An HVACR fan cabinet and heater assembly for use in commercial packaged HVACR products.
Commercial packaged HVACR systems such as rooftop units for servicing large buildings such as office buildings, multi-tenant dwellings, or warehouses, use centrifugal blowers such as plenum fans to drive airflow through the systems. Near a centrifugal blower such as a plenum fan, the airflow may be a horizontal tornado, with a rotation determined by the direction in which the fan is spinning. This can result in uneven pressurization of the fan cabinet and result in uneven flow through heating elements attached to the fan cabinets which are used to heat buildings. This uneven flow may require a larger cabinet to allow airflows to normalize before the airflow passes through heating elements used to heat the air then supplied to a building by the HVACR system, causing the HVACR system to be larger than necessary and limiting the building which can be serviced by the HVACR system.
An HVACR fan and heating assembly including a fan cabinet with a heater mounted vertically and horizontally biased towards one of the side walls of the fan cabinet. The cabinet contains a centrifugal blower and has at least a blower-side wall, a solid blockoff opposite the blower-side wall, a first side wall that is to the left of the centrifugal blower from the perspective of the blockoff, a second side wall to the right of the centrifugal blower from the perspective of the blockoff, and a heater mount on the solid block-off that is biased towards the first side wall or the second side wall based on the direction of rotation of the centrifugal blower.
In an embodiment, the blockoff may be a smooth planar surface without flanges or protrusions into the cabinet.
In an embodiment, the centrifugal blower may be a plenum fan or a housed fan.
In an embodiment, the heater mount may be aligned vertically, such that the height of the mounted heater is greater than its width.
In an embodiment, the biasing based on the direction of rotation of the centrifugal blower may be towards the second side wall where the centrifugal blower rotates clockwise with respect to the blockoff, or may be on a towards the first side wall where the blower rotates counter-clockwise with respect to the blockoff.
In an embodiment, the HVACR cabinet may further include at least a second centrifugal blower, and one or more baffles disposed within the cabinet.
In an embodiment, the baffles may be disposed between a centrifugal blower and a second centrifugal blower.
By accounting for the cyclonic flow of air leaving a centrifugal blower, the airflow exiting a fan cabinet through a heater can be made more even. Improving the evenness of airflow through the heater improves the safety and efficiency of the heater by improving heat transfer from the heater to the airflow and preventing the formation of hot spots on the heater, which accelerate heater wear and present a fire risk. Additionally, ways to improve the evenness of airflow without requiring a lengthening of the fan cabinet facilitate integration of such fan cabinets and fan and heater assemblies into packaged HVACR solutions such as rooftop units.
In an HVACR fan and heater assembly, the heater may be placed biased to one side of a fan cabinet and mounted vertically such that the height of the heater is greater than its width, receiving airflow more evenly across the entire heater, and improving the safety and efficiency of the unit. The fan and heater assembly may be incorporated into a larger HVACR unit, such as a rooftop system serving a structure, such as an office building, apartment complex, or warehouse.
The fan cabinet 10 may be defined by the blower-side wall 12, the side walls 14 and 16, the bottom 20, the top 22 and the blockoff 18. The blower-side wall 12 may include an inlet through which air may enter the centrifugal blower 24. The centrifugal blower 24 is located primarily within the fan cabinet 10, though some of it may extend past the blower-side wall 12 in some embodiments. First side wall 14 is, from the perspective of the blockoff 18, to the left of the centrifugal blower 24. Second side wall 16 is, from the perspective of the blockoff 18, to the right of the centrifugal blower 24. Heater 26 is mounted on the fan cabinet, at an opening in the blockoff 18.
The centrifugal blower 24 may be, for example, a plenum fan or a housed fan. Centrifugal blower 24 takes in air through an inlet in blower-side wall 12 and forces the air into the fan cabinet 10. The centrifugal blower 24 may rotate in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, that direction defined by the rotation of the centrifugal blower with respect to the blockoff 18. In the embodiment depicted in
In the fan cabinet 10, opposite the blower-side wall 12, there is a blockoff 18 and a heater 26. The blockoff 18 prevents escape of the air within the fan cabinet 10, forcing air to travel through the heater 26 in order to escape the fan cabinet 10. A side of the blockoff 18 faces the inside of the fan cabinet 10. The side of the blockoff 18 facing the inside of the fan cabinet may be a smooth planar surface free of flanges or protrusions which may affect airflow. In some embodiments, there may be a recess 32 in the side of the blockoff facing the outside of the fan cabinet, where, for example, a control panel for the HVACR unit which includes the fan cabinet may be located.
Heater 26 is a heater, such as an electric heater, warming the airflow that passes through as the airflow exits the fan cabinet 10. The heater has a height 28 and a width 30. In some embodiments, the heater may be oriented vertically. In the vertical orientation, the long side of the heater runs in a direction from the bottom 20 of fan cabinet 10 towards the top 22 of fan cabinet 10. In the vertical orientation, the major axis of the heater is in the direction from the bottom 20 of the fan cabinet towards the top 22 of the fan cabinet. In the vertical orientation, the height 28 of the heater, running in the direction from the bottom of the fan cabinet 20 towards the top of the cabinet 22 is greater than the width of the cabinet running the direction from the first side wall 14 towards the second side wall 16. In an embodiment, the height 28 of the heater 26 matches the distance between the top 22 and bottom 20 of the fan cabinet 10. In an embodiment, the height 28 of the heater 26 may be less than a height of the fan cabinet 10, with the height of the fan cabinet 10 measured as distance between the top 22 and bottom 20 of the fan cabinet 10. In embodiments where the height 28 of the heater 26 is less than the distance between the top 22 and the bottom 20 of the fan cabinet 10, portions of the blockoff 18 cover the areas above the heater, up to the top 22 of the cabinet and below the heater down to the bottom 20 of the cabinet. In embodiments where the height 28 of the heater 26 is less than the distance between the top 22 and the bottom 20 of the fan cabinet 10, and wherein the top of the heater 26 is not flush with the top 22 of the fan cabinet 10, a baffle may be placed at or near the top 22 of the fan cabinet 10 to deflect airflow into an intake of the heater 26.
In some embodiments, the heater 26 may be oriented horizontally, with its major axis running between the first side wall 14 and the second side wall 16. When oriented horizontally, the width of the heater 30 is greater than the height of the heater 28. In these embodiments, the width of the heater 30 may be less than the distance from the first side wall 14 to the second side wall 16 and the height of the heater 28 may be less than the distance from the bottom 20 of the cabinet 10 to the top 22 of the cabinet 10.
The heater 26 is positioned with a horizontal bias towards one of the side walls 14 or 16, placing the heater closer to one side wall than it is to the other and offset from a center-line of the fan cabinet. In the embodiment depicted in
In some embodiments, the position of the heater 26 may be biased vertically. The heater 26 may be biased towards the top 22 of the cabinet 10 relative to the centrifugal blower 24. In some embodiments, the heater 26 may be biased such that a top of the heater 24 is flush with the top 22 of the cabinet 10. In these embodiments, the blockoff 18 extends from the first side wall 14 to the second side wall 16 below the heater 26, and in embodiments where the heater 26 is not flush with the top 22 of the cabinet 10, extend from the first side wall 14 to the second side wall 16 above the heater 26, and extend from a side of the heater 26 to the first side wall 14 and/or the second side wall 16, and extend from the first side wall 14 to the second side wall 16 below the heater 26. In some embodiments, the biasing of the heater towards the top 22 of fan cabinet 10 may be such that the height of the heater 28 does not at any point overlap with the height of the centrifugal blower 24 when viewed from the perspective of the blockoff 18.
The airflow 70 exiting the centrifugal blower 24 in region 54 between the center line 52 of the fan cabinet 10 and the second side wall 16 flows towards the second side wall 16 and the blower-side wall 12. The airflow 70 traveling along the blower-side wall 12 is deflected towards the second side wall 16. The airflow 70 travels along and may be deflected by the second side wall 16 towards heater 26, through which it leaves fan cabinet 10.
The airflow 72 exiting the centrifugal blower 24 in region 56 between the center line 52 of the fan cabinet 10 and the first side wall 14 flows towards the blower-side wall 12 and is deflected by the blower-side wall 12 towards the first side wall 14. The airflow 72 continues along and may be deflected by the first side wall 14 towards the blockoff 18.
Air from airflow 72 may pass over or under the centrifugal blower 24 following airflow 74 or may pass between the end of the centrifugal blower 24 and the blockoff 18 following airflow 76. Airflows 74 and 76 may converge with airflow 70 in region 54 of the fan cabinet 10 and follow the path of airflow 70 towards the blower-side wall 12, then towards the second side wall 16, and to and through the heater 26.
Aspects:
It is to be appreciated that any one of aspects 1-8 may be combined with any of aspects 9-16 or 17-20, and that any of aspects 9-16 may be combined with any of aspects 17-20.
Aspect 1. An HVACR fan and heater assembly, comprising:
Aspect 2. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to aspect 1, wherein the centrifugal blower is a plenum fan.
Aspect 3. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to aspect 1-2, wherein the heater is mounted such that it has a width that is greater than its height and the position of the heater is vertically biased towards a top of the fan cabinet.
Aspect 4. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to any of aspects 1-3, wherein the position of the heater is such that a side of the heater is flush with the first side wall or the second side wall.
Aspect 5. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to any of aspects 1-4, wherein the centrifugal blower rotates clockwise with respect to the blockoff and the position of the heater is biased towards the second side wall.
Aspect 6. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to any of aspects 1-4, wherein the centrifugal blower rotates counter-clockwise with respect to the blockoff and the position of the heater is biased towards the first side wall.
Aspect 7. The HVACR fan and heater assembly of any of aspects 1-6, further comprising a second centrifugal blower.
Aspect 8. The HVACR fan and heater assembly according to aspect 7 further comprising a baffle disposed between the centrifugal blower and the second centrifugal blower.
Aspect 9. An HVACR fan cabinet comprising:
Aspect 10. The HVACR fan cabinet according to aspect 9, wherein the heater mounting is oriented such that the width of the heater mounting is greater than the height of the heater mounting and a vertical position of the heater mounting is biased towards a top of the fan cabinet.
Aspect 11. The HVACR fan cabinet according to any of aspects 9-10, wherein the position of the heater mounting is biased such that one side of the heater mounting is flush with one of the first side wall or the second side wall.
Aspect 12. The HVACR fan cabinet according to any of aspects 9-11, further comprising a heater connected to the heater mounting.
Aspect 13. The HVACR fan cabinet according to any of aspects 9-12, wherein the blower-side wall comprises an inlet.
Aspect 14. The HVACR fan cabinet according to aspect 13, further comprising a centrifugal blower mounted within the cabinet and wherein the centrifugal blower interfaces with the inlet of the blower-side wall.
Aspect 15. The HVACR fan cabinet according aspect 14, wherein the centrifugal blower rotates clockwise with respect to the blockoff and the position of the heater mounting is biased towards the second side wall.
Aspect 16. The HVACR fan cabinet according to aspect 14, wherein the centrifugal blower rotates counter-clockwise with respect to the blockoff and the position of the heater mounting is biased towards the first side wall.
Aspect 17. An HVACR system, comprising:
Aspect 18. The HVACR system of aspect 17, wherein the heater is mounted on the blockoff with a vertical position biased towards the top of the fan cabinet and oriented such that a width of the heater is greater than a height of the heater.
Aspect 19. The HVACR system according to any of aspects 17-18, wherein the return air inlet receives air from a building and the supply outlet provides air to the building.
Aspect 20. The HVACR system of any of aspects 17-19, the heater is flush with the first side wall or the second side wall of the fan cabinet.
The examples disclosed in this application are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not limitative. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description; and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20200292205 A1 | Sep 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15481867 | Apr 2017 | US |
Child | 16889497 | US |