Patent Application
20240175588
This application relates to a slant back roof ridge vent and the method of its use and construction.
Ventilation of a roof is known. Roof ventilation systems including a hood and base portion may be constructed from many pieces. For example, hoods including louvered vents are frequently constructed from three pieces. Such three piece construction may be cost and time intensive and may result in leaking between the separate pieces of the hood. Further, roof ventilation systems may allow wind-driven rainwater and other rainwater to enter a ventilated space through the roof ventilation system.
A ventilation system is disclosed. The ventilation system includes, in one example, a base flashing portion and a hood fitting over the base flashing portion. The base flashing portion includes an integral cylindrical chimney portion formed out of the base flashing. The hood includes a top surface, a slant back portion extending from the top surface to a tab connecting the hood to the base flashing portion, and three sidewalls extending from the top surface to the base flashing. At least one of the three sidewalls includes integrally pierced louvers.
Additional embodiments and features are set forth in part in the description that follows, and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the specification and may be learned by the practice of the disclosed subject matter. A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, which form a part of this disclosure. One of skill in the art will understand that each of the various aspects and features of the disclosure may advantageously be used separately in some instances, or in combination with other aspects and features of the disclosure in other instances.
Roof vent devices of various designs are generally incorporated into roofs and adjacent building structures, such as soffits and eaves, to promote air flow to reduce or eliminate moisture laden heat build-up in spaces such as attics. For example, during hot days air may flow through screened openings in soffits, into an attic space, and out of one or more roof vents. Passive roof vents generally rely on the chimney effect or stack pressure caused by rising warmer air. Such air movement may be further aided by prevailing winds. For example, winds approaching a building tend to accelerate as they climb a roof pitch creating an area of low-pressure vacuum towards the top of the roof, helping to pull air out of the attic. Two common classes of roof vents are ridge vents and off-ridge vents. Off-ridge roof vents, which are offset from the ridge of a roof, afford certain advantages as far as ease of installation, low cost, and relatively low maintenance. Off-ridge vents are often helpful for use in chopped up roof profiles, such as hip roofs.
The off-ridge roof vent 100 disclosed herein is a louvered vent, where a hood 104 extends and is connected around the perimeter to a base flashing 108 of the vent 100. The off-ridge roof vent 100 also includes a slant back portion 112 of the hood 104 facing toward the ridge or top of the roof with no louvers. The slant back portion 112 may divert and block water from entering the vent 100 as it cascades down the steep slope roof during rain events. The vent hood 104 may include three separate parts: the two parallel louvered plates; the top of the hood 104 including the slant back portion 112; and the rear of the hood 104 containing pierced louvers 116. The hood 104 may have a one-piece construction, meaning that all three separate parts are made from one piece of formed metal. The top of the hood 104 may further include a flap 120 secured with welds, a mechanical interlock, and/or rivets. For example, the hood 104 shown in
The off-ridge roof vent 100 disclosed herein provides for ventilation while restricting pass through of wind-driven rain. The vent 100 may comprise the hood 104 acting as a weather barrier and the base flashing 108 with an integral cylindrical chimney stack portion to promote the exhaust of air to the outside. The hood 104 may include two parallel surfaces and one additional perpendicular surface facing toward the bottom of the roof such as louvered panels with passages, which are spaced apart so that the device is effective to reduce or eliminate passage of wind-driven rainwater to the interior of the vent 100. In various embodiments, the top row of louvers 116 in the hood 104 may be below or within the chimney stack to reduce the opportunity for wind driven moisture from entering the chimney stack and the vent 100. In some examples, a non-woven polyester filter 124 may surround the cylindrical chimney stack, further blocking the entry of moisture. As the off-ridge roof vent 100 includes two components, the vent 100 may be more cost effective than other solutions which typically include four to five components requiring assembly.
The hood 104 of the off-ridge roof vent 100 includes two parallel surfaces and one additional perpendicular surface facing toward the bottom of the roof. The perpendicular surface may be a louvered panel with spaced apart passages, so that the vent 100 is effective to reduce or eliminate passage of wind-driven rainwater to the interior of the vent 100. The hood 104 may include two parallel louvered planes, a top portion 132, and a rear portion 136. The top portion 132 may include the slant back portion 112 and the rear portion 136 may contain pierced louvers 116, which may be contained in one piece of formed metal. The design of the vent 100 may reduce or eliminate the possibility of leaking between the three sections of the hood 104, which may occur with three-piece construction of louvered vents. One piece construction of the three sections may further be more cost effective, as the construction may eliminate hemming and assembly operations required for three-piece construction of louvered vents.
The cylindrical shaped integral chimney stack portion 140 of the base flashing 108 may have a tapered shape at the top of the throat, which may provide added turbulence to assist in disrupting the laminar flow of air that is entering the vent 100. For example, in some embodiments, the taper at the top of the cylindrical chimney stack 140 may flare in or out. A hole area size may allow, in some examples, a net free area (NFA) of 60 square inches. The added turbulence may help to prevent moisture and water borne by wind from entering the vent 100. Such examples may be flared in or flared out. In some examples, the vent 100 may include a composite material made from non-woven polyester completely surrounding the throat and filling the interior of the hood's full height. The filter 124 may block insects, dust, dirt, snow, moisture, and other materials from entering the vent 100 and ventilated space.
The description of certain embodiments included herein is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the scope of the disclosure or its applications or uses. In the included detailed description of embodiments of the present system and methods, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and which are shown by way of illustration specific to embodiments in which the described systems and methods may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice presently disclosed systems and methods, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and that structural and logical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, detailed descriptions of certain features will not be discussed when they would be apparent to those with skill in the art so as not to obscure the description of embodiments of the disclosure. The included detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the disclosure is defined only by the appended claims.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Of course, it is to be appreciated that any one of the examples, embodiments, or processes described herein may be combined with one or more other examples, embodiments, and/or processes or be separated and/or performed amongst separate devices or device portions in accordance with the present systems and methods.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/429,043, filed Nov. 30, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63429043 | Nov 2022 | US |
