Flow generator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11067089-B2
Application number	US-201816640123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2018
Priority date	Sep 1, 2017
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A flow generator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an upper fan configured to suction upper air and generate a first airflow, an upper fan housing configured to accommodate the upper fan from a lower side thereof and comprising a first discharge part through which the suctioned upper air is discharged, a lower fan configured to suction lower air and generate a second airflow, a lower fan housing configured to accommodate the lower fan from an upper side thereof and comprising a second discharge part through which the suctioned lower air is discharged, an air guide disposed between the upper fan and the lower fan to guide generation of a third airflow in which the first airflow and the second airflow are mixed with each other, and a control unit configured to control a rotational speed of the lower fan or the upper fan to adjust a discharge direction of the third airflow, wherein the first discharge part is disposed to face the second discharge part with respect to the flow guide part.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flow generator comprising:
an upper fan configured to suction upper air and generate a first airflow;
an upper fan housing configured to accommodate the upper fan from a lower side thereof and comprising a first discharge part through which the suctioned upper air is discharged;
a lower fan configured to suction lower air and generate a second airflow;
a lower fan housing configured to accommodate the lower fan from an upper side thereof and comprising a second discharge part through which the suctioned lower air is discharged;
an air guide disposed between the upper fan and the lower fan to guide generation of a third airflow in which the first airflow and the second airflow are mixed with each other; and
a control unit configured to control a rotational speed of the lower fan or the upper fan to adjust a discharge direction of the third airflow,
wherein the first discharge part is disposed to face the second discharge part with respect to a flow guide part.

2. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the rotational speed of the lower fan or the upper fan so that a flow rate of air passing through the second discharge part is greater than that of air passing through the first discharge part to allow the third airflow to flow toward an upper side of the air guide.

3. The flow generator according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit controls the lower fan so that the rotational speed of the lower fan is quicker than that of the upper fan.

4. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the rotational speed of the lower fan or the upper fan so that a flow rate of air passing through the first discharge part is greater than that of air passing through the second discharge part to allow the third airflow to flow toward a lower side of the air guide.

5. The flow generator according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit controls the upper fan so that the rotational speed of the upper fan is quicker than that of the lower fan.

6. The flow generator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an orifice disposed below the lower fan housing; and
a rotary motor installed in the orifice to provide driving force,
wherein the first discharge part and the second discharge part are rotatable by the driving of the rotary motor.

7. The flow generator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an upper motor connected to the upper fan; and
a lower motor connected to the lower fan,
wherein the control unit controls the number of revolution of the upper motor or the lower motor to adjust a vertical discharge direction of the third airflow.

8. The flow generator according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit allows the numbers of revolution of the upper motor and the lower motor to increases or decreases in inverse proportion to each other so that the third airflow is discharged while reciprocating in a vertical direction of the air guide.

9. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit allows the rotational speed of the upper fan to increase or decrease at a constant rate within a first set range.

10. The flow generator according to claim 9 , wherein the control unit allows the rotational speed of the lower fan to increase or decrease at a constant rate within a second set range.

11. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein, when the discharge direction of the third airflow is an outward radial direction, the rotational speed of the lower fan is greater than that of the upper fan.

12. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the upper fan housing comprises a first guide wall which is disposed to be spaced apart from at least a portion of an outer circumferential surface of the upper fan to provide a first fan passage.

13. The flow generator according to claim 12 , wherein the lower fan housing comprises a second guide wall which is disposed to be spaced apart from at least a portion of an outer circumferential surface of the lower fan to provide a second fan passage.

14. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the third airflow is generated by allowing the first airflow and the second airflow to collide with each other or to be mixed with each other.

15. The flow generator according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the upper fan and the lower fan so that the rotational speeds of the upper fan and the lower fan are continuously changed as time elapses to generate natural wind.

16. A method for controlling a flow generator comprising an upper module suctioning upper air by an upper fan to discharge the air to a first discharge part that is disposed at a lower side, a lower module suctioning lower air by a lower fan to discharge the air to a second discharge part that is disposed at an upper side, and a control unit controlling rotational speeds of the upper fan and the lower fan, the method comprising:
inputting a natural wind mode;
loading a target graph extracted based on data obtained by measuring natural wind; and
operating a vertical RPM sequence in which combinations of the rotational speeds of the upper fan and the lower fan are defined so as to follow the target graph.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the target graph is obtained by removing a high frequency component from the measured data of the natural wind through fast Fourier transform (FFT).

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the target graph is defined as a time-varying airflow velocity.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the vertical RPM sequence continuously changes the rotational speeds of the upper fan and the lower fan as time elapses so that the airflow velocity detected at a position of a user has a value corresponding to the target graph.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the airflow velocity detected at the position of the user comprises a mean wind speed of the airflow velocity corresponding to a left/right length and height of the user.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Yongmin
• Park Dongryul

Classifications

• Y02B30/70

  Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating · CPC title

• F04D29/4226

  Fan casings · CPC title

• F04D29/424 Primary

  Double entry casings · CPC title

• F05D2270/02

  to control rotational speed (n) · CPC title

• F04D25/10 Primary

  the unit having provisions for automatically changing direction of output air · CPC title