FIE LD

The disclosure relates to a fire safety device, and more particularly to a building ventilation apparatus having a fire safety device.

BACKGROUND

An accidental fire is unpredictable and can severely endanger life and property. Therefore, when fire occurs, firefighting is comprehensively provided . Although prevention of fire is a good approach, suppressing of fire spread is one that has to be taken into account when fire occurs.

When smoldering occurs within a building, a flashover can be easily caused and make firefighting difficult. To reduce the risk of flashover, the building must be ventilated at a fire initiation state for preventing a sudden supply of oxygen after smoldering .

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a building ventilation apparatus that can automatically ventilate a building during fire.

According to the disclosure, a building ventilation apparatus includes a frame, a shutter plate, a plurality of spring-loaded rod units , and a fire-safety lock. The frame is configured to be attached to the building and has a frame opening. The shutter plate is connected to the frame to open and close the frame opening. The spring-loaded rod units are connected between the frame and the shutter plate and normally push the shutter plate to open the frame opening. The fire-safety lock includes a main body, a slide seat, a fusible control member, a latch unit, a first resilient member, and a second resilient member.

The main body is mounted to one of the frame and the shutter plate. The slide seat is slidably mounted within the main body. The fusible control member is made of a low melting point metal and is connected to the slide and the main body. The fusible control member is melted when an ambient temperature is higher than a melting temperature of the fusible control member. The latch unit is slidably disposed within the main body and connects the main body and the slide seat. The latch unit is movable between a locking position, where the latch unit locks the shuttle plate against the frame, and an unlocking position, where the latch unit unlocks the shuttle plate. The first resilient member is disposed within the main body and urges the latch unit to move to the locking position. The second resilient member is disposed within the main body and is connected to the main body and the slide seat.

When the fusible control member is unmelted, the second resilient member is preloaded by the fusible control member to store a restoring force. When the latch control member is melted, the restoring force of the second resilient member drives the slide seat to move the latch unit to the unlocking position .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a first embodiment of a building ventilation apparatus according to the disclosure;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the first embodiment, illustrating a shutter plate closing a frame;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the first embodiment illustrating a spring-loaded rod unit;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the first embodiment illustrating a fire-safety lock;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the first embodiment illustrating the fire-safety lock at a locking position;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5, but illustrating the fire-safety lock at an unlocking position when a fusible control member is unmelted;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6, but illustrating the fire-safety lock at an unlocking position when the fusible control member is melted; Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 2, but illustrating the shutter plate opening the frame;

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 3, but illustrating the spring-loaded rod unit in an extending state;

Figure 10 is a second embodiment of a building ventilation apparatus according to the disclosure.

DE TAI LED DE SCRI PT ION

Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.

Figures 1 to 3 illustrate a building ventilation apparatus according to a first embodiment of the disclosure. The building ventilation apparatus includes a frame 1, a shutter plate 2, a plurality of spring-loaded rod units 200, and a fire-safety lock 100. The frame 1 is configured to be attached to a building and has a frame opening 101. The shutter plate 2 is connected to the frame 1 to open and close the frame opening 101, and has a locking arm 201 that has a locking hole 202.

The fire-safety lock 100 includes a main body 10, a slide seat 20, a fusible control member 30, a latch unit 40, a first resilient member 50 , and a second member 60.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, The main body 10 extends along a lengthwise line (X), is mounted to the frame 1 proximately of the shutter plate 2, and has a first side wall 12, a second side wall 13 opposite to the first side wall 12, and an intermediate plate 11 interconnecting the first and second side walls 12, 13. The intermediate plate 11 has an elongate slot 111 proximate to the first side wall 12. The first side wall

12 has a tongue hole 121.

The slide seat 20 has a U-shaped cross section along the lengthwise line (X) , is slidably mounted within the man body 10, and is disposed between the first and second side walls 12, 13. The slide seat 20 has a first seat lateral plate 22 facing the first side wall 12, a second seat lateral plate 23 opposite to the first seat lateral plate 22 and proximate to the second side wall 13, and a seat base plate 21 interconnecting the first and second seat lateral plates 22, 23 in parallel with the intermediate plate 11. The first seat lateral plate 22 has a mounting hole 221 aligned with the tongue hole 121 along the lengthwise line (X) .

The fusible control member 30 is made of a low melting point metal and connects the second side wall

13 and the second seat lateral plate 23. The fusible control member 30 is melted when an ambient temperature is higher than a melting temperature of the fusible control member 30. The melting temperature of the fusible control member 30 ranges between 70°C and 150°C In an example, the fusible control member 30 is made of a low melting point alloy containing 50 wt% of Bi, 26.7 wt% of Pb, 13.3 wt% of Sn, and 10 wt% of Cd, and the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30 is 70°C. In another example, the fusible control member 30 is made of a low melting point alloy containing

52.5 wt% of Bi, 32 wt% of Pb, and 15.5 wt% of Sn, and the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30 is 95 ° C .

The latch unit 40 is slidably disposed within the main body 10 and connects the main body 10 and the slide seat 20. The latch unit 40 is movable between a locking position, where the latch unit 40 locks the shuttle plate 2 against the frame 1, and an unlocking position, where the latch unit 40 unlocks the shuttle plate 2. The latch unit 40 includes a latch rod 41 disposed along the lengthwise line (X) and slidably extending through the mounting hole 221, a latch tongue 42 connected to the latch rod 41 and slidably extending through the latch tongue hole 121, a latch head 43 connected to the latch rod 41 oppositely of the latch tongue 42, and a manually operated push rod 44 connected to the latch rod 41 and extending outwardly of the main body 10 through the elongate slot 111. The latch head 43 is greater in size than the mounting hole 221 and is disposed limitedly between the first and second seat lateral plates 22, 23.

The first resilient member 50 is disposed within the main body 10 and urges the latch unit 40 to move to the locking position. In this embodiment, the first resilient member 50 is a compression spring that is sleeved on the latch rod 41 and that has two opposite ends respectively abutting the latch tongue 42 and the first seat lateral plate 22.

The second resilient member 60 is disposed within the main body 10 and connected to the main body 10 and the slide seat 20. The slide seat 20 is disposed between the latch unit 40 and the fusible control member 30 and between the latch unit 40 and the second resilient member 60. In this embodiment, the second resilient member 60 is an extension spring and connects between the second seat lateral plate 23 and the second side wall 13. When the fusible control member 30 is unmelted or in a solid form, the second resilient member 60 is preloaded by the fusible control member 30 to store a restoring force. When the latch control member 30 is melted, the restoring force of the second resilient member 60 drives the slide seat 20 to move the latch unit 40 to the unlocking position.

Referring back to Figures 1 to 3, the spring-loaded rod units 200 are pivotally connected between the frame 1 and the shutter plate 2, and normally push the shutter plate 2 to open the frame opening 101 of the frame 1. Each spring-loaded rod unit 200 includes a tubular body 70, a telescopic rod 80 extending into the tubular body

70, and a first spring 91 and a second spring 92 that are disposed within the tubular body 70. The tubular body 70 has a positioning end 71 pivoted to the frame 1, and a tail end 72 opposite to the positioning end

71. The telescopic rod 80 has an outer rod end 81 pivoted to the shutter plate 2, and an inner rod end 82 disposed within the tubular body 70 oppositely of the outer rod end 81. The first spring 91 abuts between the positioning end 71 and the inner rod end 82. The second spring 92 abuts between the inner rod end 82 and the tail end 72.

As shown in Figures 1 to 5, when the fusible control member 30 is unmelted, the first resilient member 50 urges the latch unit 40 at the locking position. The latch tongue 42 extends into the locking hole 202 of the shutter plate 2 so that the shutter plate 2 closes the frame opening 101.

When the shutter plate 2 closes the frame opening 101, the first spring 91 is compressed between the inner rod end 82 and the positioning end 71 and has a resilient force greater than that of the second spring 92, and the outer rod end 81 has a first distance (LI) from the positioning end 71. That is to say, the spring-loaded rod unit 200 is in a contracted state. Referring to Figure 6, when the ambient temperature is not higher than the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30, and the fusible control member 30 is in the solid form, the slide seat 20 is stationarily positioned in the main body 1. Accordingly, the manually operated push rod 44 may be manually pushed backward to release the latch tongue 42 from the locking hole 202. Because the resilient force of the first spring 91 is greater than that of the second spring 92, the first spring 91 pushes the inner rod end 82 to move telescopic rod 80 outward from the tubular body 70 so that the outer rod end 81 has a second distance (L2) from the positioning end 71 (see Figures 8 and 9) , which is larger than the first distance (LI) . Thus, the shutter plate 2 opens the frame opening 101.

When the shutter plate 2 closes the frame opening 101, by virtue of the first resilient member 50 urging the latch unit 40, the latch tongue 42 automatically extends into the locking hole 202, and the latch unit 40 is placed at the locking position (see Figures 3 and

4) .

When a fire occurs and the shutter plate 2 closes the frame opening 101, due to smoldering inside the building, the ambient temperature rises and becomes higher than the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30. The fusible control member 30 is thus melted as shown in Figure 7. The second resilient member 60, which id preloaded or pre-tensioned by the unmelted fusible control member 30, releases its restoring force when the fusible control member 30 is melted and drives the slide seat 20 to move the latch unit 40 to the unlocking position. As the latch tongue 42 automatically moves out from the locking hole 202, the spring-loaded rod units 200 extend and push the shutter plate 2 to open the frame opening 101 for ventilation as shown in Figures 8 and 9. When the shutter plate 2 moves to a predetermined position relative to the opening 101, the inner rod end 82 is balanced by resilient forces of the first and second springs 92, 91. Each of the first and second springs 91, 92 has a pre-designed coefficient of elasticity. When the inner rod end 82 reaches a static balanced state, the position of the shutter plate 2 is fixed.

It is worth mentioning that, when the shutter plates 2 opens the frame opening 101 by the spring-loaded rod unit 200 through the inner rod end 82 being pushed by the first spring 91, movements of the inner rod end 82 are resisted and buffered by the second spring 92 to prevent the telescopic rod 80 from moving excessively and impacting and damaging the tubular body 70 and to avoid the shutter plate 2 from opening to an overly large angle and hence being damaged.

Therefore, according to the building ventilation apparatus of the disclosure, when the fusible control member 30 is unmelted, the first resilient member 50 urges the latch unit 40 to move to the locking position, and the shutter plate 2 closes the frame opening 101. When the fire occurs, the ambient temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30, the fusible control member 30 is melted, and the restoring force of the second resilient member 60 drives the slide seat 20 to move the latch unit 40 to the unlocking position for automatically ventilating the building and reducing the risk of flashover.

Figure 10 illustrates a building ventilation apparatus of a second embodiment according to the disclosure, which is generally similar in structure to that of the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment, the number of the spring-loaded rod units 200 is more than two (only two spring-loaded rod units 200 shown in Figure 10) . The spring-loaded rod units 200 are perpendicular to the shutter plate 2. The tubular bodies 70 of the spring-loaded rod units 200 are fixed to the frame 1. Referring back to Figure 3, when the ambient temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the fusible control member 30, the fusible control member 30 is melted. Meanwhile, the spring-loaded rod units 200 push the shutter plate 2 upward relative to the frame 1 to ventilate the building In addition, to lock together the shutter plate 2 and the framel, there are two fire-safety locks respectively disposed on two sides of the frame opening 101.

In summary, the building ventilation apparatus of the disclosure has a simple overall structure, is easily assembled and manufactured, and meets fire-safety requirements.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure. While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements .