Cabinet controller
First Claim
1. An air-filtering system comprising:
- a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet;
a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet;
a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material;
propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space;
means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material;
said propelling means being located downstream of said air flow through said material;
and means for disposing said controlling means downstream from said propelling means directly in the path of said air flowing from said propelling means and ultimately toward said housing outlet.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A controller is associated with a cabinet which contains apparatus and components for performing operations or conducting processes. Associated with the cabinet is a housing within which is contained an air filtration material. Air is admitted and propelled for flow through that material and delivery into the confined space defined by the cabinet by a blower unit. The blower unit is controlled in response to the rate of flow of air through the housing in order to maintain a selected rate of flow in compensation for changes in impedence to flow of air through the material. Operation also is controlled in response to other parameters, such as pressure differential across the material, pressure differential across a prefilter upstream, a measure of the rate of air flow into the cabinet, ambient temperature within the cabinet, pressure differential between outside atmospheric pressure and each of the housing and the cabinet and relative humidity within the cabinet. Those operating parameters are continually analyzed with the results being used for control and/or record keeping.
60 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; said propelling means being located downstream of said air flow through said material; and means for disposing said controlling means downstream from said propelling means directly in the path of said air flowing from said propelling means and ultimately toward said housing outlet.
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2. An air-filtering system comprising:
- a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet;
a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and, in addition to said controlling means, means to sense pressure differential across said material for enabling said controlling means to respond to said pressure differential.
- a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet;
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3. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; a prefilter upstream of said air flow through said material; and, in addition to said controlling means, means to detect pressure differential across only said prefilter for enabling said controlling means to respond to said pressure differential.
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4. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; a post filter downstream of said air flow through said material, said controlling means including a measurer of the rate of said air flow from said post filter, and with said controlling means responding to said measurer by adjusting said propelling means.
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5. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; a post filter downstream of said air flow through said material with said propelling means also being located downstream of said air flow from said material.
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6. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and an element for sensing the temperature of said air flow from said housing delivered into said space with said controlling means responding to said element by recording the values of said temperature.
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7. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and a device for sensing the ambient temperature within the interior of said space with said controlling means responding to said device by providing a monitoring of said ambient temperature.
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8. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmopsheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and a determinator of pressure differential between the interior of said space and the ambient atmosphere from which said air is admitted through said housing inlet, with said controlling means responding to said determinator by enabling response to said differential.
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9. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and a unit for sensing the relative humidity within said space, with said controlling means responding to said unit by enabling the monitoring of said humidity.
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10. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; means for analyzing operative parameters within said space and within said housing; means for enabling feedback from said analyzing means to be fed to said controlling means; and mans associated with said controlling means for maintaining said constant rate of said air flow.
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11. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; and means including said controlling means for enabling said air flow through said filter material to govern at least one of the humidity, temperature and pressure within said space and for determining one or more of status, performance and service necessity.
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12. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; means for logging parameters of operation within said system; means responsive to said logging means for producing information indicative of said parameters; and means for retrieving said information.
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13. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space wtihin said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; means for sensing at least one of the humidity, temperature, pressure and rate of air flow parameters within said housing; a non-volatile random access memory included within said controlling means for retaining a record of said one parameter; means included within said controlling means for cumulatively counting the number of store cycles performed by said memory; and means responsive to said counting means for setting a flag when the count of said store cycles reaches a predetermined value.
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14. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmosphere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; said filtration material being adsorbtive of gaseous products and said rate of air flow being selected to maximize life of said filter by minimizing said rate of air flow through said material to no more than said constant rate.
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15. An air-filtering system comprising:
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a cabinet defining a confined interior equipment-containing space into which said air is admitted and maintained at a positive pressure relative to ambient atmospheric pressure external to said cabinet; a housing having an inlet for admitting air into said housing from the ambient atmopshere external to said housing and having outlet means for delivering air from said housing into said equipment-containing space within said cabinet; a canister having its own outlet opening and its own inlet opening and disposed within said housing, said canister containing an air filtration material located between said canister inlet opening and said canister outlet opening with said canister being in a position to enable air flow between said canister openings through said material; propelling means disposed within said housing and so located in position relative to said canister as to move the air from said housing inlet in a downstream direction through said canister inlet opening, said filtration material and said canister outlet opening on through said housing outlet and into said equipment-containing space; means located within said air filtering system for controlling said propelling means in response to the flow of said air through said housing in order to maintain essentially continuously a selected constant rate of air flow through said housing outlet and into said cabinet in compensation for changes in impedance of said material to air flow through said material; a sensor within said controlling means for obtaining a measurement of the rate of air flow through said housing outlet entering to said cabinet; and means included within said controlling means for periodically polling said sensor in determining the measurement response obtained thereby.
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Specification