Air Handler Design for Modular Manufacturing of High Performance and No Shutdown Units

Abstract

This patent application covers design and modular manufacturing techniques for an economical air handler and exhaust fan product line that delivers better energy performance, acoustical performance, space utilization, and operational efficiency than is available in today's marketplace. An axial fan is positioned within airflow guides designed to minimize turbulence to reduce acoustics and energy consumption. The specific arrangement of air filters, heating and cooling coils, airflow guides, sound attenuating surfaces, fan modules, control panels, backdraft dampers and isolation dampers enables the stacking of modular units to meet air handler capacity requirements with inherent redundancy. In some configurations, the air handler described provides complete redundancy for a no-shutdown system that will reduce HVAC energy requirements to a lower level and provide a greater operating range than is available in today's market.

1 . Modular air handler manufacturing line using axial or centrifugal fan standardized componentry combined to meet required applications with specializations for different markets. The most common AxHU layout (horizontal Blade) consists of a low cost modular fan assembly with a low pressure drop filter and coil section and an easily accessible control panel that allows for the rapid removal and isolation of an individual fan and motor. Additionally, an alternate configuration involving a 90-degree re-orientation of the control panels, filters and coils enables the Blade to be mounted in a vertical instead of horizontal position.
 a. Modular AHU and Fan system using axial fan modules designed for minimum turbulence and acoustics.   b. Different fans can be provided for different system capacity requirements without changing other parts of the AxHU. The fans will be assembled in modules that can be included with different filter, coil, and airflow guide configurations for different applications.   c. Main component is the Axial Fan Module, which includes the fan, housing, isolation dampers, nosecones, airflow guides, sound attenuators, backdraft dampers, and power and control panel.   d. The nosecones on the intake and the discharge side of the fans may be similar or different design from each other to minimize energy consumption. The nosecones will be a conical or square-to-round shape to match the intake and discharge duct square-to-round sections. The nosecone surfaces and surrounding duct sections may have acoustically absorbing surface finish or perforations. An intermediate concentric cylindrical airflow guide will be used surrounding the nosecones to improve airflow stability in some configurations. This cylindrical airflow guide may be eliminated for the fan intake section to take advantage of the cost benefits of using a modular product line approach.   e. The Axial Fan Module can be used as a supply, return, exhaust, in-line, or plenum fan in a stand-alone or in combination with others in a row, stack, in-series, or grid configurations. They can be provided with multiple Axial Fan Modules in series with intermediate nosecones for higher pressure applications.   f. The Axial Fan Module combined with other airflow control and thermally active components, controls and sensors comprises a Blade, which can be stacked vertically or horizontally to meet the required Air Handler (AxHU) capacity.   g. The discharge decelerator sections are available in different interconnecting options for different applications, such as in-line, shaft discharge, or plenum, and for different discharge airflow requirements.   h. The air intake section for each Blade uses a row or rows of air filters designed for low velocity airflow, followed by optional preheating, cooling and optional reheating coils, UV lights and other optional systems as needed for each application.   i. Each fan module control panels will be mounted on the outside of the AxHU in some configurations to enable the stacking of each independent Blade section.   j. Refrigeration section may be included in the AxHU attached to the End Section.   
     
     
         2 - 14 . (canceled)