Spring loaded HVAC damper
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsPavel Marak, Steven L. Wolff, Paul Schwendinger, Eric Barton, David James Emmons
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An illustrative damper system includes a damper blade that is configured to be positioned within a duct, such as a bypass duct of an HVAC system. A shaft is in communication with the damper blade, a torsion spring is in communication with the shaft, and a force adjustment mechanism is in communication with the torsion spring. The shaft, the damper blade, and the torsion spring may be configured such that the shaft may affect movement of the damper blade about a rotation axis and the torsion spring may provide a bias force to the shaft for biasing the damper blade toward a desired position (e.g. closed position).
Claims17
A damper system for use in conjunction with a duct, comprising:
- a damper blade configured to be positioned within the duct;
- a shaft in communication with the damper blade to affect movement of the damper blade about a rotation axis between a first position and a second position;
- a spring in communication with the shaft, the spring providing a bias force to the shaft to bias the damper blade toward the first position;
- a bias force adjustment mechanism in communication with the spring, wherein the bias force adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust the bias force provided by the spring to the shaft while the spring is providing the bias force to the shaft, without rotating the shaft with respect to the damper blade, and even when the damper blade remains at a fixed position;
- and
- a damper blade stop configured to engage the damper blade and/or an object that rotates with the damper blade when the damper blade reaches the first position, wherein the first position corresponds to a closed position.
A damper system for use in conjunction with a duct, comprising:
- a damper blade configured to be positioned within the duct;
- a shaft in communication with the damper blade to affect movement of the damper blade about a rotation axis between a first position and a second position, wherein the shaft engages the damper blade at a position offset from a center axis of the damper blade;
- a housing that houses:
- a spring in communication with the shaft, the spring providing a bias force to the shaft to bias the damper blade toward the first position;
- a bias force adjustment mechanism in communication with the spring, wherein the bias force adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust the bias force provided by the spring to the shaft while the spring remains in communication with the shaft and without rotating the shaft with respect to the damper blade;
- and
- a bias force adjuster accessible from outside of the housing, the bias force adjuster configured to allow a user to manipulate the bias force adjuster from outside of the housing.
A damper system for use in conjunction with a duct, comprising:
- a damper blade configured to be positioned within the duct;
- a shaft in communication with the damper blade to affect movement of the damper blade about a rotation axis between a first position and a second position, a center of gravity of the damper blade is at the rotation axis of the damper blade;
- a housing that houses:
- a spring in communication with the shaft, the spring providing a bias force to the shaft to bias the damper blade toward the first position;
- a bias force adjustment mechanism configured to allow adjustment of the bias force provided by the spring to the shaft while the spring remains in communication with the shaft and while the damper blade remains in a fixed position;
- and
- an adjuster accessible from outside of the housing to manipulate the bias force adjustment mechanism from outside of the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.