US2937588A - Air conditioning unit - Google Patents

Description

May 24, 1960 w MA$|N ETAL AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed Feb. 27. 1957 INVENTOR. WILLIAM MASIN.

IRVING R PEARSON.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent AIR 0NDITIONIN G UNIT William Masin, Eayside, and Irving P. Pearson, New York, N.Y., assignors to Carrier Corporation, Syracuse, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 27, 1957, Ser. No. 642,833

t Claims. (Cl. 98-38) This invention relates to air conditioning, and more particularly to an improved room unit of the induction type which can be easily adapted for different modes oi installation.

In Carrier Patent No. 2,363,294, granted November 21, 1944, there is disclosed an air conditioning system wherein primary air is conditioned at a central source and passed through conduits to a plurality of room units which are positioned in various areas to be conditioned. Each room unit includes a heat exchange coil through which hot or cold water, as desired, is circulated. The primary air is discharged into the unit in such a manner as to induce secondary air to flow from the room to be conditioned into contact with the heat exchanger in the room unit. The primary and secondary air are then mixed in the room unit and discharged into the room to be conditioned. It is with this general type of system that the improved room unit ofthe present invention is adapted to be used.

In the past, a room unit of the above-mentioned type has been generally fabricated so that without and momfication it could either be installed entirely within the room to be conditioned or with a portion only communicating with the room, the remainder of the unit, in the latter instance, usually being housed within a wall as set forth in the Stacey, Jr. et al., Patent No. 1,878,012, granted September 20, 1932. One shortcoming of this type of unit has been that it operated with the same degree of efficiency regardless of the mode of installation. However, it is desirable that a room unit of the above-mentioned type give the utmost eflicieucy commensurate with its mode of installation.

It is therefore thechief object of this invention to provide an induction-type room unit which can be fabricated at the factory but can be easily modified in the field for installation entirely Within a room or with only a portion thereof communicating with the room so that in either instance it can operate with utmost eificiency commensurate with the type of installation.

Another object of this invention is to provide an induction-type of room unit which is susceptible of being installed in a plurality of different ways where space is at a premium, such as a ship, without necessitating extensive modifications thereof at the time of installation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a room unit of the induction-type with a condensate dis posal construction which is particularly adapted for efficiently disposing of condensate from the unit under conditions where the unit is susceptible of being tilted from side to side, such as on a ship. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will be come readily apparent hereafter.

The present invention relates to a room unit of the induction type wherein primary air, which is supplied thereto from a remote source, is discharged through nozzles therein to induce secondary air from a room,

into-the unit, said secondary air being mixed with the primary air and then discharged into the room. If the unit is to be mounted so that only one side thereof projects into a room to be conditioned, secondaryair is induced into the unit through this side, passed through an air intake duct, and the mixture of primary and secondary air is discharged through this same side. However, if the room unit is to be mounted entirely within.

a room to be conditioned, a plate, which forms a part of the casing for the unit in the foregoing instance and which is located on the upstream side of the heat exchange coil, is removed to allow secondary air to be induced through the aperture provided by the removal of the plate thus providing a shorter path through the unit for the secondary air. It can be seen that the unit can operate more efficiently when it is placed entirely within a room to be conditioned since the secondary airflow path therethrough is shortened. Thus, the'room unit of the present invention can be fabricated at the factory and with relatively minor modifications in the field can be adapted for either of the above types of installation, as required. Furthermore, the efliciency of the unitis dependent on its mode of installation, that is, it can operate more efiiciently whenever it is located wholly within a room. Thus the efliciency of the unit is not limited by its construction but is variable in accordance with its mode of installation.

The room unit of the present invention contains a heat exchange coil which can be placed in a plurality of different positions. There is only one inlet connection and one outlet connection to the heat exchange coil, thus reducing its cost. However, with a minimum of tools the heat exchange coil may be bodily removed from the.

unit and orientated in one of four different positions so as to allow the inlet connection to be most conveniently positioned for connection with the source of heating or cooling fluid for the heat exchanger.

The room unit of the present invention contains a condensate disposal arrangement which permits proper condensate drainage under conditions where the unit is sub-' ject to constant tilting from side to side, such as on a ship. To this end, a condensate drainage pan is built integrally with the bottom of the unit and has drain connections positioned at opposite sides thereof to allow condensate to drain from either side of the unit as it tilts from side-to-side.

A better understanding of the present invention will" Figure 2 is a sectional view taken through plane 11-115 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the rear and bottom portions of room unit; 7

Figure 4 is an isometric view showing the details of the mechanism for adjusting the amount of primary air flow through the room unit;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the drain pan of the room unitgand Figure 6 is a view taken on line VI-VI of Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2, the room unit ltl of the present invention is shown which consists of a plenum chamber 11 which is adapted to receive a supply of primary contioned air from a central source (not shown) by means of a conduit (not shown) which is adapted tobe joined to opening 12 in the side of unit 19'. I It is to be notedthat the unit It) has an opening 12 at each end of plenum.

chamber 11 thus permitting the primary air to be brought mating cap (not shown).

which is discharged from plenum chamber 11 is controlled by an adjustable metering plate 13 which is adapted to meter the amount of primary air flow through orifice 14 (Figure 2). The structure and mode of operation of the metering arrangement is fully described in the oopending application of Carlyle M. Ashley, Serial No. 559,061, filed January 13, 1956, and reference is made thereto for a complete description thereof. The primary air supplied to plenum chamber 11 is passed through orifice 14 into secondary chamber 15 and then discharged into the room unit through nozzles 16 (Figures 1 and 2) as set forth in the above-mentioned copending application. The structure of the nozzles is fully described in the copending application of Carlyle M. Ashley and William H. Roberts, Serial No. 559,062, filed January 13, 1956, and reference is made thereto for a complete description thereof.

The above-described structure is housed in a casing consisting of the following metal (or any other suitable material) parts: upper front plate 17, top-and-rear plate 18, drain pan 19, removable cover 20, and sides 21 and 22. Plate 17 is attached to inwardly turned flanges (not shown) on side plates 21 and 22 by fastening elements such as sheet metal screws 23. Top-and-rear plate 18 is affixed to sides 21 and 22 in the same manner so as to provide a lapped, substantially air-tight connection between these members. The front portion 24 of plate 18 is beveled so as to form a lapped joint with the rear end of plate 17, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Drain pan 19 has upwardly turned flanges 25 and 26 along the sides thereof (Figure through which screws 23 are adapted to be placed for affixing the drain pan 19 to sides 22 and 21, respectively. The removable cover 20 is adapted to be lapfitted with flanges (not shown) of sides 21 and 22 by means of sheet metal screws 27 (Figure 3) having handles thereon for permitting the cover 20 to be manually unfastened from the remainder of the casing. Removable cover 20, in its assembled position on the casing, Figures 2 and 3, fits inside of upwardly turned flange 28 of drain pan 19 and outside of flange 29 of top-and-rear plate 18 so as to form a lapped connection with these flanges.

A heat exchange coil 30 is adapted to be placed within the casing in the following manner, attention being directed to Figure 6 which is a section taken along line VI-VI of Figure 1: Side 21 has an opening therein (not numbered) the boundaries of which are flanges 31. Heat exchange coil 30 may have one of its fins formed into a channel member 32. The channel member constitutes mounting means for supporting the coil in said openings and for sealing off the openings. Flanges 31 and channel member 32 are in contact with each other when the heat exchanger 30 is in its assembled position. Side 22 of the casing has similar structure. Sheet metal screws (not numbered) may join elements 31 and 32 or coil 30 may be supported by these elements by a friction fit, as desired. An inlet valve 33 is adapted to be connected to a source of hot or cold water for supplying this medium to tubing 34 of the heat exchanger. A fluid outlet tube 35 is also provided, as shown in Figure 1. Depending on where the room unit is to be installed and on the position of the supply conduits for the conditioning medium, the heat exchange coil 30 may be slid out of its contact with sides 21 and 22 by merely removing top and rear plate 18, as shown in Figure 2. The heat exchanger 30 can then be inverted, turned endover-end, or both and then re-inserted so as to place the inlet valve 33 and outlet 35 in any one of four different positions.

The room unit is adapted to be installed either entirely within a room to be conditioned or with only the front portion thereof projecting through a wall. If the latter installation is used, flanges 36, 37, 38 and 39 (Figure 1), which are formed from various of the casing members, are used to provide a flush fit with the wall.

an air discharge chamber.

During the latter type of operation, all of the primary air which is discharged from nozzles 16 induces secondary air to flow from the front of the unit into intake chamber 40 of the casing, through air filter 41, and heat exchange coil 30. The primary and secondary air are mixed in chamber 42 and then discharged from the unit. It is to be noted that the plenum chamber 11 substantially divides the easing into an air intake chamber and However, plate 43 (Figures 1 and 2), which is suitable affixed to the sides of the casing, further divides these chambers so as to aid in avoiding short-circuiting of the incoming and outgoing air. An air inlet is defined between sides 21 and 22, drain pan 19 and plate 43 and an air outlet is defined between sides 21 and 22, plate 17 and plate 43. Suitable grillework (not shown) may be installed within the opening in the front of the room unit.

Under certain circumstances, it is desirable to place the room unit entirely within the room to be conditioned. Under these circumstances, it is no longer necessary to draw' secondary air through the front of the unit and through the entire length of chamber 40. Cover plate 20 (Figures 2 and 3) is removed by merely manually unfastening screws 27, When this is done, the unit induces the flow of secondary air through the aperture provided by the removal of cover plate 20. It can thus be seen that the room unit 10 can be made to operate more efficiently when it is located entirely within a room because the air drop losses which are experienced when the unit draws air through chamber 40 is avoided when cover 20 is removed.

A filter 41 (Figure 2) is adapted to be placed in the unit 10 for filtering the secondary air passing therethrough. An angular bracket 44 is suitably affixed, as by welding, to side 22. A similar bracket (not shown) is afiixed to side 21. One end of filter 41 is adapted to rest on bracket 44 and its counterpart. The other end of filter 41 is adapted to rest on flange 29 of top and rear plate 18. A camrning member 45 protrudes through plate 18 to fasten the filter securely in position. In order to clean the filter 41 it is only necessary to use a vacuum cleaning device, access to the filter 41 being obtained through the aperture provided by the removal of cover plate 20. If it is necessary to remove filter 41 for any reason, camrning member 45 is loosened, and, as can be seen from Figure 2, the filter may be pivoted in a counterclockwise direction away from flange 29, moved to the right away from bracket 44, and then removed from unit 10 through the aperture provided by the removal of cover plate 20. Filter 41 can be re-inserted by merely performing the foregoing manipulations in reverse.

From time to time during operation of unit 10, condensate will form on heat exchange coil 30. It is desirable that this condensate be properly disposed of. To this end, drain pan 19, which forms the bottom of the casing, is used. Since the room unit 10 is fabricated for horizontal installation, any condensate which forms on heat exchange coil 30 will tend to run down the inclined heat exchange fins 46 until the lowermost cor" ners thereof are reached (see Figure 2). The condensate will then drip from heat exchanger 30 into the rear portion 47 of drain pan 19, this rear portion being bounded by flanges 28, 25, 26 and an angle member 48 which is welded to the drain pan 19. The rear portion 47, which thus forms a condensate trough, has drain fittings 49 and 50 which can be connected to suitable drain hoses (not shown) to carry away the condensate which is formed. As can be seen from Figure 5, the positioning of the drain fittings 49 and 50 on opposite sides of the drain pan will permit condensate to be disposed of from either side of the unit as it tilts from side to side when it is used on board ship. To prevent condensate from leaking on the floor from the heat exchanger tubes 34 which extend beyond the sides of the unit (Figure l), a gutter 51 is suitably attached to side 21 and a similar assesses gutter (not shown) is attached to side 22. Condensate from these portions of tubes 34 will fall into the gutters 51 from which it will run down the inside of sides 21 and 22 to the drain pan 19 to be disposed of in the above described manner.

When the unit is installed in a wall, that is when the cover plate 20 is used, the amount of secondary air which is induced into the unit may be varied, without disturbing the amount of primary air flowing from the unit. Because of this feature, the temperature of the air flowing from the unit can be adjusted to a limited degree by varying the amount of secondary air which is mixed with the primary air. Furthermore, by varying the amount of secondary air flovving through the unit, the amount of draft produced by room unit 10 can be controlled because varying the secondary air supply causes a direct change in the total amount of air discharged from the unit. To achieve the foregoing results, a damper 52 is affixed to hinges 53 which are fastened to brackets 54 which are in turn suitably fastened to the out side of plenum chamber 11. Spring 55 extends between the outside of plenum chamber 11 and damper 52 and tends to bias the latter in an open position. A chain 56 is affixed to the damper and is adapted to coact with slotted bracket 57 attached to flange 39. By placing the desired portion of chain 56 within the slot in bracket 57, the position of damper 52 can be adjusted to achieve the foregoing results.

Depending on various conditions, it is often desirable to vary the amount of primary air which is being discharged from plenum 11. The basic structure of the metering arrangement is fully set forth in the abovementioned application, Serial No. 559,061. However, this structure has been modified in order to obviate the necessitiy of removing the grille (not shown) on the front of the unit to effect the desired adjustment. To this end, a strut 58 (Figures 1 and 4) is affixed to and extends between top plate 17 and air-dividing plate 43. A bolt 59 is threaded through strut 58 and extends through lost motion slot 60 in lever arm 61. Compression spring 62 extends between stop member 63 and washer 64 on bolt 59, and nut 65 holds the foregoing assembly together. When it is desired to vary the amount of primary air flowing from plenum chamber 11, it is only necessary to insert a screwdriver through the grille on the front of the room unit 10 to turn bolt 59. This will cause lever arm 61 to pivot and in turn cause the metering arrangement described in said application, Serial No. 559,061, to vary the primary air flow.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that the invention is not limited thereto since it may otherwise be embodied within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type comprising a casing having a top, a bottom and side walls, one end of the casing being closed by an end wall having upper and lower removable port-ions and the other end of the casing being open so as to communicate with the room to be air conditioned, a plenum chamber mounted in said casing adjacent said open end intermediate the top and bottom of the casing and extending from side wall to side wall, said plenum chamber serving to separate the casing into an air intake chamber and an air discharge chamber, said plenum chamber being spaced from the closed end of the casing to form a passageway between the intake and discharge chambers, an opening in a side wall in communication with said plenum chamber adapted to communicate with a source of primary air, means connected to the casing in the open end thereof to divide the open end into an inlet and an outlet, said inlet communicating with said intake chamber and said outlet communicating with said discharge chamber, nozzle means for discharging primary air from said plenum chamber into said air discharge chamber, a heat exchanger mounted in said passageway upstream of said nozzle means whereby when only the open end of the casing is in communication with the.

room, secondary air from the room is induced through said inlet into said intake chamber over said heat exchanger and discharged from the discharge chamber through said outlet by the flow of primary air through said nozzle means and out of said outlet into the room and when the unit is in the room, removal of the lower portion of the end wall provides a second opening in said casing for allowing said secondary air to be induced therethrough for passage over said heat exchanger.

2. A room unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein the side walls are oppositely disposed and each side wall has an opening therein extending to the outer edge and mountingmeans on each end of said heat exchanger supported in said openings and closing off the openings whereby when said upper removable portion of the end wall is removed, the heat exchanger may be reversed end over end so that connections may be made from either side of the casing.

3. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type adapted for use on board a ship comprising a casing having a top, a bottom and side walls, one end of the casing being closed by an end wall having upper and lower removable portions and the other end of the casing being open so as to communicate with the room to be air conditioned, said bottom of the casing constituting a drain pan having drain connections mounted on opposite sides thereof to permit condensate to be discharged from either side of the drain pan as the ship tilts cfrom side .-to side, a plenum chamber mounted in said casing adjacent said open end intermediate the top and bottom of the casing and extending :from side wall to side wall, said plenum chamber serving to separate the casing into an air intake chamber and an air discharge chamber, said plenum chamber being spaced from the closed end of the casing to form a passageway between the intake and discharge chambers, an opening in a side wall in communication vvith'said plenum chamber adapted to communicate with a source of primary air, means connected to the casing in the open end thereof to divide the open end into an inlet and an outlet, said inlet communicating with said intake chamber and said outlet communicating with said discharge chamber, nozzle means for discharging primary air from said plenum chamber into said air discharge chamber, a heat exchanger mounted in said passageway upstream of said nozzle means whereby when only the open end of the casing is in communication with the room, secondary air from the room is induced through said inlet into said intake chamber over said heat exchanger and discharged from the discharge chamber through said outlet by the flow of primary air through said nozzle means and out of said outlet into the room and when the unit is in the room, removal of the lower portion of the end wall provides a second opening in said casing for allowing said secondary air to be induced therethrough for passage over said heat exchanger.

4. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type comprising a casing having a top, a bottom and side walls, one end of the casing being closed by an end wall having upper and lower removable portions and the other end of the casing being open so as to communicate with the room to be air conditioned, a plenum chamber mounted on said casing adjacent said open end intermediate the top and bottom of the casing said plenum chamber extending from side wall to side Wall and serving to separate the casing into an air intake chamber and an air discharge chamber, a plate member secured to the casing in the open end thereof and separating the open end into an air inlet and an air outlet, the air inlet and air outlet communicating with the intake chamber and discharge chamber, respectively, an opening in a side wall in communication with said plenum chamber and adapted to communicate with the source of primary air, nozzle means for dis 7 charging primary air from said plenum chamber into the air discharge chamber for discharge through said air outlet into the room, said plenum chamber being spaced from the closed end of the casing to form a passageway between the intake and discharge chambers, a heat exchanger mounted in said passageway upstream of said nozzle means, said air inlet opening into said air intake chamber relatively remote from said heat exchanger, whereby when only the open end of the casing is in communication with the room, secondary air from the room to be air conditioned is induced through said air inlet into said air intake chamber over said heat exchanger and discharged from the air discharge chamber through said air outlet into the room by the flow of primary air through said nozzle means and through said outlet into the room,

and when the unit is in the room, the lower portion of the end wall is removed providing a second opening in said casing relatively near said heat exchanger from permitting secondary air to be induced therethrough for passage over said heat exchanger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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