Apparatus and method for measuring air flow from a duct system
First Claim
1. A device for predicting air flow from a duct system being produced by an environment conditioning plant, said device comprising:
- a housing having an inlet and an outlet;
a restrictor movably connected to the housing for movement between a plurality of restricting positions wherein the restrictor restricts differing portions of the inlet;
a blower disposed in the housing for moving air into the inlet and exhausting air from the housing through the outlet;
a duct having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, said inlet portion being connected to the outlet of the housing for air flow communication therewith, and said outlet portion being adapted for air flow communication with an input opening of the duct system;
a manometer connected to the duct and being operable to measure a static pressure value in the duct when the outlet portion of the duct is in air flow communication with the input opening of the duct system; and
means for converting the measured static pressure value to an air flow value based on a performance curve of the environment conditioning plant; and
wherein the restrictor is disposed in a selected one of the restricting positions, said selected one of the restricting positions produces an air flow that matches an output air flow of the environment conditioning plant.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for selectively predicting the air flows from a duct system that would be produced by environment conditioning plants. The apparatus includes a measurement duct connected to a blower. A restrictor plate is movably mounted over an inlet to the blower to vary the air flow produced by the blower so as to correspond to the air flow generated by a selected environment conditioning plant. A manometer is connected to the measurement duct and is operable to measure static pressure in the measurement duct when the measurement duct is in air flow communication with the duct system. Performance curves for the environment conditioning plants are used to convert static pressures to air flows.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A device for predicting air flow from a duct system being produced by an environment conditioning plant, said device comprising:
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a housing having an inlet and an outlet; a restrictor movably connected to the housing for movement between a plurality of restricting positions wherein the restrictor restricts differing portions of the inlet; a blower disposed in the housing for moving air into the inlet and exhausting air from the housing through the outlet; a duct having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, said inlet portion being connected to the outlet of the housing for air flow communication therewith, and said outlet portion being adapted for air flow communication with an input opening of the duct system; a manometer connected to the duct and being operable to measure a static pressure value in the duct when the outlet portion of the duct is in air flow communication with the input opening of the duct system; and means for converting the measured static pressure value to an air flow value based on a performance curve of the environment conditioning plant; and wherein the restrictor is disposed in a selected one of the restricting positions, said selected one of the restricting positions produces an air flow that matches an output air flow of the environment conditioning plant. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A device for predicting the air flow from a duct system that is produced by an environment conditioning plant, said device comprising:
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a duct having an inlet portion and an outlet portion, said outlet portion being adapted for air flow communication with an input opening of the duct system; a blower connected to the inlet portion of the duct for air flow communication therewith, said blower being operable to provide an air flow to the duct; means for varying the air flow to correspond to the air flow generated by the environment conditioning plant; a manometer connected to the duct and being operable to measure a static pressure value in the duct when the outlet portion of the duct is in air flow communication with the input opening of the duct system; and means for converting the measured static pressure value to an air flow value based on a performance curve of the environment conditioning plant. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of predicting the air flow from a duct system that is produced by an environment conditioning plant mounted over an inlet of the duct system, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a performance graph containing a performance curve for the environment conditioning plant, wherein static pressure is plotted versus air flow; providing a measurement duct; disposing the duct over the inlet of the duct system when the environment conditioning plant is not mounted over the inlet of the duct system; generating an air flow corresponding to the air flow generated by the environment conditioning plant; directing the air flow into the measurement duct for movement into the duct system; measuring static pressure in the measurement duct to obtain a static pressure value; and converting the static pressure value to an air flow value using the performance graph. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification