Patent Application
20110146943
The present disclosure generally relates to apparatuses and methods for conditioning the temperature of air for the comfort of individuals proximate to the apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an air conditioning system for use in an open air or outdoor setting.
Leisure time for many individuals includes enjoyment of open air and outdoors environments. For some, this may include hikes through a forest or landscaping the back yard. For others, a round of golf or a sightseeing trip is the preferred activity. However, for many individuals relaxation is composed of entertaining family or friends on the back yard patio. Other open air and outdoor activities are also popular such as informal business gatherings, receptions, and social hours and are typically conducted at poolside, on a large patio, or other similar gathering area. While experiencing the outdoors is a preference of many in their pursuit of leisure, relaxing, and socializing, these activities must usually be accomplished at the mercy of the current whims of the weather. The overwhelming preference for these activities is to conduct them on bright sunshine days. However, in many climes, conducting these activities in direct sunlight also means that the participants are exposed to heat, sunshine, and humidity that, if not within a small comfort band, can become uncomfortable within a short time period.
Umbrellas, tents and gazebos have been utilized in the past to provide shade for gatherings of various sizes. While, such structures provide areas of shade under which people can gather and can accommodate a larger or smaller numbers of people, these structures do not address the underlying ambient temperature and humidity factors, which are also important elements of comfort. Further, attempting to enclose a tent or gazebo and provide the structure with conditioned air for the comfort of everyone housed therein can be logistically difficult at best and prohibitively costly at worst. Enclosing these structures also counteracts the aesthetic aspects of the open air or outdoor environment, which was originally desired to enhance the gathering in the first place. Such enclosures merely function to force a gathering's population into a single designated space in total without regard to individual preferences or accommodation of sub-groupings of participants.
In particular, while a particular gathering may involve a significant number of people overall, within the total population of the gathering, a number of smaller intimate groups are occurring simultaneously. These smaller groups may typically involve ten or fewer participants engaged in topical discussions. Individuals typically float from one small group to another during the course of the total event. Thus, while the overall population of the even remains relatively constant, the smaller groups are dynamic and typically vary slightly in size within the size range of ten or fewer over the course of the event.
The comfort demands of these smaller groups can also vary. Some groups may desire to stand in the sunshine, while other groups may desire the comfort of conditioned air and shade. Therefore, there is a need for providing to smaller groups within a larger event population in an outdoor or open air environment, an apparatus capable of delivering conditioned air for the comfort of the individuals within the smaller group without concurrently detracting from the outdoor or open air experience.
The present disclosure is generally directed to an outdoor, weather resistant, air conditioning tower for providing thermally conditioned air to users located proximate to the tower includes a tower housing defining at least one ambient air inlet, a first conditioned air outlet vertically positioned at a height to coincide with the torso of a standing human, and a second conditioned air outlet vertically positioned at a height to coincide with the head of a standing human. A fan within the tower housing has a fan inlet communicative with the ambient air inlet for drawing ambient air into the tower for thermal conditioning and also has a fan outlet communicative with the first and said second conditioned air outlets for supplying conditioned air to users. A heat exchanger is interposed between the ambient air inlet and the conditioned air outlet, and a working fluid supply is fluidly communicative with the heat exchanger for thermally conditioning the ambient air.
In another aspect, the outdoor air conditioning tower includes a tower housing defining at least one ambient air inlet, a first conditioned air outlet vertically positioned at a height to coincide with the torso of a standing human, and a second conditioned air outlet vertically positioned at a height to coincide with the head of a standing human. A fan within the tower housing has a fan inlet communicative with the ambient air inlet for drawing ambient air into the tower for thermal conditioning and also has a fan outlet communicative with the first and said second conditioned air outlets for supplying conditioned air to users. A heat exchanger is interposed between the ambient air inlet and the conditioned air outlet, and an underground working fluid supply conduit is fluidly communicative with the heat exchanger for thermally conditioning the ambient air.
In another aspect, the tower comprises an exhaust conduit for expelling waste air as a by-product of the conditioning cycle. The exhaust conduit is routed to discharge the waste air at a location and direction away from the users standing around the tower.
In still another aspect, the tower housing defines a second ambient air inlet, and the tower further includes a mast extending upwardly from the tower housing, and defines an exhaust conduit for expelling waste air as a by-product of the conditioning cycle. A second fan is located within the tower housing and has a fan inlet communicative with the second ambient air inlet for drawing ambient air into the tower and a fan outlet communicative with the exhaust conduit. Also included within the tower housing is a condenser or second heat exchanger interposed between the second ambient air inlet and the second fan inlet. The condenser and heat exchanger are fluidly communicative for cycling the working fluid therebetween during the thermal conditioning cycle.
In yet another aspect, the mast can include a selectively extendable canopy at an upper end of the mast.
In a still further aspect, the mast includes at least one selectively illuminable light at an upper end of the mast.
The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where like numerals denote like elements and in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views of the drawings.
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” or “illustrative” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” or “illustrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. All of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims. For purposes of description herein, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “rear”, “right”, “front”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and derivatives thereof shall relate to the invention as oriented in
Turning to the drawings,
A mast 160 extends upwardly from an upper portion of tower housing 120. Mast 160 can be decorative, functional, or both. In the present embodiment of tower 100, the mast 160 is functional and defines an exhaust conduit 162 for expelling waste air that is a by-product of the air conditioning cycle, being directed away from people standing proximate the outdoor air conditioning tower 100. As illustrated in
Positioned within a base 121 of housing 120 is a first fan 130 having an inlet 132 fluidly communicative with first ambient air inlet 122 and an outlet 134 fluidly communicative with first and second conditioned air outlets 126, 128 via conditioned air conduits 138. Also positioned within base 121 of housing 120 is a second fan 140 having an inlet 142 fluidly communicative with second ambient air inlet 124 and an outlet 144 fluidly communicative with exhaust conduit 162.
A heat exchanger 136 is preferably interposed between first ambient air inlet 122 and first fan inlet 132, and a second heat exchanger 146 is interposed between second ambient air inlet 124 and second fan inlet 142. Heat exchanger 136 and second heat exchanger 146 are fluidly interconnected with a working fluid supply cyclically communicative between the exchanger 136 and second heat exchanger 146 via one or more working fluid conduits supply conduits 150.
In use, a group of individual humans 10 may congregate around or in the immediate vicinity of outdoor air conditioning tower 100. Assuming the individuals desire to have the air in the immediate area thermally conditioned, tower 100 can be activated using control panel 156. Controls 156 may be operated manually or set to automatically cycle depending on the desires of the users. Upon activation, fans 130 and 140 begin to draw external ambient air through ambient air inlets 122, 124 respectively. Ambient air “A” drawn through first ambient air inlet 122 is passed through heat exchanger 136 whereupon it is thermally conditioned by the flow of working fluid circulating between heat exchanger 136 and second heat exchanger 146 in an evaporation-condensation cycle well known in the art. As the conditioned air “A” exits heat exchanger 136 and enters first fan 130, the conditioned air is directed through outlet 134 of first fan 130 through conditioned air conduits 138 and subsequently expelled back to the ambient environment through first and second conditioned air outlets 126, 128 as thermally conditioned air “B” for the comfort of the humans 10 gathered therearound. Conditioned air “B” exits from first conditioned air outlets 126 vertically positioned to direct the conditioned air at the torsos 12 of the users 10, and conditioned air “B” exits from second conditioned air outlets 128 vertically positioned to direct the air in the vicinity of the heads 14 of the users 10.
Concurrent with the thermal conditioning of air as it passes through heat exchanger 136, second fan 140 draws ambient air “A” through second heat exchanger 146 to restore the working fluid to its original state prior to the energy transfer process of heat exchanger 136. This airflow becomes waste air “C” and is expelled from outlet 144 of second fan 140 through exhaust conduit 162 of mast 160.
Turning now to
In use, the users desiring to have conditioned air delivered from tower 200 utilize controls 256 to initiate operation of tower 200. Upon activation, fan 230 begins to draw external ambient air through ambient air inlet 222. Ambient air “A” drawn through ambient air inlet 222 is passed through heat exchanger 236 whereupon it is thermally conditioned by the flow of working fluid circulating from supply conduit 250 (Arrow “C”), through heat exchanger 236 and returned to a remote reservoir through return conduit 252 (Arrow “D”) in an evaporation-condensation cycle known in the art. As the conditioned air “A” exits heat exchanger 236 and enters fan 230, the conditioned air is directed through outlet 234 of fan 230 through conditioned air conduits 238 and subsequently expelled back to the ambient environment through first and second conditioned air outlets 226, 228 as thermally conditioned air “B” for the comfort of the humans 10 gathered therearound. Conditioned air “B” exits from first conditioned air outlets 226 vertically positioned to direct the conditioned air at the torsos 12 of the users 10, and conditioned air “B” exits from second conditioned air outlets 228 vertically positioned to direct the air directly towards the heads 14 of the users 10 for their comfort.
Illustrated in
Illustrated in
An alternate exemplary form factor, referred to as a tower 500, is presented in
The outlet vents can comprise a vent control assembly, wherein said vent control assembly controls the direction and flow rate of the discharged conditioned air passing outlet vents. An exemplary vent control assembly would be similar to those used in an automobile or airplane.
Each of the towers 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 is preferably fabricated with considerations for the environment. The various electrical components are provided with weather sensitive considerations, to avoid any intrusion of water, dust, and the like. Additionally, the tower can include insulation for reducing thermal deviations. The materials would be selected considering an outdoor application, being UV resistant, incorporating expansion joints, and the like. The tower would additionally include water or moisture control features, such as moisture collection and discharge channels. The components are preferably fabricated of corrosion resistant materials, treated for corrosion resistance, protected to avoid exposure for corrosion, and the like.
It is understood that the above disclosure is provided for directing conditioned air toward a plurality of users standing or proximate about a tower. It is understood that the heat exchanger can be adapted to disperse hot air as well as cool air, while maintaining within the spirit and intent of the present invention.
Since many modifications, variations, and changes in detail can be made to the described preferred embodiments of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalence
