Air moving unit and a HVAC system employing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9551358-B2
Application number	US-95643110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2010
Priority date	Nov 30, 2010
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

An air moving unit, an HVAC system and an enclosed plug fan unit are disclosed. In one embodiment, the air moving unit includes: (1) a plug fan with a blower wheel and (2) a circulation enclosure. The circulation enclosure includes: (2A) a back side and (2B) a front side having an inlet orifice corresponding to an intake area of the plug fan, the front side coupled to top, left and right sides that extend therefrom to the back side to form the circulation enclosure, wherein the blower wheel is located within the circulation enclosure and the plug fan is mechanically coupled to at least one side thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air moving unit for an HVAC system having a housing, comprising:
a plug fan comprising a blower wheel; and
a circulation enclosure removably couplable to said HVAC system within said housing, the circulation enclosure comprising:
a back side, a front side, a top side, a left side, a right side, and a bottom side;
said front side having an inlet orifice corresponding to an intake area of said plug fan, said front side mechanically coupled to said top, bottom, left and right sides that extend therefrom to said back side to form said circulation enclosure;
wherein said blower wheel is located within said circulation enclosure and said plug fan is mechanically coupled to at least one side thereof, wherein each side of said circulation enclosure is distinct from said housing;
wherein said left, top, and right sides of the circulation enclosure are non-permeable to air; and
wherein said blower wheel in said circulation enclosure is only accessible through said inlet orifice and a supply air opening when said housing is removed.

2. The air moving unit as recited in claim 1 wherein said bottom side has said supply air opening.

3. The air moving unit as recited in claim 1 wherein a shape of said circulation enclosure is based on said plug fan and said HVAC system.

4. The air moving unit as recited in claim 1 wherein said plug fan includes a direct drive motor and said back side has a motor opening and a portion of said direct drive motor protrudes therefrom.

5. The air moving unit as recited in claim 1 wherein a rotation center axis of said plug fan corresponds to the center of said inlet orifice.

6. The air moving unit as recited in claim 5 wherein said circulation enclosure has a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

7. The air moving unit as recited in claim 6 wherein said circulation enclosure has a length along a first axis that is perpendicular to said rotation axis and a width along a second axis that is parallel with said rotation axis, wherein said length is greater than said width.

8. The air moving unit as recited in claim 1 wherein said plug fan is a first plug fan, said air moving unit further comprising a second plug fan located within said circulation enclosure.

9. An HVAC system, comprising:
a return air duct;
a supply air duct;
a housing; and
an air moving unit removably coupled to said HVAC system within said housing and positioned therein to pull return air from said return air duct and discharge conditioned air through said supply air duct, said air moving unit including:
a plug fan comprising a blower-wheel, and
a circulation enclosure, comprising:
a back side, a front side, a top side, a left side, a right side, and a bottom side; and
said front side having an inlet orifice corresponding to an intake area of said plug fan, said front side mechanically coupled to said top, bottom, left and right sides that extend therefrom to said back side to form said circulation enclosure;

wherein said blower wheel is located within said circulation enclosure and said plug fan is mechanically coupled to at least one side thereof, wherein each side of said circulation enclosure is distinct from said housing;
wherein said left, top, and right sides of the circulation enclosure are non-permeable to air; and
wherein said blower wheel in said circulation enclosure is only accessible through said inlet orifice and a supply air opening when said housing is removed.

10. The HVAC system as recited in claim 9 further comprising a compressor, a coil fluidly coupled to said compressor and a heat exchanger, wherein said plug fan is positioned to pull said return air across said coil.

11. The HVAC system as recited in claim 10 further comprising a blower deck wherein said air moving unit is removably coupled thereto via a mechanical connection.

12. The HVAC system as recited in claim 11 , wherein said bottom side is opposite said top side and is removably coupled to said blower deck.

13. The HVAC system as recited in claim 12 wherein said bottom side has said supply air opening fluidly coupled to said supply air duct for discharging said conditioned air.

14. The HVAC system as recited in claim 9 wherein said air moving unit further comprises an electrical interface configured to connect said plug fan to a controller of said HVAC system.

15. The HVAC system as recited in claim 9 wherein said plug fan has a direct drive motor and said back side has a motor opening and a portion of said direct drive motor protrudes therefrom.

16. The HVAC system as recited in claim 9 wherein a rotation center axis of said plug fan corresponds to the center of said inlet orifice.

17. The HVAC system as recited in claim 16 wherein said circulation enclosure is a rectangular parallelepiped.

18. The HVAC system as recited in claim 17 wherein said circulation enclosure has a length along a first axis that is perpendicular to said rotation axis and a width along a second axis that is parallel with said rotation axis, wherein said length is greater than said width and dimensions of said circulation enclosure are based on said plug fan and said HVAC system.

19. The HVAC system as recited in claim 9 wherein only two sides of said circulation enclosure have openings for circulating air by said plug fan.

20. An enclosed plug fan unit for an HVAC unit having a controller, a blower deck and a housing, comprising:
a plug fan comprising a direct drive motor and a blower wheel;
an electrical interface configured to connect said direct drive motor to said controller;
a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped circulation enclosure removably couplable to said HVAC system within said housing and including six sides, wherein said plug fan is fixed to at least one side of said circulation enclosure and said blower wheel is located within said circulation enclosure, wherein said six sides are unique from sides of said housing and are mechanically fixed together to form said rectangular parallelepiped-shaped circulation enclosure;
wherein said six sides comprise a back side, a front side, a top side, a left side, a right side, and a bottom side, said front side having an inlet orifice corresponding to an intake area of said plug fan;
wherein said left, top, and right sides of said rectangular parallelepiped-shaped circulation enclosure are non-permeable to air; and
wherein said blower wheel in said circulation enclosure is only accessible through said inlet orifice and a supply air opening when said housing is removed.

Assignees

• Havard Jr Harold Gene
• Curtis Geoffrey
• Montemayor Miguel
• Poirier Randal
• Lennox Ind Inc

Inventors

• Havard Jr Harold Gene
• Curtis Geoffrey
• Montemayor Miguel
• Poirier Randal

Classifications

• F24F1/0018

  characterised by fans (with secondary air induced by injector action of the primary air F24F1/01) · CPC title

• F04D29/601 Primary

  specially adapted for elastic fluid pumps · CPC title