Air conditioning apparatus

Aug. 19, 1941

M. CRANDALL ET AL

2,253,418

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS

Filed Nov. 21, 1939

Sheets-Sheet 1

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Aug. 19, 1941.

M. CRANDALL ET AL

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS

Filed Nov. 21, 1939

2,253,418

Sheets-Sheet 2

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Patented Aug. 19, 1941

2,253,418

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,253,418

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS

Max Crandall and Marsh Sanders, Kingfisher, Okla.

Application November 21,1939, Serial No. 305,513

Claim. (Cl. 281—92)

This Invention relates to air conditioning apparatus, and has particular reference to improvements in air conditioning apparatus of the general type disclosed in our prior application, Serial No. 211,069, filed May 31, 1938, U. S. Patent 2,195,768, dated Apr. 2, 1940, and comprising, generally speaking, a casing, means for circulating air therethrough, and means within the casing for moistening the air during its circulation therethrough.

According to the invention, the casing of the apparatus is provided with a water compartment, the air is circulated through the casing above water contained in said compartment, a moisture carrier unit comprising a plurality of axially alined disks spaced from each other is rotatably mounted in the casing in a position to have the lower portions of its disks immersed in Water contained in the water compartment and to have the upper portions of its disks disposed above the water in the path of flow of the air, and vanes are provided on the disks whereby air circulated through the casing causes said unit to rotate. Thus, the upper portions of the disks are maintained wet so as to wet and cool the circulated air and, to a considerable extent, to remove therefrom dust and other foreign matter which may be suspended therein.

One special object of the invention is to provide a moisture carrier unit of the character mentioned embodying improved features of construction contributing to its efficiency in use and to its practical, economical manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a louvered outlet for the cooled and moistened air which outlet is adjustable to control the flow of the treated air from the apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide means operable in response to fall of wAter in the apparatus to a predetermined low level, to open a control switch for a motor which drives a fan for circulating air through the apparatus, thus to stop the air circulation when the water falls to a low level such that the moisture carrier might rotate so rapidly as to throw water from the apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a truck which may readily and easily be fitted to the bottom of the apparatus to facilitate moving of the apparatus from one place to another, and which, when not in use, may be conveniently stored in the apparatus.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists In the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claim,

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts In the different views:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, of an apparatus constructed in accordance with one practical embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2. is a horizontal section through the apparatus.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view of part of the moisture carrier unit; and

Figures 4 and 5 are detail sectional views of portions of alternative forms of moisture carrier units. ,

Referring to the drawings in detail, A designates, generally, a rectangular casing which may be formed from any suitable material into any desired height, width and length and which is composed of side walls 10, 10, end walls II, II, a bottom wall 12 and a removable cover 13.

In one of the end walls 11 is an air inlet opening 14, while rotatably mounted in an opening in the other of said end walls is a circular duct 15 of short length through which treated air flows from the casing A.

A fan IS driven by an electric motor 17 is provided for circulating air through the casing A from the inlet opening 14 to and through the duct IS. In the present instance the fan 16 is disposed in the inner end portion of the duct 15 and the motor II is mounted upon an angleiron member 18 extending transversely of the casing A behind the duct 15. However, said fan and motor may be disposed and mounted in any other suitable manner to effect air circulation through said casing A.

The front portion of the duct 15 is louvered as indicated at 19, and the purpose in having said duct rotatable is to permit disposition of the louvers thereof to control the flow of air from the casing A. In other words, by rotating the duct IS the louvers 19 may be disposed vertically or horizontally or at any inclination between vertical and horizontal to control the air flow. In this connection it will be noted by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings that the sides of the duct IS are spaced inwardly from the side walls 10, 10 of the casing A and that said casing side walls have fixed thereto blocks 20 of wood or other suitable material which extend into the

2,253,418 spaces between the sides of the casing and the sides of the duct and against which the sides of the duct at its inner end bear, The blocks 20 carry studs 21 on which are mounted clamp plates 22; which extend slightly into the duct i 5 in overlying relationship to opposite side portions thereof, respectively, and on said studs are threaded thumb nuts 21' for drawing said plates 22 against opposite side portions of the duct 15 and thus clamping said duct against the blocks 20. By loosening the thumb nuts 21' the duct 15 is released for rotatable adjustment, and by tightening said thumb nuts said duct may be clamped in any rotatably adjusted position. At the same time, the clamp plates serve as supports for the inner end portion of the duct 15.

Rotatably mounted within the casing A is a moisture carrier unit designated generally as B. This unit is composed of a series of thin disks 23 coaxially mounted on a shaft 24 in side to side slightly spaced apart relationship to each other, and is disposed horizontally and transversely of the casing A in a position such that the lower portions of its disks 23 immersed in a body of water w contained in the bottom part of the casing A and the upper portions of its disks are disposed above the level of the water u> in the path of flow of air passing through said casing. The disks 23 have punched therein at points staggered over their surfaces numerous small, preferably substantially circularly shaped openings 25, and in punching these openings in said disks the removed small, substantially circularly shaped tongues 26 are not entirely separated from said disks, but are bent at right angles, or at substantially right angles, to said disks so as to extend across the spaces therebetween and to assist in maintaining their spaced relationship. Moreover, the tongues 26 are disposed radially or substantially radially of the unit B. Consequently, air flowing through the casing A acts upon the tongues 26 to impart rotation to the unit B, thereby causing constantly newly wetted portions of the disks 23 to be disposed in the path of flow of the air. The air in passing between the wet upper portions of the disks 23 and in being in part deflected through the numerous small openings 25 by the tongues 26, is thoroughly subjected to the cooling, cleansing and moistening action of the films of water on the disks 23 and the tongues 26 and thereby is conditioned for delivery from the casing A through the duct 15. Regarding the disks 23, it will be noted that all of the openings 25 in each of the same are spaced inwardly from the periphery thereof, whereby each disk has a continuous, uninterrupted, stiffening and strengthening peripheral portion.

The disks comprising the unit B may be flat as Illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, or of conical or dished form as indicated at 23» in Fig. 4, or they may be corrugated as indicated at 23^b in Fig. 5. If said disks are dished or corrugated they present more surface to the water and the air and retain more water in their upper portions than 05 flat disks. Therefore, it may be desirable in some cases to use dished or corrugated disks in preference to flat disks, although flat disks have proved quite satisfactory in service under most conditions. ⁷⁰

While the unit B may be constructed in any preferred manner, one practical method of constructing the same comprises first punching the disks 23 to provide the openings 25 therein and the tongues 26 projecting laterally therefrom, and ⁷⁵ simultaneously or at any other suitable time forming central openings in said disks, then mounting said disks upon a tube 21 in spaced apart, side to side relationship and fastening said 5 disks to said tube in any suitable manner, then passing the shaft 24 through the tube 21, and finally turning the end portions of said tube into annular grooves 28 formed in the shaft 24, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Alterna10 tively, the disks 23 may be mounted directly upon the shaft 24, but by mounting the disks on a tube 21 a shaft 24 of any desired length may be used with any disk unit. In this connection it will be understood, of course, that whatever meth15 od is employed in the manufacture of the unit

B with flat disks may be practiced in the manufacture of a unit with dished or corrugated disks.

In order to mount the unit B for free rotation the ends of the shaft 24 are provided with suit20 able antifriction bearings 29 which rest upon suitable supports carried by the side walls 10, 10 of the casing A.

Above the air inlet opening 14 and in overlying relationship to part of the unit B is a shelf25 like plate 30 which, in conjunction with the side walls of the casing A and the surface of the water w, serves to provide a passageway to direct the inflowing air through the upper portion of the unit B, while extending from the side walls of the 30 casing A into said passageway concentric to the unit B are baffle strips 31 which serve to prevent the incoming air from flowing between the end disks of the unit B and the said side walls of the casing A.

If the water in the casing B should fall to a low level such that only the extreme bottom portions of the disks 23 should be immersed therein, there would be very little resistance to rotation of said disks and they might rotate so rapidly 40 as to result in water being thrown from the casing A through the inlet opening 14 or into the outlet duct 15. Accordingly, suitable means preferably is provided whereby operating current for the fan motor 17 is cut off and the fan thereby 45 stopped when the water w falls to a predetermined low level. In the present instance this means comprises a float 32 connected by rods 33 with a control switch 34 for the motor 17, said rods 33 having limited extensible longitudinal 50 movement relative to each other so that when the water falls to a predetermined low level the weight of said rods and said float actuates the switch 34 to open the same. On the other hand, said rods have ample contractile longitudinal movement relative to each other so that rise of the water w to or even above a normal level does not interfere with manual operation of the switch 34 to open and close the motor circuit. In the bottom of the casing A is a removable plug 35 whereby said casing may be drained of water whenever desired.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of a truck C which may be applied to the bottom of the casing A to facilitate moving of the apparatus from one location to another and which, when not in use, may be compactly stored in the upper part of the casing A. The truck C may comprise a board 36 provided with casters 37, and said board, or its equivalent, is of a length and width to fit within a recess formed below the bottom wall 12 of the casing A by downwardly extending flanges 38 of the casing A, said board or its equivalent being itself recessed as indicated at 39 to accommodate the plug 35. The casing A, below its top, is suitably provided

2,253,418 with inwardly extending flanges or stops 40, and when the truck C is not in use it may be disposed in the upper part of the casing A upon the flanges or stops 40, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may'be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claim.