LOW COST PORTABLE ROOM AIR CLEANER
First Claim
1. In a compact, readily transportable, low cost, efficient room air filter for cleaning the room air of homes, offices and the like the improvement comprising a housing having at least a base, a backwall and two spaced-apart sidewalls, a high volume air fan supported within the housing, relatively high pressure plenum chamber means formed in part by the two spaced-apart sidewalls and with the high volume fan being disposed with its outlet discharging directly into said relatively high pressure plenum chamber means, means connected to the intake of the high volume fan to provide a suction inlet air passageway from exterior of the housing to the intake of the high volume fan, a coarse large particle prefilter disposed in the inlet air passageway, a relatively low cost, fine small particle filter, mounting means for mounting said fine small particle filter in the housing in a position transversely across and comprising at least part of one of tHe remaining walls of the high pressure plenum chamber means, and outlet means defined in part by said spaced-apart sidewalls for forming an air outlet passageway from said high pressure plenum chamber means through said fine small particle filter for directing the diffuse filtered discharge from the fine small particle filter to exterior of the housing, said relatively low cost fine small particle filter comprising a readily replaceable small particle filter assembly including an outer peripheral support member that defines the intake area of the fine small particle filter, said outer peripheral support member being mounted on said mounting means adjacent the high pressure plenum chamber means and comprising at least part of one side thereof, fine small particle filter media shaped in the form of a multiplicity of adjacent wedge-shaped pockets joined to each other and secured on the support member with the pockets extending out in the direction of airflow and away from the high pressure plenum chamber means, and coarse supporting means that impose little or no pressure drop secured to the wedge-shaped pockets and confining the configuration of a substantial portion of the respective pockets whereby adjacent pockets do not blow out to an extent sufficient to contact one another in a manner that otherwise would result in a restriction of airflow through any of the pockets, and a substantially even pressure gradient is maintained across all of the sides of all of the pockets to assure maximum utilization of the filtering surfaces of the fine small particle filter media and maintenance of steady large volume diffuse airflow caused by suction of the room air through the large particle prefilter into the fan and the discharge of the fan into the relatively high pressure plenum chamber means and through the fine small particle filter to result in diffuse circulation and removal of a substantial portion of all particles usually found in room air which are larger than 0.005 microns in size.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A portable, compact, low cost, highly efficient room air filter for cleaning the room air of homes, offices and the like and which can be placed in the room in the manner of an article of furniture and plugged into a conventional household outlet of alternating electric current without requiring complex air ducting installations or other similar modifications. The room air filter includes a housing and a high volume air fan mounted within the housing. The fan has its discharge directed into a high pressure plenum formed in the housing and has its intake disposed adjacent an intake grill mounted on the exterior of the housing for supplying suction air to the high volume fan. A coarse fiber, large particle prefilter and a charcoal or other type odor filter are disposed in the suction air passageway between the intake grill and the intake of the high volume fan, and a relatively low cost fine fiber small particle filter is disposed adjacent to and defines one side of the high pressure plenum chamber into which the high volume fan discharges at relatively high pressure. The small particle filter has its discharge diffusely directed exteriorly of the housing whereby suction of the room air through the intake grill, the rough particle prefilter and the odor filter into the fan and the high velocity discharge of the fan into the high pressure plenum and through the fine fiber small particle filter results in diffuse circulation and cleaning of the room air whereby substantially 90 percent of all particles usually found in room air which are larger than 0.005 microns in size are removed along with a substantial reduction of odors.
87 Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a compact, readily transportable, low cost, efficient room air filter for cleaning the room air of homes, offices and the like the improvement comprising a housing having at least a base, a backwall and two spaced-apart sidewalls, a high volume air fan supported within the housing, relatively high pressure plenum chamber means formed in part by the two spaced-apart sidewalls and with the high volume fan being disposed with its outlet discharging directly into said relatively high pressure plenum chamber means, means connected to the intake of the high volume fan to provide a suction inlet air passageway from exterior of the housing to the intake of the high volume fan, a coarse large particle prefilter disposed in the inlet air passageway, a relatively low cost, fine small particle filter, mounting means for mounting said fine small particle filter in the housing in a position transversely across and comprising at least part of one of tHe remaining walls of the high pressure plenum chamber means, and outlet means defined in part by said spaced-apart sidewalls for forming an air outlet passageway from said high pressure plenum chamber means through said fine small particle filter for directing the diffuse filtered discharge from the fine small particle filter to exterior of the housing, said relatively low cost fine small particle filter comprising a readily replaceable small particle filter assembly including an outer peripheral support member that defines the intake area of the fine small particle filter, said outer peripheral support member being mounted on said mounting means adjacent the high pressure plenum chamber means and comprising at least part of one side thereof, fine small particle filter media shaped in the form of a multiplicity of adjacent wedge-shaped pockets joined to each other and secured on the support member with the pockets extending out in the direction of airflow and away from the high pressure plenum chamber means, and coarse supporting means that impose little or no pressure drop secured to the wedge-shaped pockets and confining the configuration of a substantial portion of the respective pockets whereby adjacent pockets do not blow out to an extent sufficient to contact one another in a manner that otherwise would result in a restriction of airflow through any of the pockets, and a substantially even pressure gradient is maintained across all of the sides of all of the pockets to assure maximum utilization of the filtering surfaces of the fine small particle filter media and maintenance of steady large volume diffuse airflow caused by suction of the room air through the large particle prefilter into the fan and the discharge of the fan into the relatively high pressure plenum chamber means and through the fine small particle filter to result in diffuse circulation and removal of a substantial portion of all particles usually found in room air which are larger than 0.005 microns in size.
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2. A compact room air filter according to claim 1 further including an odor filter disposed in at least one of said air passageways through the room air filter for substantially reducing odors in the room air.
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3. A room air filter according to claim 1 wherein said air outlet passageway has at least one side closed by a closure surface formed of readily replaceable, coarsely woven decorator cloth which can be easily changed to conform to the decor of a room or office in which the room air cleaner is disposed and which is sufficiently coarsely woven to provide further diffusion to the airflow from the discharge of the air outlet passageway.
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4. A room air filter according to claim 1 wherein the fine small particle filter assembly is removably mounted on the housing support means by said mounting means and said mounting means includes an internal, inflexible mounting flange secured on the housing support means at a location defining at least part of one side of the relatively high pressure plenum chamber means, a filter assembly gasket of a pliable sealing material seated between the mounting ring and the outer support member of the small particle filter assembly, and a plurality of flexible resilient retaining finger means secured on the housing support means at different points around at least a portion of the periphery of the mounting flange and spaced from the filter assembly gasket a short distance to form a retaining grip for receiving the edges of the outer support member of the small particle filter assembly and for firmly clamping the small particle filter assembly in place over the filter assembly gasket on the housing support means.
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5. A room air filter according to claim 4 further including a readily removable intake grill secured in the suction air passageway to the intake of the high volume fan, and a coarse wire supporting structure secured within the suction air passageway for supporting the coarse fiber large particle prefilter and an odor filter secured betwEen such grill and such coarse wire supporting structure supplying the intake of the high volume fan whereby removal and replacement of these filters after they have become dirty in service is facilitated.
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6. A room air filter according to claim 4 further including an odor filter disposed in at least one of said passageways through the room air filter for substantially reducing odors in the room air.
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7. A room air filter according to claim 5 further including sensing and indicating means coupled to the airstream flowing through the inlet and outlet air passageways for sensing decreased airflow through the room air filter and providing an indication of the drop in airflow through the room air filter or increased pressure drop across the filter elements thereby indicating a need for removal and replacement of at least one of the filter elements.
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8. A room air filter according to claim 7 further including humidifier means positioned adjacent the housing support means and acting on the airstream passing through the room air filter to thereby humidify the clean air being circulated by the unit, means for introducing a treating agent selected from the group comprising a deodorant, antiseptic, perfume or antibacterial for conditioning the airstream in a prescribed manner, gas conversion means in the form of ultra-violet lamps supported on the housing support means at a point upstream from the fine small particle filter for converting gaseous compounds entrained in the airstream into small particles that can be captured by the small particle filter whereby improved cleansing action of the room air filter is obtained, and timing means coupled to and controlling the operation of at least said high volume fan for automatically controlling turn-on, turn-off and the speed of the fan in accordance with a preset schedule.
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9. A room air filter according to claim 1 wherein the housing support means has a multiplicity of sides of balanced proportions such that the housing support means can be stably supported in an attractive manner on more than one of its sides while in use in order to facilitate placement of the air filter in available space within a room or office, and wherein all of the component parts of the room air filter including the high volume fan and the filter elements are securely mounted within the housing support means so as to facilitate safe operation of the room air filter irrespective of its manner of placement.
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10. A room air filter according to claim 9 wherein the fine fiber small particle filter assembly is removably mounted within the housing support means by said mounting means and said mounting means includes an internal inflexible mounting flange secured on the housing support means at a location defining at least part of one side of the relatively high pressure plenum chamber, a filter assembly gasket of a pliable sealing material seated between the mounting ring and the outer support member of the small particle filter assembly, and flexible resilient retaining finger means on the housing support means secured at different points around at least a portion of the periphery of the mounting ring and spaced from the filter assembly gasket a short distance so as to define a retaining grip for receiving the edges of the outer support member of the small particle filter assembly in place on the housing support means.
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11. A room air filter according to claim 10 further including a readily removable intake grill secured in the suction air passageway to the intake of the high volume fan and a coarse wire supporting structure secured within the suction air passageway for supporting the coarse fiber large particle prefilter and the odor filter between such grill and such supporting structure in the air passageway supplying the intake of the high volume fan whereby removal and replacement of these filters after they have become dirty in service is facilitated.
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12. A room air filter according to claim 11 wherein said air outlet passageway has At least one side closed by a closure surface formed of readily replaceable, coarsely woven decorator cloth which can be easily changed to conform to the decor of a room or office in which the room air cleaner is disposed and which is sufficiently coarsely woven to provide further diffusion to the airflow from the discharge of the air outlet passageway.
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13. A room air filter according to claim 1 further including humidifier means positioned adjacent the housing support means and coacting with the airstream passing through the room air filter for humidifying the clean air being circulated by the unit.
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14. A room air filter according to claim 13 further including means for introducing a treating agent selected from the group comprising a deodorant, perfume, antiseptic or antibacterial into the airstream passing out of the room air filter.
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15. A room air filter according to claim 1 further including gas conversion means in the form of ultra-violet lamps supported on the housing support means at a point upstream from the fine small particle filter for converting gaseous compounds entrained in the airstream into small particles that can be captured by the small particle filter whereby improved cleansing action by the room air filter is obtained.
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16. A room air filter according to claim 15 further including timing means coupled to and controlling operation of said high volume fan for automatically controlling turn-on, turn-off and the speed of the fan in accordance with a preset schedule.
Specification