Air cooling apparatus

• US 3,953,551 A
• Filed: 01/22/1973
• Issued: 04/27/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Arthur G. Dorall
• Original Assignee: Arthur G. Dorall
• Inventors: Dorall, Arthur G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miles, Tim R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chiesa, Richard L.
• Application Number:
  US05/325,297
• Time in Patent Office: 1,191 Days
• Field of Search: 261/91, 261/97, 261/DIG. 4, 261/DIG. 15, 55/486, 55/487
• US Class Current: 261/91
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/3202 using evaporation, i.e. not including a compressor, e.g. involving fuel or water evaporation B60H1/3235 takes precedence; in general F25B19/00, F25D7/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 6/04 using stationary unheated wet elements
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 6/14 using nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/54 Free-cooling systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 261/04 Auto humidifiers

Abstract

An improved air cooler for use on trailers, campers and the like wherein the cooler has a water supply tank covered by a baffle having a generally horizontal upper surface provided with rib means defining a depression for receiving the lower, continuous margin of a filter. The baffle has holes in the depression to allow water gravitating from the filter to pass through the baffle and return to the tank. Air is driven through the filter by a motor-operated fan coupled to a conical pump extending through a central opening in the baffle defined by a flange having means thereon to prevent water surges in the opening. Water in the tank is elevated by the pump and projected into the airstream flowing toward and into the filter. The air inlet to the housing has a lower boundary which slopes away from the fan to allow moisture to gravitate away from the fan when the cooler is not in use.

This invention relates to improvements in air coolers of the evaporative type used on the roof of a trailer, camper and the like.

Claims

1. An evaporative air cooler comprising:

a housing having an inclined end wall provided with an air inlet and an air outlet therethrough, and a panel in the housing and provided with an inclined surface spaced below and aligned with said air inlet and above and aligned with said air outlet, there being an exit opening between the lower margins of the end wall and said panel and spaced above said air outlet, said inclined surface sloping downwardly and away from the central interior of the housing to permit moisture entering the air opening to strike said inclined surface and to flow downwardly along the same toward and through said exit opening;

a rotatable fan mounted in the housing near the upper end of the panel and disposed for creating a flow of air along a path through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;

a motor within the housing above and coupled with the fan for rotating the same;

an open top, relatively shallow water tank disposed in said housing adjacent to said air outlet and spaced below the fan;

a baffle covering the open top of the tank, said baffle having an upper surface, a pair of spaced openings through said upper surface, and a pair of radially spaced, continuous projections defining an annular depression in surrounding, spaced relationship of one of the openings, the other opening being outboard of the outer projection, said baffle having a first flange integral therewith and extending downwardly therefrom in alignment with said one opening and into said tank, whereby the first flange forms with the bottom of the tank a first water-receiving cup, and a second flange integral with the baffle and extending downwardly therefrom in alignment with said other opening and into said tank, whereby the second flange forms with the bottom of the tank a second water-receiving cup, each flange having a lower margin provided with a recess therein which cooperates with the bottom of the tank to define a metering hole near the lower extremity of the corresponding cup;

a conical, perforate pumping device having an upper enlarged end coupled with the motor and a lower apex end extending through said one opening and into the tank, said device being operable for pumping water upwardly from the tank and through the perforations of the device when the motor is actuated and as the fan directs a flow of air from said air inlet to said air outlet, whereby the air will be cooled by evaporation upon contact with the water elevated by said device;

a valve above the baffle and having a float in the other opening, said valve adapted to be coupled to a source of water; and

a filter extending upwardly from said baffle to a region adjacent to the top of said panel, said filter having a lower margin in the depression, the baffle having at least one drain hole therethrough in said depression.

2. An evaporative air cooler as set forth in claim 1, wherein said filter includes a pair of spaced, concentric filter units, a first of said filters having a porosity different from the second filter.

3. An evaporative air cooler as set forth in claim 1, wherein said device includes a transversely curved, annular surface intermediate the ends of the device, merging with the conical outer surface thereof, and extending upwardly and outwardly therefrom remote from the apex end thereof.