CN114364882A - Ventilation system - Google Patents

Abstract

A ventilation system, the ventilation system comprising: at least one impeller (11) associated with at least one motor (12) for driving said impeller (11); at least one motor-carrying element (13) able to house the motor (12); at least one suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) and at least one delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) associated with the motor-carrying element (13), wherein the motor-carrying element (13) is hollow and allows the passage of an air flow from the suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) to the delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) by driving the impeller (11).

Description

Ventilation system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an in-line mixed flow ventilation system (in-line mixed flow ventilation system) which can be used in industrial, commercial, residential or other fields.

Background

Various ventilation systems are known, which can be used in the above-mentioned fields, for example, for sucking or drawing air from an indoor space and exhausting the air to the outside. In particular, there are ventilation systems installed in line with the ventilation duct, and therefore these ventilation systems essentially comprise a housing box (housing) for the electric motor with which the impeller is associated. The impeller is rotatable about an axis of rotation that is substantially parallel to the flow of air through the ventilation system from the inlet duct to the outlet duct.

However, in practice, these ventilation systems are rather noisy and difficult to access to internal components, such as the electric motor or the impeller, due to inspection, maintenance or replacement of the components or other needs.

In order to reduce noise emissions, there are ventilators comprising a motor-carrying box (motor-carrying box) which is completely perforated and to which air suction nozzles and delivery nozzles are connected, which are also completely perforated.

Above this assembly formed by the motor-carrying tank and the suction and delivery nozzles, a shell made of acoustic insulating material is placed, which is attached to the assembly, for example by means of adhesive tape or the like, and which is bonded by one or more layers of film. A rigid covering box, which represents the outer box of the ventilation device, is then placed over the casing of acoustic insulation material. In this way, a structure is essentially created that consists of three separate and distinct components, and the attachment material of two of these components.

It is clear that this system is very disadvantageous if it is necessary to inspect the motor carrying assembly and possibly, as mentioned above, to perform inspection, maintenance and/or replacement of the electric motor or other components. In fact, in such cases it is necessary to remove all the elements in the layer already positioned above the assembly, including the motor-carrying element. Therefore, in order to disassemble the ventilation device, it is necessary to remove the outer box, the membrane, any tape or other, and the shell of sound insulating material wrapped around the assembly.

Furthermore, after disassembly of the ventilation apparatus, the sound barrier material may be damaged, so it may be necessary to replace the sound barrier material, as well as any tape, wrapping film or other used to secure the sound barrier material in place.

Therefore, any possible internal inspection operations of known ventilation devices are generally time-consuming and laborious, and after these laborious operations of disassembling and assembling the device, the sound insulation efficiency may be affected.

A known ventilation system having the above-mentioned problems is described, for example, in document US-A-2012/051889. Another known ventilation system is described in US-A-3346174.

Therefore, there is a need for a complete ventilation system that overcomes at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ventilation system which guarantees an effective sound insulation which is maintained for a long time even after disassembly and reassembly operations.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ventilation system in which the assembly and disassembly operations are carried out in a simple and quick manner and in which at least substantially direct access to the motor-carrying element is ensured, so that if inspection, maintenance, replacement or other operations of the components become necessary, access to these components is quick, direct and does not affect the soundproofing effectiveness of the ventilation system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ventilation system in which high aerodynamic and acoustic insulation efficiency is ensured, as well as adequate protection of the moving parts of the system, such as the impeller.

The applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims. The dependent claims describe other features of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea.

According to the above object, a ventilation system according to the present invention comprises: at least one impeller associated with at least one motor for driving the impeller; at least one motor carrying element capable of housing the motor; at least one suction duct and at least one delivery duct, both associated with the motor-carrying element, wherein the motor-carrying element is hollow and allows the passage of an air flow from the suction duct to the delivery duct by driving the impeller.

According to one aspect of the invention, the ventilation system comprises an outer box positionable around the motor-carrying element, the suction duct and the delivery duct and provided with at least one outer layer made of a rigid protective material and at least one inner layer made of a sound-insulating material and integrated in the outer box.

Advantageously, therefore, the present ventilation system has at least one layer of acoustic insulation material integrated with an outer casing comprising a rigid protective material on the outside, so that the motor-carrying element and the air suction and delivery ducts can be directly accessed by a single operation of removing the outer casing. It is therefore no longer necessary to remove a plurality of layers of material and the functional integrity of the ventilation system is guaranteed both from an aerodynamic point of view and from a system soundproofing point of view.

Thus, the operations of assembling and disassembling the present ventilation system can be advantageously carried out in a simple and quick manner; furthermore, after the removal of the outer box, direct access to the motor-carrying element is ensured, so that access to the components is quick, immediate and does not affect the effectiveness of the sound insulation, in the event that inspection, maintenance, replacement or other operations of the components are necessary. For example, let us consider the case where the motor has to be replaced or where the motor and/or the impeller has to be intervened.

According to other aspects of the invention, the sound insulating material of the inner layer is co-molded (co-molded) with the rigid protective material of the outer layer.

In other embodiments, the acoustic barrier material of the inner layer may be constrained to the rigid protective material of the outer layer by gluing or other suitable attachment means.

In some embodiments, the motor carrier element may have a substantially solid outer surface (solid external surface) except for a possible access aperture (access aperture) for electrical connection.

As with the motor, the impeller may also be completely contained within the motor carrying element. In this way, the impeller is fully protected and the aerodynamic effectiveness of the system is improved.

Furthermore, the impeller may be accommodated within a feed element which in turn is accommodated in and coaxial with the motor carrier element.

The positioning of the impeller in the motor-carrying element, and the ease with which the motor-carrying element can be separated from the other feed assembly and transfer assembly, allow the impeller to be protected in the event that it is necessary to completely remove and separate the motor support.

A further channel section (passage) may be positioned upstream of the feed element, wherein the feed element and the channel section may have a substantially truncated cone-shaped inner cross-section (internal section), and wherein the channel section may have a decreasing inner cross-section and the feed element has an increasing inner cross-section, so as to achieve a so-called Venturi effect (Venturi effect) on the air flow through the ventilation system.

Alternatively, to achieve this venturi effect, the suction duct may comprise duct sections having an internal cross-section that initially gradually decreases and then gradually increases.

According to other aspects of the invention, a nose cone (nose cone) may be positioned upstream of the delivery conduit, the nose cone being provided with through holes on its outer surface.

The function of the nose cone is to reduce turbulence, reduce noise and improve the ventilation efficiency of the assembly. The nose cone is provided with an acoustic insulation material in its interior, which essentially reproduces the interior shape of the nose cone, again for the purpose of reducing noise.

In some embodiments, the outer box, which has been provided with at least one inner layer of sound insulating material, is formed from at least two half shells. This solution allows to remove the outer box in a particularly efficient manner, for example in the case of system maintenance operations or otherwise. Each of these half-shells will naturally be provided with an outer layer of rigid material and an inner layer of acoustic insulating material. These half-shells can also be equipped with a system for joining and assembling them in a single way, in order to guarantee precision and integrity when reassembling the outer box.

Further, in the present ventilation system, the impeller may be rotated by the motor according to a rotation axis substantially parallel to the direction of the air flow in the ventilation system.

In some embodiments, the outer case may include one or more indicators that can allow it to be properly positioned.

The present ventilation system may further comprise one or more resonator devices (resonator devices) positioned around the suction duct and/or the delivery duct. These resonator devices further contribute to the sound absorption at specific frequencies of the present ventilation system.

The one or more resonator devices may comprise one or more cavities in fluid communication with the air delivery conduit and/or the air suction conduit through at least one through-hole.

Drawings

These and other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of some embodiments, given as non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a three-dimensional exploded view of a ventilation system according to one embodiment of the invention;

figure 2 is a side view of the ventilation system of figure 1, after assembly;

figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the ventilation system of figures 1 and 2;

figure 4 is a longitudinal section of a ventilation system according to a variant of the invention;

figure 5 is a longitudinal section of a ventilation system according to another variant of the invention;

figure 6 is a longitudinal section of a ventilation system according to a further variant of the invention;

figure 7 is a three-dimensional view of the ducts for the passage of air through the present ventilation system.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is to be understood that elements and features of one embodiment may be readily incorporated into other embodiments without further elaboration.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to possible embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of illustration of the invention and should not be construed as a limitation of the invention. For example, one or more features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on or in conjunction with other embodiments to yield yet a further embodiment. It is to be understood that the invention is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations.

Before describing these embodiments, we must also clarify that this description is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description using the drawings. The description may provide other embodiments, and may be obtained or performed in various other ways. We must also clarify that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

With reference to the figures, for example to figure 1, a ventilation system 10 according to the invention, in particular of the in-line mixed flow type, comprises at least one impeller 11, the at least one impeller 11 being associated with at least one motor 12, the motor 12 being intended to drive the impeller 11.

The impeller 11 is provided with a series of blades 36, these blades 36 being suitably positioned about the axis of rotation R. The axis of rotation R is directed substantially in the direction of the air flow within the ventilation system 10.

The motor 12 may be, for example, an alternating current or brushless type electric motor.

The motor 12 is housed inside a motor-carrying element 13, which motor-carrying element 13 is hollow, so that basically the motor-carrying element 13 is a tubular element with which an air suction duct 14 and a delivery duct 15 are associated. The motor-carrying element 13 thus allows the passage of an air flow from the suction duct 14 to the delivery duct 15.

In particular, the suction duct 14 and the delivery duct 15 can be connected on opposite ends of the motor-carrying element 13 by means of a rotary coupling (for example a bayonet coupling or otherwise).

Still referring to fig. 2, the present ventilation system 10 comprises an outer box 16, which outer box 16 can be positioned around the motor-carrying element 13 as well as the suction duct 14 and the delivery duct 15, and is provided with at least one outer layer 17 made of a rigid protective material and at least one inner layer 18 made of a sound-insulating material and integral with the outer box 16 (see in particular fig. 1).

The sound insulating material making up the inner layer 18 is preferably co-molded with the rigid protective material of the outer layer 17, such as by a limited exothermic forming process or the like.

Thus, co-molding is a way to integrate or make solid with each other the material making up the inner layer 18 and the rigid protective material of the outer layer 17. The inner layer 18 and the outer layer 17 are thus constrained to each other.

In other embodiments, the sound insulating material of the inner layer 18 may be constrained to the rigid protective material of the outer layer 17 by gluing or other suitable attachment means.

In this way, the outer box 16 can be easily removed from the rest of the system, since in the solution in which the inner layer is co-moulded with the outer layer, and also in the solution in which the inner layer is attached to the outer layer, the inner layer 18 of acoustic insulating material is in any case integral with the outer layer 17 of rigid material and constrained to the outer layer 17 of rigid material.

The outer body 16 may also comprise a multi-layered structure and thus be provided with several protective layers, even of different materials, and/or with a plurality of sound-insulating material layers also made of the same material and/or of different materials. In the case of a multilayer structure, the composition and/or thickness of the various layers of protective material and/or acoustic insulation material may be chosen, for example, according to the specific use of the ventilation system.

In order to ensure sufficient protection of the motor 12 and to increase the fluid dynamics of the present ventilation system 10, the motor carrying element 13 has a substantially solid outer surface 19.

Possibly, holes 20 may be made in this outer surface 19 for the passage of electrical connections for the operation of the motor 12 and the ventilation system 10.

On the other hand, the suction duct 14 and the delivery duct 15 are substantially completely perforated and therefore have an outer surface provided with through holes 21 able to allow the passage of the sound waves generated by the operation of the drive motor 12 and the impeller 11 to the inner layer 18 of acoustic insulating material integrated with the outer casing 16.

As can be observed, these through holes 21 are preferably produced in a uniform manner, substantially over the entire outer surface of the suction duct 14 and of the delivery duct 15. These through holes 21 are therefore made substantially on the entire cylindrical or truncated-cone-shaped surface of the suction duct 14 and of the delivery duct 15.

Referring also to the section of fig. 3, the impeller 11 is advantageously housed completely inside the motor-carrying element 13, ensuring its optimal protection and further increasing the fluid-dynamic efficiency of the present ventilation system 10. Furthermore, the present ventilation system 10 proves to be compact and small-sized, in particular with respect to its overall extension.

To further increase the fluid-dynamic efficiency, the impeller 11 may be housed in a feed element 22, the feed element 22 for example having substantially the shape of a truncated cone, the feed element 22 being housed in the motor-carrying element 13, see also the section of fig. 3.

The feed element 22 is coaxial with the motor-carrying element 13 and with the rotation axis R of the impeller 11 and is positioned downstream of the suction duct 14.

Between the feed element 22 and the suction duct 14, a further channel portion 34 is provided, having a substantially truncated-cone shape, see in particular the section of fig. 3.

The channel portion 34 has substantially a gradually decreasing inner cross-section, whereas the feed element 22 has a gradually increasing inner cross-section, so as to achieve a so-called venturi effect on the air flow through the ventilation system 10, see in particular the longitudinal cross-section of fig. 3.

A nose cone 23 is accommodated in the vicinity of the conveying duct 15, which nose cone enables sufficient aerodynamic performance of the present ventilation system 10. The nose cone 23 is advantageously provided on its outer surface with a series of through holes 24 capable of allowing better passage of the sound waves to the inner surface of the outer box 16 equipped with at least one inner layer 18 of acoustic insulating material. The nose cone 23 is also equipped internally with sound-insulating material, in particular at least one layer of sound-insulating material that reproduces its internal shape.

Inside the motor-carrying element 13 and upstream of the nose cone 23, suitable vanes 35 are positioned, see again the section of fig. 3.

The suction duct 14 and the delivery duct 15 can be positioned on the supports 25 and 26 for connection with the air passage ducts of any ventilation system.

These supports 25 and 26 may comprise means for connection with the suction duct 14 and the delivery duct 15 and may also comprise a clamping strip 27 or the like. The connection means may be a swivel coupling or otherwise.

The outer housing 16 may be formed, for example, from two half shells 16a and 16b, and the half shells 16a and 16b may be interconnected by a snap-fit, interlocking or other system. This solution allows a particularly efficient removal of the outer box, for example in case of maintenance operations or otherwise. These half- shells 16a and 16b will naturally each be provided with an outer layer 17 of rigid material and an inner layer 18 of acoustic insulating material. These half- shells 16a and 16b may also be equipped with a system for joining and assembling them in a single manner, in order to guarantee precision and integrity when reassembling the outer box 16.

The outer case 16 may also be positioned on a support plate 28, such as by removable attachment elements (e.g., screws, bolts, pins, or otherwise). Thus, when assembled, the present ventilation system itself is shown in FIG. 2.

The outer case 16 may further include a hole 29, and the hole 29 is covered with a box 30 for electrical connection, the box 30 being closed by a cover 31.

The outer case 16 may also include one or more proper orientation indicators 32 and 33, such as a first orientation indicator 32 on the suction duct 14 and a second orientation indicator 33 on the delivery duct 15. For example, these indicators 32 and 33 show arrows indicating the direction of air flow within the ventilation system 10.

The present ventilation system 10 may also be equipped with one or more resonator devices 37, such as one or more helmholtz resonators positioned around the suction duct 14 and/or around the conveying duct 15. These resonator devices 37 advantageously help to further increase the sound insulating effectiveness of the present ventilation system 10.

As can be seen in fig. 7, the resonator device 37 may be provided with one or more resonant cavities 38, each equipped with its own through hole 39 for the entry of sound waves coming from the air passage duct, such as the delivery duct 15 and/or the suction duct 14. The cavity 38 is thus in fluid communication with the delivery duct 15 and/or the suction duct 14.

Based on the volume defined in each of these cavities 38, and depending on the length and diameter of the through hole 39, each of the cavities 38 of the resonator device will be able to suppress sound with a determined frequency range.

Fig. 4, 5 and 6 show further variants of the present ventilation system 10a, 10b, 10 c. In these variants, for example, the suction ducts 14a, 14b and 14c have duct sections 40a, 40b, 40c with an internal section that initially gradually decreases and then gradually increases, so as to create a so-called venturi effect on the air flow through the ventilation system.

The delivery ducts 15a, 15b and 15c are also made to comprise first duct sections 41a, 41b, 41c having a decreasing internal section. For example, the first conduit section 41a, 41b, 41c may be made to have a shape similar to the shape of the nose cone 23 around which it surrounds.

The duct sections 40a, 40b, 40c represent an alternative to providing the feed element 22 and providing the channel portion 34.

As can be observed, the suction ducts 14a, 14b and 14c and the delivery ducts 15a, 15b and 15c can have different lengths and different diameters, depending on the variant of the ventilation system 10a, 10b, 10c employed.

Furthermore, as can be observed, such suction ducts 14a, 14b and 14c and/or such delivery ducts 15a, 15b and 15c can also be provided with resonator devices 37.

As can be ascertained from the foregoing description, the present ventilation system 10, 10a, 10b, 10c guarantees an effective acoustic insulation which can be maintained over time even after assembly and disassembly operations, for example after operations of removing and reassembling the cabinet 16.

The operations of assembling and disassembling the present ventilation system 10, 10a, 10b, 10c can advantageously be carried out in a simple and quick manner; furthermore, after the removal of the outer box 16, direct access to the motor-carrying element 13 is ensured, so that access to these components is quick, immediate and does not damage the acoustic insulation layer, affecting its acoustic insulation effectiveness, if inspection, maintenance, replacement or other operations of the components are necessary. For example, consider the case where the motor 12 must be replaced, or where the motor 12 and/or impeller 11 must be intervened.

The present ventilation system 10, 10a, 10b, 10c also has high aerodynamic and acoustic insulation effectiveness, as well as adequate protection of the moving parts of the system (e.g., the impeller 11, which is fully housed in the motor carrying element 13).

Thus, the present ventilation system 10, 10a, 10b, 10c, in particular a ventilation system with mixed flow and for applications on ducts, proves to have a low acoustic impact, and may also be provided with an outer box 16, which outer box 16 is composed of two rigid half- shells 16a, 16b comprising sound-insulating material and assembled in a single manner.

The outer box 16, possibly provided with such half- shells 16a, 16b, allows to maintain the internal components of the system in an optimal and timely manner, since only the half- shells 16a, 16b need to be separated in order to access these components. The acoustic performance of the system advantageously remains unchanged even after the system is reassembled at the end of the maintenance step, i.e. by joining the two half- shells 16a, 16b again in a precise and univocal manner.

The outer box 16, which may be made of two half- shells 16a, 16b, advantageously remains intact throughout its useful life; however, the components of the outer body 16, i.e., the inner and outer layers 18, 17, may also be separated once they are no longer in use, thereby facilitating recycling.

It is clear that modifications and/or additions of parts may be made to the ventilation system as described heretofore, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific embodiments, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of ventilation system, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.

In the appended claims, the reference signs placed between parentheses are intended for the sole purpose of facilitating reading: they are not to be considered as limiting the scope of protection claimed in the particular claims.

Claims (13)

1. A ventilation system, the ventilation system comprising: at least one impeller (11), said at least one impeller (11) being associated with at least one motor (12) for driving said impeller (11); at least one motor-carrying element (13) able to house the motor (12); at least one suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) and at least one delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) associated with the motor-carrying element (13), wherein the motor-carrying element (13) is hollow and allows the passage of an air flow from the suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) to the delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) by driving the impeller (11), characterized in that it comprises an outer box (16) positionable around the motor-carrying element (13), the suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) and the delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) and provided with at least one outer layer (17) made of rigid protective material and at least one outer layer made of acoustic insulating material and integrated in the outer box (16) One less inner layer (18).

2. The ventilation system according to claim 1, characterized in that the acoustic insulating material of the inner layer (18) is co-moulded with the rigid protective material of the outer layer (17).

3. The ventilation system according to claim 1, characterized in that the acoustic insulating material of the inner layer (18) is constrained to the rigid protective material of the outer layer (17) by gluing or other suitable attachment means.

4. The ventilation system according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the motor-carrying element (13) has a substantially solid outer surface (19) except for possible access holes (20) for electrical connections.

5. The ventilation system according to any preceding claim, wherein the impeller (11) is completely housed within the motor-carrying element (13).

6. The ventilation system according to claim 5, characterized in that the impeller (11) is housed inside a feed element (22) which is in turn housed in the motor-carrying element (13) and is coaxial with the motor-carrying element (13).

7. The ventilation system according to claim 6, characterized in that a further channel portion (34) is positioned upstream of the feed element (22), wherein the feed element (22) and the channel portion (34) have a substantially truncated-cone-shaped inner cross-section, and wherein the channel portion (34) has a gradually decreasing inner cross-section and the feed element (22) has a gradually increasing inner cross-section, so as to achieve a so-called venturi effect on the air flow through the ventilation system (10).

8. The ventilation system according to any preceding claim, wherein the suction duct (14a, 14b, 14c) comprises a duct section (40a, 40b, 40c) having an internal cross-section that initially gradually decreases and then gradually increases.

9. Ventilation system according to any preceding claim, characterized in that upstream of the delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) there is positioned a nose cone (23) provided on its outer surface with through holes (24) and inside it with acoustic insulation material.

10. Ventilation system according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the outer box (16) which has been provided with the at least one inner layer (18) of acoustic insulating material is formed by at least two half-shells (16a, 16 b).

11. The ventilation system according to any preceding claim, wherein the outer box (16) comprises one or more indicators (32, 33) capable of allowing its correct positioning.

12. Ventilation system according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it comprises one or more resonator devices (37) positioned around the suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) and/or the delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15 c).

13. The ventilation system according to claim 12, characterized in that the one or more resonator devices (37) comprise one or more cavities (38) in fluid communication with the air delivery duct (15, 15a, 15b, 15c) and/or the air suction duct (14, 14a, 14b, 14c) through at least one through hole (39).

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