Configurable animal house ceiling vent

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11768010-B2
Application number	US-202117231540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2021
Priority date	Apr 16, 2020
Publication date	Sep 26, 2023
Grant date	Sep 26, 2023

Abstract

A ceiling vent assembly incudes a ceiling vent having a pair of opposed end panels and a pair of opposed side panels, which define a frame that is open at its top and bottom. The frame receives two louvers pivotally mounted so as to be movable between open and closed positions. The ceiling vent assembly also includes first and second cables attached to the first and second louvers and a pulley assembly having a pair of vertically-oriented pulleys and a center pulley block having at least one horizontal pulley. The horizontal pulley has two vertically offset cable guides. Control rods pass through aligned rod openings in the end panels and pulley block. The pulley block has cable routing holes adjacent to each of the cable guides. The first cable is routed from the first louver, around the first vertical pulley, around one of the cable guides and then to one of the control rods, and the second cable is routed from the second louver, around the second vertical pulley, around the other one of the cable guides and then to one of the control rods such that the cables can be selectively routed so that the louvers can be controlled by either one of the control rods.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ceiling vent assembly for use in a ceiling of an animal house, the ceiling vent assembly comprising:
a pair of control rods;
a ceiling vent comprising a pair of opposed end panels and a pair of opposed side panels, which, in combination, define a frame that is open at its top and bottom, the frame receiving a first louver and a second louver, each louver being pivotally mounted in the frame so as to be movable between an open position in which the louver passes airflow through the ceiling vent and a closed position in which the louver blocks the airflow from passing through the ceiling vent, the end panels each having a plurality of rod openings with one of the rod openings from each of the end panels being aligned such that the rod openings form a plurality of aligned pairs of rod openings;
a first cable attached to the first louver;
a second cable attached to the second louver; and
a pulley assembly comprising first and second vertical pulleys and a center pulley block having at least one horizontal pulley, the at least one horizontal pulley having a first cable guide and a second cable guide with the first cable guide being offset vertically with respect to the second cable guide, wherein the pulley block has a plurality of rod openings, with each one of the plurality of rod openings in the pulley block being aligned with one of the aligned pairs of rod openings in the end panels, such that one of the control rods passes through one set of aligned rod openings in the end panels and pulley block and the other one of the control rods passes through another set of aligned rod openings in the end panels and pulley block, and wherein the pulley block has at least one cable routing hole adjacent to each one of the first and second cable guides;
wherein the first cable is routed from the first louver, around the first vertical pulley, around one of the cable guides and then to one of the control rods, and the second cable is routed from the second louver, around the second vertical pulley, around the other one of the cable guides and then to one of the control rods such that the cables can be selectively routed so that the first and second louvers can be controlled by either one of the two control rods depending on which control rod the respective cable is attached.

2. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the first cable guide is in-line with the second cable guide such the first and second cable guides have a common vertical axis.

3. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the at least one horizontal pulley of the pulley block comprises a pair of horizontal pulleys spaced outwardly from a center of the pulley block, wherein a first of the pair of horizontal pulleys comprises the first cable guide and the second of the pair of horizontal pulleys comprises the second cable guide.

4. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 3 wherein the first of the pair of horizontal pulleys comprises first and second cable guides and the second of the pair of horizontal pulleys comprises first and second cable guides.

5. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein each of the control rods is configured to selectively move a respective one of the louvers of the ceiling vent between the open and closed position.

6. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the plurality of aligned pairs of rod openings comprises a first pair of rod openings in a right portion of the end panels, a second pair of rod openings in a left portion of the end panels, and a third pair of rod openings near a midpoint of the end panels.

7. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the pulley block is attached to a mounting bar that spans between one of the pair of end panels or the pair of side panels, and the horizontal pulley is formed in the pulley block so that the horizontal pulley is suspended beneath the mounting bar.

8. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the pulley assembly extends across the frame between the end panels, generally at a mid-point along a width of the frame.

9. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second vertical pulleys is mounted to its respective side panel.

10. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the pulley assembly extends across the frame between the side panels, generally at a mid-point along a length of the ceiling vent.

11. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein the pulley assembly comprises a mounting bar that is fixed to the side panels.

12. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 11 wherein the first and second vertical pulleys are spaced inwardly from each end of the mounting bar, with the first and second vertical pulleys extending downward from the mounting bar.

13. The ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 wherein when in the closed position, end edges of a louver upper surface are received by shoulder segments in the end panel and the upper surface abuts a bottom of the side panels along an outer edge of the louver.

14. A series of ceiling vents comprising the ceiling vent assembly of claim 1 and a plurality of additional ceiling vents, wherein the pair of control rods extends between the plurality of ceiling vents so that the plurality of ceiling vents can be opened or closed together.

15. The series of ceiling vents of claim 14 wherein the first and second cables are routed in the pulley assemblies such that the first and second louvers of adjacent ceiling vents open and close in an alternating manner.

16. The series of ceiling vents of claim 15 wherein when the first louver is opened and the second louver is closed of one ceiling vent, the first louvers are closed and the second louvers are open of the two adjacent ceiling vents.

17. The series of ceiling vents of claim 14 wherein the first and second cables of each of the ceiling vents are routed in the pulley assemblies such that one control rod controls the first louver on the same side of all the ceiling vents and the other control rod controls the second louver on the opposite side of all the ceiling vents such that all the first louvers open and close together and all the second louvers open and close together.

Assignees

• Gsi Group Llc

Inventors

• Eversole Nathan Robert

Classifications

• F24F13/1426 Primary

  characterised by actuating means · CPC title

• A01K1/0058 Primary

  Construction of air inlets or outlets in roofs · CPC title

• F24F7/02

  Roof ventilation (ventilation of roof coverings E04D) · CPC title

• F24F13/084

  with mounting arrangements, e.g. snap fasteners for mounting to the wall or duct · CPC title

• F24F13/142

  using pivoting blades with intersecting axles · CPC title