Ventilation blower controls employing air quality sensors
First Claim
1. A fresh air ventilation system in a building having an outside wall, said ventilation system having means to exhaust stale air through said outside wall and take in fresh air, the improvement comprising:
- at least one air quality sensor within and/or in vicinity of said building; and
controller means in response to the detection of a contaminant above a preselected level by said at least one air quality sensor for controlling said fresh air ventilation system to take appropriate action.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A fresh air ventilation system in a building having an outside wall exhausts contaminants, such as stale or noxious air, through the outside wall and takes in fresh air. A remote switch sets a mode of operation of the ventilation system. One or more strategically placed air quality sensors are located within the building. The sensors may be connected wirelessly through a multiplexor interconnect system to operational control the fan of the exhaust system. In response to the detection of a contaminant above a pre-selected level by a sensor, the relay controller for the sensors resets the remote switch for continuous high speed operation to evacuate the contaminants from the building through either special ducts or the conventional air ventilation ducts within the building.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A fresh air ventilation system in a building having an outside wall, said ventilation system having means to exhaust stale air through said outside wall and take in fresh air, the improvement comprising:
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at least one air quality sensor within and/or in vicinity of said building; and
controller means in response to the detection of a contaminant above a preselected level by said at least one air quality sensor for controlling said fresh air ventilation system to take appropriate action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of retrofitting an existing ventilation system in a building having fans for exhausting stale air and bringing in fresh air, said ventilation system having at least one remote switch terminal for setting a high speed mode of operation, said method comprising the steps of:
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adding a relay to said ventilation system;
inserting in a specific location at least one air quality sensor;
connecting contacts of said relay to said remote switch terminals such that said relay is capable of setting continuous high speed modes of operation of said ventilation system; and
,connecting said sensors in a parallel network to said relay so that when said at least one sensor detects an abnormal air quality condition of air within said building, said relay is activated to set high speed operation of said fan. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. The method of ventilating a building comprising the steps of:
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using a fan to exhaust stale air from inside said building and bringing in fresh, outside air;
setting a mode of operation of said fan using a remote switch;
using sensors within said building to measure different air quality conditions in one or more locations within said building; and
overriding the setting of said remote switch when an unfavorable air quality measurement is taken by any one of said sensors to operate said fan at a continuous high speed.
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- 18. A point source exhaust blower controlled by a plurality of air quality sensors to automatically exhaust contaminated air from a room.
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23. A carbon monoxide ventilation system comprising:
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a) a building having a wall with an interior mounting surface and an exterior surface adjacent to ambient outside air;
b) a furnace within said building with a supply duct for circulating heated air through the interior of said building and a return air duct for circulating return air through said furnace;
c) a normally open powered first damper in said supply duct downstream of said furnace forming an air supply plenum between said furnace and said first damper;
d) an exhaust vent in said wall;
e) a vent duct between said exhaust vent and said air supply plenum;
f) a normally closed powered second damper in said vent duct;
g) a carbon monoxide gas detector in said air supply plenum;
h) control means in response to said carbon monoxide detector sensing a threshold value for carbon monoxide gas for actuating said first damper to close and said third damper to open, thereby diverting carbon monoxide gas laden air in said air supply duct out of said building; and
,i) said building having a fresh air inlet vent, a fresh air supply duct between said fresh air inlet vent and said supply duct downstream of said first damper, and a normally closed powered third damper within said fresh air supply duct, said control means actuating said third damper to open when said first damper is closed thereby delivering fresh, outside air to the inside of said building when a dangerous value of carbon monoxide gas is detected in said air supply plenum. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification