application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 63/470,492 filed on Jun. 2, 2023 by the present inventor. The teachings of this application are incorporated herein by reference to the extent that they do not conflict with the teaching herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63470492 | Jun 2023 | US |