Under-floor trough with heating element

Abstract

An under-floor trough is provided for use with a raised-floor system. The under-floor trough includes an air-delivery assembly, one or more plurality of dampers, a support system, and a heating element. A control unit, removable from above the raised-floor system, and a baffle are disposed within the air-delivery assembly. The dampers include vanes that are actuated between open and closed positions according to a time modulated duty cycle to control the flow of conditioned air to a room. The support system provides a plurality of legs disposed between the bottom of the air-delivery assembly and a sub-floor. A bracket is mounted to a wall and the under-floor trough is supported thereby. The heating element is disposed within the air-delivery assembly. Conditioned air is provided to a room at high flow rates for short durations based on the duty cycle, thereby increasing the uniformity of cooling provided to the room.

1 . An under-floor trough with a heating element for positioning in a passageway in a raised-floor system, the under-floor trough including:
 an air-delivery assembly having a pair of sidewalls, a back having a first outwardly depending flange, a bottom, a front having a second outwardly depending flange, and a baffle, wherein said baffle extends between said pair of sidewalls and is positioned between the front and the back;   one or more dampers coupled to said air-delivery assembly, each of said one or more dampers having a frame with a housing, the housing containing a motor, and a vane coupled between the frame and the housing, wherein the motor is coupled with the vane to actuate the vane between a first position and a second position to selectively vary the flow of air into the air-delivery assembly;   a diffuser removeably disposed over said air-delivery assembly to direct the flow of air exiting the air-delivery assembly;   a support system having a plurality of legs coupled between said air-delivery assembly and a sub-floor and a bracket fixedly attached to a vertical structure and engaging said first flange of said back of said air-delivery assembly; and   a heating element disposed between said baffle and one of said back and said front of said air-delivery assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The under-floor trough of  claim 1 , wherein said motor is a stepper motor. 
     
     
         3 . The under-floor trough of  claim 2 , wherein the stepper motor selectively moves the vane from the first position to the second position via magnetic attraction and/or repulsion. 
     
     
         4 . The under-floor trough of  claim 1 , wherein the under-floor trough is primarily supported under normal loads by the first flange engaging said bracket and the second flange engaging said raised-floor system. 
     
     
         5 . The under-floor trough of  claim 4 , wherein the under-floor trough is primarily supported by the plurality of legs when vertical loads are applied to the under-floor trough. 
     
     
         6 . The under-floor trough of  claim 1 , wherein said bracket provides an air seal between said air-delivery assembly and said vertical structure. 
     
     
         7 . The under-floor trough of  claim 1 , wherein said vertical structure is a wall. 
     
     
         8 . The under-floor trough of  claim 9 , wherein all of the vanes of the plurality of dampers are actuated from the first position to the second position or from the second position to the first position substantially simultaneously. 
     
     
         9 . The under-floor trough of  claim 8 , wherein the vanes are actuated to control the flow of conditioned air from beneath the raised-floor system and into a room above the raised-floor system based on a time modulated duty cycle. 
     
     
         10 . An under-floor trough with a heating element for positioning in a passageway in a raised-floor system, the under-floor trough including:
 an air-delivery assembly having a first sidewall, a second sidewall, a back having a first outwardly depending flange, a bottom, a front having a second outwardly depending flange, a baffle, a first partition, a second partition, and a control unit, wherein said baffle extends between said first sidewall and said first partition and is coupled to said back by a plurality of brackets, wherein said first partition and second partition is coupled between said front and wherein said back, and said control unit is removeably disposed between said first partition and second partition;   a plurality of dampers coupled to said front of said air-delivery assembly, each of said dampers having a frame with a housing, the housing containing a motor, and a vane coupled between the frame and the housing, wherein the motor is coupled with the vane to actuate the vane between a first position and a second position to selectively vary the flow of air;   a diffuser removeably disposed over said air-delivery assembly to direct the flow of air exiting the air-delivery assembly;   a support system having a plurality of legs coupled between said air-delivery assembly and a sub-floor and a bracket fixedly attached to a vertical structure and engaging said first flange of said back of said air-delivery assembly; and   a heating element disposed between said baffle and said front of said air-delivery assembly and in communication with said control unit.   
     
     
         11 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein said control unit is accessible from above said raised-floor system. 
     
     
         12 . The under-floor trough of  claim 11 , wherein said control unit comprises a drop-in unit. 
     
     
         13 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein the under-floor trough is primarily supported under normal loads by the first flange engaging said bracket of the support system and the second flange engaging said raised-floor system. 
     
     
         14 . The under-floor trough of  claim 13 , wherein the under-floor trough is primarily supported by the plurality of legs when vertical loads are applied to the under-floor trough. 
     
     
         15 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein said bracket of the support system provides an air seal between said air-delivery assembly and said vertical structure. 
     
     
         16 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein the heating element is an electric heating element and wherein the electric heating element is a low voltage heating element. 
     
     
         17 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein the heating element is an electric heating element and wherein the electric heating element is pulsed. 
     
     
         18 . The under-floor trough of  claim 10 , wherein all of the vanes of the plurality of dampers are actuated from the first position to the second position or from the second position to the first position substantially simultaneously. 
     
     
         19 . The under-floor trough of  claim 18 , wherein the vanes are moved to control the flow of conditioned air from beneath the raised-floor system and into a room above the raised-floor system based on a time modulated duty cycle. 
     
     
         20 . A method for providing conditioned air to a room from an under-floor trough in a raised-floor system, the method comprising:
 providing a raised-floor system having conditioned air within a space between a sub-floor and a raised floor;   providing an under-floor trough having an air-delivery assembly, a plurality of dampers, and a diffuser, wherein said air-delivery assembly is supported by a first outwardly depending flange engaging a bracket mounted to a wall, a second outwardly depending flange engaging said raised floor, and a plurality of legs coupled between the air-delivery assembly and the sub-floor, and wherein said plurality of dampers are coupled to said air-delivery assembly, each of said dampers having a motor coupled with a vane to actuate the vane between a first position and a second position, and wherein said diffuser is removeably disposed over said air-delivery assembly to direct the flow of air exiting the air-delivery assembly into the room;   receiving an indication from a thermostat that the temperature of a room exceeds a temperature set point;   generating a time modulated duty cycle for supplying conditioned air to the room to maintain a temperature set point; and   supplying conditioned air to the room according to said duty cycle by actuating all of said vanes of said plurality of dampers substantially simultaneously from said first position to said second position to allow conditioned air to flow into the room or from said second position to said first position to restrict the flow of conditioned air to the room.