TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a mounting arrangement for an air terminal device for a ventilation system for a building, e g. a Heating and Ventilating Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The air terminal device is an induction unit, with or without temperature regulating means. However, the invention is in particular suitable for induction units provided with a temperature regulating device.

BACKGROUND ART

Mechanical air ventilation systems such as Heating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are generally provided in all premises or larger buildings constructed today. In order to provide for desired ventilation, and generally also conditioning the air temperature, there is a desire to control the ventilation system to provide a relevant amount of air and condition the air to be at the right temperature.

A common way of controlling the supply air and conditioning the air is to use induction units as air terminal devices. In an induction unit, the flow of supply air will withdraw room air, i.e. induce an air flow of air from the room to be ventilated, to be mixed with supply air. In general, the induction unit is provided with a cooling coil. An air terminal device provided with a cooling coil is commonly referred to as a cooling beam. Even though the terms “cooling coil” and “cooling beam” indicates a device is used for cooling, these terms are generally used for devices being able to be used for heating as well as cooling of the induced air flow. A more appropriate name of these devices is “temperature regulating coil” and “climate beam” which will be adhered to in the following. The air terminal device comprising the temperature regulating coil is usually designed such that the induced air flow will pass through the temperature regulating coil so as to heat or cool the induced airflow. These kinds of air terminal units, climate beams, may also be referred to in literature as chilled beams, temperature regulated induction units, comfort cassettes and are commonly shaped to be quadratic or rectangular having outlets along one or several sides.

Today there is an increasing interest in providing more efficient ventilation systems in all kind of buildings while also wanting to avoid spacious installations occupying room space and there is a demand to provide air terminal devices which may be fitted into a room without occupying space desired for other purposes. In addition, the air terminal devices should be located and designed such that the air admitted to a room is working properly in order to provide a desired comfort climate. As an example, air terminal devices to be mounted at the ceiling level are frequently designed to be integrated into a false ceiling or as free-hanging devices in order to provide alternatives depending on the desire and needs for a particular building and its intended use.

Air terminal devices may for exampie be found in SE 517 998, which discloses a device which provide a fiow in two directions, or in WO 2017/048 173 which provide a flow in four directions. These devices should thus be suitable to be used as air terminal devices to be mounted at in the ceiiing area.

However, there is a need to provide alternative designs of air terminal devices and mounting of the devices in order to be fitted efficiently into a room.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an air terminal device for a ventilation system, e.g. a Heating and Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system for a building. By air terminal device is meant a device which is connected to a duct system for providing and controlling the delivery of supply air to a room. Supply air may also be commonly referred to as fresh air and is air taken from outdoor. An air terminal device may be more or less sophisticated and could in its most simplistic form merely be a grille at the end of an air duct. However, in this case the air terminal device is designed to be of the induction kind inducing a recirculating flow and comprises a pressure box. By pressure box is meant a container comprising a space to which supply air is delivered from the air duct system via a supply air inlet and wherefrom supply air is admitted into the air terminal device via nozzles provided in the pressure box. By nozzles is meant to include all kind of openings designed to have a rather small outlet area and could in its most simplistic form be holes in the wall of the pressure box. The nozzles should preferably be designed to reduce noise from the air flow leaving the pressure box.

The flow of fresh air through the nozzles is designed to induce a flow of recirculating air into the air terminal device The air terminal device includes, in addition to the pressure box for providing fresh air, a recirculating air inlet allowing air from a room or premise to be ventilated to enter into a recirculating air chamber in the air terminal device and a ventilation air outlet for delivering a mixture of fresh air and recirculated air from a mixing chamber in the air terminal device into the room to be ventilated. The mixing chamber is where the fresh air and recirculating air is mixed. The air terminal device is in general arranged with some kind of air pervious division wall between the recirculating air chamber and the mixing chamber but these chambers could also merely be different portions of the air terminal device without any specific divider between them.

The air terminal device is a container having a space defined by walls but also having inlets and outlets provided therein. In some cases could one side, e g. for a boxshaped cuboid, lack its wall which thus function as an inlet /and or outlet for air. The supply air inlet is designed for admitting a supply air flow from a ventilation air duct system into the pressure box in the air terminal device. The supply air in the pressure box is admitted via nozzles into a mixing chamber and the supply air provided from the air duct system is mixed with recirculated air taken from the room to be ventilated. Hence, the recirculating air inlet is designed for admitting a recirculating air flow from a space to be ventilated into the air terminal device. The ventilation air outlet is designed to provide a flow of mixed supply air and recirculated air to the space to be ventilated. There may be different reasons for mixing the supply air with recirculated air. One reason could be to use the mixing in order to even out the temperature in the supply air provided, e.g. if a stream of very hot or cold supply air flow is coming from the supply air system, the stream of air leaving the air terminal device will deviate less in temperature from the room air temperature when blown into the room if supply air is mixed with recirculated air. The air terminal device is designed such that the flow of supply air into the mixing chamber induces the recirculating air flow. By designing the air terminal device and the nozzles properly, air from the surrounding atmosphere may be withdrawn by ejector effect from the supply air stream. This is also referred to as inducing a flow of room air and this kind of devices are also commonly called induction units. The stream of recirculated air is directed to the mixing chamber such that the recirculated air flow and supply air flow will be mixed in the mixing chamber. The air mixture may thus be further guided out of the mixing chamber to be admitted to the space to be ventilated via the ventilation air outlet. Hence, the air terminal device is designed and work in similar manner as induction units are designed today.

The air terminal device according to the invention is further defined by forming part of the socle of a cabinet such as a cupboard, kitchen cabinet, wardrobe or the like. A socle is the foundation structure or base upon which the cabinet is resting. The air terminal device will thus be mounted at the level of the floor in a room when located at its intended location where it shall be used and connected to an air supply ducting system. An advantage is to save space by allowing the air terminal device to form part of the furniture, e.g. in a kitchen or bedroom. In some cases it may be hard to find a suitable space for the air terminal device unless it forms part of a piece of furniture in a room. The air terminal device is designed to have an upper side, a lower side and interconnecting sides connecting the upper and lower side. By lower side is meant the side of the air terminal which is facing downwards when the air terminal device is mounted as intended in a room and upper side is meant to be the side facing upwards. The air terminal device is most frequently designed as a cuboid having a rectangular upper side, a rectangular lower side and four rectangular sides connecting the upper and lower sides. However, the air terminal may have other shapes and may for example be round and designed to have a circular shape connecting round upper and lower sides. The shape and size of the air terminal device should fit with the cabinet and a cuboid shape will be preferred in most cases. Since the air terminal device is intended to form part of a socle of a cabinet, its upper side will face towards or form part of the bottom of the cabinet and its lower side will face towards or form part of the floor where the cabinet is positioned. Hence, the recirculating air inlet will be located in one of the interconnecting sides connecting the upper side with the lower side in order to withdraw recirculating air into the air terminal device. Likewise, the ventilation air outlet for admitting air into the room to be ventilated will usually need to be located in one of the interconnecting sides. The recirculating air inlet and the ventilation air outlet are located on the same side. This is an advantage since some sides or all sides but one could be blocked, e g. when the cabinet is located adjacent a wall will that side (backside) be blocked. Likewise, the cabinet may have other cabinets or devices, e.g. kitchen utensils such as dish washer or oven, located besides the cabinet comprising an air terminal device. Hence, the device is designed such that the recirculating air inlet is located in one of the interconnecting sides of the air terminal device and the ventilation air outlet is located in the same interconnecting side. In the case of cuboid shape it is quite evident what is meant by the same side but in the case of a circular shaped air terminal device, this feature may not be that evident. In this case, when different sides are not that obvious to identify, the inlet and outlet are considered to be on the same side same side when the portions are overlapping each other or being located adjacent to each other, e.g. the closest parts of inlet and outlet are not spaced apart more than 60 degrees of a full circle (360 degrees). When the recirculating air inlet is located on the same side as the ventilation air outlet, they may for example be located besides each other or one above the other. In one embodiment, the ventilation air outlet is located closer to the lower side than the recirculating air inlet when the air terminal device is mounted in a socle of a cabinet located on the floor in a room. The air terminal device may thus be designed such that the ventilation air outlet (6) directs the flow therefrom to provide a flow along the floor (201 ) when the air terminal device is mounted in a socle of a cabinet. The recirculating air inlet (4) should preferably be designed to take in air from above the floor (201 ) to avoid short cut recirculation of air in the air terminal device if the iniet and outlet are located on the same side.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the air terminal device comprises a temperature regulating coil for conditioning air flowing through the air terminal device. The temperature regulating coil will thus function as a heat exchanger exchanging heat between the air flowing through the air terminal device and a media flowing through the coil, e.g. water. By incorporating a temperature regulating coil it will be possible to adjust the temperature of the air admitted to a room from the air terminal device. In a commonly occurring design the temperature regulating coil is heated or cooled by a liquid flow, e g a flow of water in pipes, and air flowing through the temperature regulating coil will thus be heated or cooled depending on the temperature of the liquid.

If an air temperature regulating coil forms part of the air terminal device, the air terminal device may be designed such that said recirculating air inlet is located in a recirculating air chamber and the supply air is admitted from the pressure box to the mixing chamber. The recirculating air chamber and the mixing air chamber could be separated by the temperature regulating coil and the air terminal device designed to guide the air flow through the device such that recirculating air is withdrawn from the recirculating air chamber via said temperature regulating coil to be mixed with the supply air in the mixing chamber. The flow of recirculated air is induced by the flow of supply air into the mixing chamber in the air terminal device.

If no temperature regulating coil is present in the air terminal device, the device may be provided with a separating pervious wail, e.g. some kind of plate or grid, separating the recirculating air chamber and mixing chamber while also providing flow guiding means for improving the flow of recirculated air and supply air in the air terminal device. It could also be possible to not have any separating wali and the pressure box will thus not necessarily have clearly distinguished recirculating air chamber and mixing chamber. In case there is no such clearly distinguished chambers present and there is only one chamber, the complete chamber of the pressure box could be referred to as a combined mixing and recirculating chamber. Alternatively, the portion of the chamber where recirculating air enters could be defined as the recirculating air chamber and the portion of the chamber where supply air is admitted to the chamber and where recirculated air and supply air are mixed could be referred to as mixing chamber.

In case there is a temperature regulating coil present, it need not be designed as a divider for the different chambers and used for temperature conditioning of recirculated air but could also be used for allowing a stream of mixed recirculated air and supply air flowing through it.

The air terminal device may be provided with an access panel in order to gain access to the interior of the air terminal device. According to one embodiment comprises the air terminal device an upper side wall provided with a releasable access panel. In this case must the arrangement be designed to cooperate with the bottom of the cabinet to which the socle comprising the air terminal device is mounted in order to assure that there will be access to the air terminal device via the access panel. The access panel could be designed to only include a portion of the upper wall or be the complete wall.

An air terminal device could also be designed such that the air terminal device comprises a removable, air permeable panel covering the recirculating air inlet and/or the ventilation air outlet in an interconnecting side. The air permeable panel may be an ordinary grid or comprise flow guiding devices and/or filter devices.

In case the air terminal device comprises an air temperature regulating coil, the air temperature regulating coil may be provided with a manual control valve. The control valve should preferably be located such that it may be easily accessed, e.g. could the control valve be located close to a removable air permeable panel in order to access the control valve by open up or removing the removable panel. The manual control valve may for example control the flow of a liquid in a liquid flow coil in order to regulate the air temperature of air flowing through the coil. The control valve may comprise some kind of thermostat and should in this case preferably be located such that it is subjected to air from the room, e.g. being located in the recirculating air chamber, in order to respond to a desired room temperature.

The air termina! device may be arranged to have the supply air iniet at various locations. It may for example be suitably arranged in a bottom panel covering the lower side of the pressure box. As bottom panel could also a floor where the air terminal device is placed be used. To use the lower side of the air terminal device for supply air inlet is advantageous in that the lower side will always be in close contact with the floor such that ventilation ducts may be easily connected to the air terminal device.

The invention further relates to a cabinet comprising a socle provided with an air terminal device as disclosed above. A cabinet may thus be fabricated such that an air terminal device is comprised in the socle when the cabinet is produced.

In one embodiment the cabinet is designed to be mounted adjacent a wail and having a front side, facing away from the wall for access of to the interior of the cabinet, in which the recirculating air inlet also is provided in the front side facing away from said wall. The ventilation air outlet could also be located in the same side.

The cabinet could further be designed such that the ventilation air outlet from the air terminal device comprised in the socle is designed to provide a flow along the floor while said recirculating air inlet is designed to provide an intake of air from above the floor. In one embodiment are the outlet and intake located on the same side such that the air intake is located above the outlet. To provide a flow of ventilation air to be admitted to a room along the floor may have the advantage to provide a cooling feeling for the feet which may be appreciated when there is a need for cooling. It may also be an advantage to provide a flow of heating air along the floor since it will take away the cold at the floor level, which generally is considered unpleasant when the ambient temperature is rather cold. In addition, an intake of air from a level above the floor level could prevent dust and particles on the floor to be sucked into the air terminal device and causing clogging or, in the case a temperature regulating coil is present in the air terminal device, a reduced heat transfer between the temperature regulating coil and air flowing through the coil.

The air terminal device could be provided with a somewhat inclined lower surface or a wedge shaped portion, having its pointed edged facing inwards towards the interior of the air terminal device, in order to prevent leakage of condensed humidity from the air to be collected on the floor in front of the air terminal device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 discloses a side view of an air terminal device provided with a temperature regulating coil for recirculated air and having supply air inlet at its lower side

FIG. 2 discloses an isometric view of an air terminal device

FIG. 3 discloses a sideview of a cabinet with a socle

FIG. 4 discloses a sideview of a cabinet with an air terminal device as disclosed in figure 1

FIG. 5 discloses an isometric view of an air terminal device as disclosed in figure 1 provided with an access opening on its upper side FIG. 6 discloses a sideview of an air terminal device as disclosed in figure 1 provided with an air permeable panel at its ventilation air outlet and recirculating air inlet

FIG. 7 discloses a sideview of an air terminal device as disclosed in figure 6 provided with a manual control valve

FIG. 8 discloses a sideview of an air terminal device as disclosed in figure 1 in which the temperature regulating coil is replaced with an air permeable wall

FIG. 9 discloses a sideview of an air terminal device in which the portion of the temperature regulating coil closest to the ventilation air outlet is replaced with an impervious plate

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In figure 1 is disclosed a side view of an air terminal device 1 for delivering air to a space to be ventilated. The air terminal device 1 comprises a pressure box 2a connected to a supply air inlet (8, see figure 2) through which an air stream of supply air may flow into the pressure box 2a. The supply air may for example be provided by an Air Handling Unit (AHU) (not shown) connected to the pressure box 2a of the air terminal device 1 via a ducting system. The pressure box 2a further comprises one or several nozzles 3 for providing air to a mixing chamber 2b in the air terminal device 1. The nozzles 3 could in its most simplistic shape merely be holes provided in the wall of the pressure box. The nozzles 3 may be provided with an arrangement for changing the area of the opening and thus also the flow of air through the nozzles 3. The air terminal device 1 further comprises a recirculating air chamber 2c comprising a recirculating air inlet 4. The flow of recirculating air entering through the recirculating air inlet 4 is induced by the flow of supply air from the pressure box 2a via the nozzles 3 to the mixing chamber 2b. The air terminal device further comprises a ventilation air outlet 6 from the mixing chamber 2b for admitting ventilation air into a room where the air terminal device 1 is located. The recirculating air will flow through a temperature regulating coil 5 before entering the mixing chamber 2b where recirculated air and supply air are mixed such that a flow of supply air mixed with recirculated air will be admitted as ventilation air through the ventilation air outlet 6. The air terminal device 1 may have different shapes but is in this case a rectangular cuboid or may even be close to quadratic cuboid. Hence, the air terminal is generally designed to have an upper side 10, a lower side 30 and four sides connecting the upper and lower side, i.e. a front connecting side 20, a rear connecting side 40 and a pair of lateral connecting sides (50 a, b, see figure 2). The recirculating air inlet 4 and ventilation air outlet 6 are located in the front connecting side 20.

It shall be noted that the air terminal device 1 may have other shapes and could for example be round. However, since the air terminal device is intended to fit into a socle of a cabinet, the air terminal device is normally shaped as a cuboid.

In figure 2 is disclosed an isometric view of the air terminal device 1 in which the upper side has been removed. In addition to the features disclosed in figure 1 is also disclosed a supply air inlet 8 in the lower side of the air terminal device 1 . The supply air inlet 8 is connected to the pressure box 2a which is located adjacent to the back side 40. It is further disclosed a pressure box access opening 7 in the pressure box in order to access the interior of the pressure box. The air terminal device is further provided with plates on the lateral sides 50, a, b and an air pervious grille at the front side20 allowing air to flow into and/or out from the air terminal device. The pressure box access opening 7 is an optional feature.

The inlet and outlet openings in the air terminal device disclosed in figures 1 and 2 may be provided where desired. However, in general, the supply air inlet 8 is preferably located in a side which is in contact with the building where the cabinet is mounted, e.g. in the lower side being in contact with the floor or rear side being in contact with a wall. The ventilation air outlet 6 and the recirculation air inlet 4 are preferably located on a side having a free space where they are and are suitably located on the front side since there is a need for free space in front of cabinet to readily access the cabinet. In the example disclosed in figure 1 , the air terminal device 1 is provided with solid walls on three of its connecting sides, i.e. rear connecting side 40 and lateral connecting sides (see figure 2, 50 a, b), and on its upper side 10 while there is a supply air inlet (see figure 2, 8) in the lower side 30 for admitting air to the pressure box 2a and a ventilation air outlet 6 and a recirculation air inlet 4 in the front connecting side 20.

Figure 3 is a side view of a cabinet 102 mounted in a house and standing on the floor 201 adjacent a wall 202. The air terminal device in figures 1 is suitably mounted into the socle 101 of a cabinet 102 as disclosed in figure 3.

In figure 4 is disclosed how the air terminal device 1 in figure 1 has been mounted in the socle 101 of the cabinet 102 in figure 3.

In case the air terminal device is intended to be fitted into standard size cabinets for kitchens or wardrobes, the air terminal may be designed having a length and width being of the same magnitude as standard measures, e.g. 60 X 60 cm as this is a width and length commonly used for cabinets in kitchens. The height is preferably around 15 cm in order to fit the height of an ordinary socle in a kitchen cabinet. However, it may be easier to adapt the height of a socle of a cabinet than its width or length and the height of the air terminal device could be made somewhat larger if a cabinet is adapted to the air terminal device and some space from the cabinet interior may be used for the socle.

In figure 5 is shown an isometric view of the air terminal device 1 from figure 2 in which the wall covering the upper side 10 is shown. The wall covering the upper side 10 has been provided with an access opening 11 in. In this case is the access opening exemplified by a circular access opening 11 but it could have different shapes and sizes The opening may for example be used for cleaning the temperature regulating coil 5. The arrows indicate a flow of recirculating air entering through the recirculation air inlet 4 in the upper portion of the front side 20 and an outflow of a mixture of recirculating air and fresh air from the ventilation air outlet 6 located in the lower portion of the front side 20, below the recirculation air inlet 4.

In figure 6 is disclosed still another embodiment of the air terminal device 1. In this embodiment, the air terminal device from figure 1 has been provided with an air permeable front panel covering the recirculating air inlet 4 and the ventilation air outlet 6 in the front side 20. The air permeable front panel may be designed different for the recirculating air inlet 4 and the ventilation air outlet 6, e g. having a filter at the recirculating air inlet 4 and designed with nozzles at the ventilation air outlet 6. The air permeable front panel is preferably designed to be removable in order to allow access into the air terminal device 1. An air permeable front panel could of course be used for recirculating air inlets 4 and ventilation air outlets 6 wherever they are located on an air terminal device.

In figure 7 is disclosed an embodiment in which the air terminal device as disciosed in figure 6 has been provided with a manual control valve 9. The control valve 9 is preferably located such that it is easy to access. In case the control valve 9 is provided with some temperature sensing device for sensing the air temperature, it is preferably located such that it will sense the temperature of the air in the room, i.e. to sense the temperature of the recirculating air entering the air terminal device, for adjusting the valve in dependence of the air temperature. In case the temperature regulating coil 5 is a coil heated or cooled by a liquid flow, the manual control valve 9 may be used for controlling the flow rate of liquid through the coil. The manual control valve could of course also be present in other embodiments, e g. the one disclosed in figure 1 or in any air terminal device having a temperature regulating coil. Likewise, a suitable manual control valve may be used for other kind of temperature regulating coils than those based on liquid flow in the coil, e.g. electrically heated radiators. In figure 8 is disclosed an embodiment of the air terminal device without any temperature regulating device but with an air pervious partition wall 5' which serves to divide the mixing chamber 2b from the recirculating air chamber 2c. In comparison with figure 1 , the air terminal device has replaced the air temperature regulating coil with the partition wall. The pervious partition wall 5' could for example be a perforated plate, a filter and/or grid comprising flow directors.

In figure 9 is disclosed an embodiment similar to the one disclosed in figure 6 but differing in that there is a non-pervious partition wall 5” replacing the portion of the temperature regulating coii 5 adjacent to the front connecting side 20. The non- pervious partition wall 5" will prevent air circulating from the recirculating air chamber 2c to the mixing chamber 2b at the portion of the air terminal device 1 closest to the front connecting side 20. This arrangement will contribute to stabilizing the flow of air from the mixing chamber 2b through the ventilation air outlet 6. In this figure, the plate is located close to the middle between the upper and lower surface of the temperature regulating coii 5. However, the plate could also be aligned with the upper or lower surface of the temperature regulating coil 5. In another embodiment could the air terminal device 1 be designed such that the space in front of the temperature regulating device 5, close to the front connecting side 20, is encapsulated by plates such that the plates define a confined space where there is no flow of air. This could for example be achieved by a cuboid shaped by sheet metal delimitating the space in front of the temperature regulating device. In case of the arrangement disclosed in figure 8, the non-pervious partition wall 5” may also be used. In this case the arrangement may be formed by simply designing the portion of the air pervious partition plate 5* to be non-pervious at the portion closest to the front connecting side 20. In all cases, the non-pervious portion is typically extending a distance of from 3 to 15 centimetre from the front connecting side 20.

It shall be noted that further features may be added to the air terminal device, e.g. flow directors for directing and guiding the flows of air in the device. The above embodiments only disclose a few examples of how the invention may be realized within the scope of the claims.