Method for regulation of ventilation as well as an air-conditioning device used in the method

• US 5,031,515 A
• Filed: 11/20/1989
• Issued: 07/16/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Halton Oy (Oy Halton Group Ltd)
• Original Assignee: Halton Oy (Oy Halton Group Ltd)
• Inventors: Niemela, Mertsi, Jantunen, Harri
• Primary Examiner(s): Joyce, Harold
• Application Number:
  US07/424,253
• Time in Patent Office: 603 Days
• Field of Search: 98/34.5, 98/34.6, 98/38.7, 98/38.8
• US Class Current: 454/236
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 7/08 with separate ducts for supplied and exhausted air with provisions for reversal of the input and output systems

Abstract

A method for regulation of ventilation, wherein air is removed out of a room space (H) or equivalent through an air-conditioning device (10) as outlet air (L₁) and in which said air-conditioning apparatus (10) part of the outlet air is recirculated as return air (L₂) back into the room space, whereby return air (L₂) is mixed with outdoor air to be passed into the room space. Before the outlet air (L₁) is made to flow via the return-air damper (15) to the point of mixing (C) of return air (L₂) and outdoor air, the outlet air is fitted to flow first via the outlet-air damper (14) placed on the outlet-air duct (11a) and, thereupon, via the return-air damper (15). The portion (L₃) of the outlet air (L₁) that is not recirculated via the return-air damper (15) or equivalent is removed as waste air (L₃), without throttling, out of the air-conditioning device. The invention also concerns an air-conditioning apparatus.

Claims

1. A method for regulation of ventilation, said method comprising the steps of removing air out of a room space through an air-conditioning device as outlet air and in said air-conditioning device, recirculating part of the outlet air as return air back into the room space, whereby said return air is mixed with outdoor air to be passed into the room space wherein, before the outlet air is made to flow via a return-air damper to the point of mixing of return air and outdoor air, causing the outlet air to flow first through a blower and then through an outlet-air damper placed in one outlet-air duct and, thereupon, via the return-air damper, and simultaneously removing as waste air the portion of the outlet air that is not recirculated via the return-air damper, without throttling, out of the air-conditioning device.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising using such a damper control unit as is given a control quantity which indicates the desired proportion of outdoor air or of return air in the inlet air to be passed into the room, and which said control unit adjusts, for the dampers, positions that effectuate a given set value, and fitting the control unit to regulate each damper separately.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising using such a control unit for controlling the dampers such that, when the amount of outdoor air that flows via the return-air damper is reduced by a corresponding amount and, when the amount of air that flows via the outdoor-air damper is reduced, the amount of air that flows via the outlet-air damper is increased by a corresponding amount, and in said controlling, keeping the amounts of inlet-air flow and outlet-air flow at a desired preset value.

4. An air-conditioning apparatus which comprises an outlet-air duct and therein a first blower, and an inlet-air duct and therein a second blower, and a return-air duct which interconnects said ducts and through which return air is recirculated from the outlet-air duct into the inlet-air duct, and said air-conditioning apparatus comprises a waste-air duct connected to said outlet-air duct and the apparatus comprises an outdoor-air duct connected to said inlet-air duct, and said apparatus comprises a return-air damper in said return-air duct and an outdoor-air damper in the outdoor-air duct, and wherein said apparatus further comprises an outlet-air damper placed in the outlet-air duct, said outlet-air damper placed in the outlet-air duct such that said return air passes through said outlet-air damper before passing through said return air duct, and said outlet-air damper being positioned after said first blower in the direction of air flow, said outlet-air damper being fitted to be placed before the return-air damper, relative to the air flow, whereby the portion of the outlet air that does not flow as return air into the inlet-air duct is removed from the apparatus as waste air without throttling, whereas the return air is mixed with an outdoor-air flow introduced along the outdoor-air duct.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4, wherein the outdoor-air damper is fitted to be placed before the point of mixing of the return-air flow and the outdoor-air flow.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a fourth damper, which operates under an open/close principle, wherein in the open position a free unthrottled flow is permitted via the fourth damper, and said fourth damper being placed in the waste-air duct after the point of branching of the waste-air flow and the return-air flow.

7. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4, wherein, at the return-air damper, the cross-sectional flow are of the return-air duct is 10% to 75%, of the cross-sectional flow area of the outlet-air duct.

8. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4, wherein the connecting duct and the outdoor-air duct are placed so that their central axes are substantially perpendicular to each other, and that the return-air damper fitted in the return-air duct opening is adapted to be placed in the proximity of the outdoor-air damper.

9. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 4 wherein the air-conditioning apparatus further comprises a control unit, to which a control quantity which indicates the desired proportion of outdoor air in the inlet air is fed as a set value, and which said control unit regulates each damper separately, and that said control unit regulates the dampers such that, when the flow of air flowing through the outdoor-air damper is increased, the flow of air flowing through the return-air damper is reduced by a corresponding amount, and, in a corresponding manner, when the flow of air flowing through the outdoor-air damper is reduced, the flow of air flowing through the return-air damper is increased by a corresponding amount, and that, when said air flows are being regulated, the outlet-air flow and the inlet-air flow (L₁, L₅) are kept at respective pre-adjusted desired flow-quantity values.

10. The air-conditioning device of claim 7, wherein said cross-sectional flow area of said return-air duct is about 30% of the respective cross-sectional flow areas of the outdoor-air duct and the outlet-air duct.