Patent Application
20240167706
This invention relates generally to humidifiers, and more particularly, promotion of evaporation in a humidifier used in conjunction with a furnace or heating system and connected to a water supply of a building.
Humidifiers of this type typically use an air circulation arrangement to move air across a water-soaked evaporative pad. The humidifier is associated with a furnace or heating system so that the humidifier's moist air can be combined with the warm, generally dry, heated air of a furnace or heating system and distributed throughout a building.
Humidifiers for use with buildings' heating systems and add-ons for these humidifiers have been used in the past. The humidifiers that use a supplied water include mechanically simple ones and ones using a rotating drum.
Humidifiers for forced air heating systems are generally characterized by a housing having a removable evaporative water panel constructed of aluminum framing and a porous ceramic type coating, or other porous material. A water feed tube is connected to a water supply for supplying water via a solenoid valve to a distribution tray from which water flows downwardly by gravity through the water panel. The air space immediately surrounding the water panel is thereby rich in water vapor. Air is forced through the water panel and the air flow acquires water vapor from the water panel so that humidified air is delivered to the building. Water that is not so acquired leaves via a drain pipe.
Aspects of the present invention relate to a water recycling system and method for fluid recycling, and more particularly, water conservation and evaporation in a humidifier connected to the water supply of a building. An embodiment of the present invention comprises a water recycling system and method to be used with an add-on to a humidifier so as to achieve recycling of the supplied water, with full and controllable moisturizing of the evaporative pad. At the same time, an embodiment of the present the invention provides for the water recycling system and method for drain-less operation of the humidifier, so that all of the supplied water is eventually evaporated for inclusion in the supplied heated air.
An aspect of the present invention is to provide a humidifier add-on for a humidifier that employs an evaporative water panel and to provide an effective method for richly moisturizing the water panel.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a humidifier add-on which allows for water conservation via complete evaporation of water in a reservoir while maintaining sufficient water in the reservoir to effectively moisturize the water panel. That is (1) all of the water that enters the humidifier leaves it via evaporation, and (2) a pump motor and pump reservoir together provides water flow over the humidifier water panel to better moisturize said water panel.
It is an additional aspect of the present invention to provide a humidifier add-on which operates unattended without the need for a drain.
It is an aspect of the present invention to present and utilize a hardware architecture suitable for adaptation to multiple environments—electrical and mechanical interfaces (e.g., copper hose, plastic vinyl hose, wire-nut electric connections, modular plug electrical connections, etc.), and manufacturing approaches (e.g., modules connected via hand wiring, basic electronics on printed circuit board, etc.).
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
An embodiment of the present invention is a water recycling system for a household hot air furnace humidifier, and which uses electronic modules comprising an alternating-current (AC) activated dual-relay, a direct-current (DC) activated single relay, an AC current sensor switch, an AC voltage control with a control knob, a computer or programmable logic controller (PLC) with general purpose input-output (GPIO) pins, and a condensation pump (for a pump motor and pump reservoir).
The present embodiment combines these components into a system that uses the supplied water only to be evaporated, and so draws from the external supply only as needed. External water is supplied, as with regular use of the humidifier, but the water fills the pump reservoir rather than the humidifier itself. For humidifying the heated air, water is pumped into the humidifier from the pump reservoir. During this pumping, some water will be lost due to evaporation, to be expected during normal operation. A main controller governs operation of the system's water valve so as to add sufficient water to the pump reservoir as needed to maintain the pumping. Water is available whenever the humidifier turns on. Moreover, there is no need for a drain or overflow connection, as all of the supplied water will be harvested by the warm air flowing over the water panel. Water from the humidifier, is recycled from the humidifier's outflow into a pump reservoir and then pumped back into the humidifier.
The water recycling system according to a present embodiment utilizes a computer with extensive user interface software and communication software furnished by an open-source operating system, by way of example. The present embodiment can be controlled and monitored via a TCP/IP network. The water recycling system would be suitable, by way of example, for deployment in the “Internet of Things (IoT).
The water recycling system according to the present embodiment uses a control program written in the Python language, or another programming language, along with support routines for access to the computer or programmable logic controller's General Purpose Input Output (electrical) terminals.
Additional embodiments of the water recycling system may utilize the following:
Additional embodiments may utilize particular pump/reservoir devices that have features such as settable speed control, programmable speed control and external signals for both low water and high water. Similarly, additional embodiments may use multiple types of computers such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) as deployed in industrial control, to be programmed with ladder logic in the role of the computer or programmable logic controller.
Table 1 below presents, by way of non-limiting examples, an array of inter-operable choices that can be made for the invention, with respect to the present embodiment.
The term “hardware architecture” refers to an arrangement and inter-connection of hardware functional units (e.g., modules, pump motor) to provide required capability of the water recycling system according to embodiments of the present invention.
“AC” refers to “alternating current”; “VAC” refers to “volts alternating current,” “DC” refers to “direct current,” and “GPIO” refers to “general purpose input-output.” “PLC” refers to “programmable logic controller.”
As noted above, the present disclosure presents particular embodiments of the present invention, and it is not intended to limit the present invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description above and below.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of operational features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the arts to which this invention belongs, namely heating systems support. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the present invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the present invention and the claims.
The use of electronic modules is discussed herein. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be realized and implemented without these specific details via other related common practices. The present invention may be realized by many different forms of software that implement the operating logic, including procedural languages, logic programming, and graphical programming. Likewise, there are many existing approaches for realizing the hardware architecture e.g., electric pump motor models, relay modules, processor modules, etc.
Water is pumped by a pump motor 121 from a pump reservoir 116 via a hose 112 into the humidifier 102 and its water panel 103. Meanwhile incoming air 107 is drawn by a furnace fan 106 and heated by a furnace burner 105. Hot air 108 flows over and around the humidifier's water panel 103 where it acquires additional moisture, via rapid diffusion of the water vapor into the air, to become heated and moisturized air 104 which flows through distribution ducts 118 throughout a house or a building.
As commonly configured, add-on humidifiers simply route the externally supplied water 101 from the water valve 111 into the humidifier 102 and its water panel 103 and then into a sewer drain (not shown in
Externally supplied water is routed, using a passive hose through the humidifier's controlled water valve 111 directly into the humidifier 102 and its water panel 103. In these operations, the water valve 111 opens whenever the humidity as sensed by the humidistat 121 of the add-on humidifier 102 is below a humidistat set point. When the water valve 111 is opened, water flows into the humidifier 102 and over the water panel 103 to be absorbed into the warm air. Water that is not so absorbed flows into a sewer drain (not shown in
The water recycling system 110 is interposed in the humidifier's 102 power control path for the water valve 111 specifically at the invention's electrical terminals 109 for the humidifier's 24 VAC power for the water valve 111. Power connection wires 119 are connected to the water valve 111. In contrast to operation without the invention, the water recycling system 110 causes the water valve 111 to be opened only under the following conditions:
Often the recycling system can operate with the water valve 111 closed, pumping water into the humidifier 102 and the water panel 103 via the hose 112 while water continues to flow from the water panel 103 back into the pump reservoir 116 via another hose 113. The continuing water flow keeps the water panel 103 moisturized.
During the water recycling system 110 normal operation, the water in the pump reservoir 116 is slowly depleted due to the cumulative evaporation loss of recycling water to the heated air. However, the water recycling system 110 provides for continuing availability of water, by operating the water valve 111 to cause water to flow into the pump reservoir 116. via another hose 120. This maintains the water supply in the pump reservoir 116.
When operating, the humidifier's 102 set point determines pump activity rather than the water valve 111 openings as in commonly operated furnace/humidifier systems. Under this operation, water supplied for humidification does not enter a common drain.
The water flow interfaces for the recycling system (110 in
Electronic modules (246, 247, 248, 253, 254, 258) perform the following:
A computer or programmable logic controller (PLC) 258 performs the sensing of above items (3), (4), and (5), and it performs the control actions of (1), via its multiple GPIO pins 259.
For control of the add-on humidifier's water valve (111 in
The current embodiment permits a simple installation, without complex electrical connections to connect with the humidifier (
The computer or programmable logic controller 258 includes its own capability for connection to external devices via, e.g., IEEE 802.3 “Ethernet”, IEEE 802.11 wireless network, or other medium.
Other embodiments can benefit from miniaturization via electronic design—relays, sensors, specialized computing modules and logic processors, etc., as well as via advanced packaging with surface mounted components onto circuit boards, or into integrated circuits.
These ramifications enhance usability and operating convenience.
The available General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins 459 of a computer or programmable logic controller 458 furnish the low direct current voltage (DC), 5 volts, via which the status of the humidifier 102, the pump motor 224 and the pump reservoir water level are determined, and a ground reference. One contact of each of the switches 470, 464 and 463 is connected one of the GPIO pins as follows:
Each switch contact is also connected to a 10 K ohm resistor. Each resistor is connected to the low voltage (5 volts) supplied by the computer or programmable logic controller 458 particular GPIO pin. The other contact of each of the switches 470, 464 and 463 is connected to ground (zero volts).
These switch contacts all realize the design pattern represented by the termination elements 311 of
Switch 470 comprises the normally-closed (NC) contacts of the power relay module 468. The power relay module 468 also comprises a second switch having normally open (NO) contacts 469.
A certain subset of the GPIO pins 459 of the computer or programmable logic controller 458 are connected via wires to 475, 465 and 462. These enable the open/closed status of each of the corresponding switches listed above to be determined as open or closed by the computer or programmable logic controller (458) running program.
The humidifier's water valve (111 in
Alternating current (AC) power for said pump motor 224 is supplied by wire group 582, switched by the normally open (NO) contacts 569 of the power relay module 568. When the contacts are open, there is no 120 VAC on the speed controller 471 input wire pair 584 and the pump motor 224 does not operate. When the power relay module 568 contacts 569 are closed, as when the add-on humidifier (102 in
One of the wires of the wire pair 583 providing power to the pump motor 224 is physically routed through the current sensor 464 such that the switch contacts 465 (
In the embodiment of
A ground connection 585 from the supplied 120 VAC 582 is used for the pump motor 224 ground.
The relay switch 566 is shown for context only. In the embodiment of
Other embodiments would use a digitally-controlled pump motor 224 and digitally-communicated speed control to be adjusted dynamically. The digital control of the pump motor 224 is depicted in
The labeled objects in
In the embodiment of
For relating these ladder logic diagrams to the operation of the water recycling system, it is important to avoid confusing relay states (‘open’ and ‘closed’) and sensor- and device states (‘on’ and ‘off’ as well as ‘Open’ and ‘Closed’). The control relay 466 ‘Open’ and ‘Closed’ states are the reverse of the humidifier's water valve states (‘Closed’ and ‘Open’). Where
Using Table 1, narratives for the operation may be deduced from the ladder logic diagram.
For example, the top horizontal line of
The logic operations are performed in repeated cycles, 1 per second in the embodiment of
Table 2 is a decision chart which describes the relation among the sensed items (675, 665 and 662), the internal variable 690, and the control of the humidifier's water valve 111 (
Table 2. Decision Chart
Table 2 shows the operation logic in the form of a decision chart for the invention's control of the add-on humidifier's water valve 111. The decision inputs are shown in 2 groups: (1) external switch states that are sensed by the computer or programmable logic controller 458, and (2) an internal state variable 690 representing the dynamic state (FILLING versus EMPTYING) of the pump reservoir 116 (
Per the embodiment of
Each periodic decision involves the inputs from the voltages at the GPIO pins as follows:
In the Table 2 above, a low water status is identified when the humidifier status is ON per 475 while the pump motor status is OFF per 465. The occurs when there is insufficient water in the pump reservoir (116 in
The ladder logic outcomes (along the right hand vertical line of
The labeled objects in
For controlling the pump motor on/off state, the computer or programmable logic controller is interposed between the power relay module 468 and the pump motor control (348 of
Referring to the first line, when the 775 contact of relay 347 (
The fifth line shows ladder logic for controlling the pump motor speed via Incremental changes. The changes are calculated by a calculation module 791 using time series data of the humidifier 102 and pump on-off cycling. The additional time series data and storage for the data utilize common practices for embedded systems based upon a computer or programmable logic controller. The calculated speed changes are commanded via digital communication 754 with a speed control module.
Accordingly, several advantages of one or more aspects of the water recycling system according to embodiments of the present invention are as follows: (1) avoiding over-consumption of available water supply by recycling the supplied water, (2) improved moisturizing of a humidifier 102 water panel, (3) efficiently adding moisture to heated air via complete use of that moisture; and (4) operating under a range of humidifier 102 demands without manual intervention.
The water recycling system's speed control provides at least two additional advantages: (1) allowing the speed of the pump motor to be reduced so as to avoid overflowing the water panel even without a drain outlet for the water panel as in many prior art installations, and (2) providing the option of pump speed increases as may be practical for improving the water panel moisture content
Various embodiments of a water recycling system can be used in conjunction with a humidifier and hot air heating system to effectively humidify the heated air while conserving water. The modular specification has the advantages of supporting multiple ramifications, including:
The above description of the present embodiment contains many specificities, but it should not be construed as limiting or constraining the scope. For example, using a simple programmable logic device for the main controller with limited memory and processing power could preclude remote control and performance tracking, while using a powerful microcomputer would support these additional capabilities for remote control, logging, performance estimation, etc. The embodiments of
Thus, the scope of the embodiment should be determined from the claims rather than by the present embodiment.
The current embodiment permits a simple installation, without complex electrical connections to connect with the humidifier 102 (
The recycling system can be installed and operated as follows:
Based on the above, several advantages of one or more aspects of the water recycling system according to embodiments of the present invention are as follows: (1) avoiding over-consumption of available water supply by recycling the supplied water, (2) improved moisturizing of a humidifier water panel, (3) efficiently adding moisture to heated air via complete use of that moisture; and (4) operating under a range of humidifier demands without manual intervention.
Further, according to embodiments of the invention, the humidifier and furnace are allowed to operate unattended.
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/384,412 filed on Nov. 19, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63384412 | Nov 2022 | US |
