US 10,309,661 B2Granted

Universal air handler unit

OwnerTerrell Jackson Small, IIIinventor

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Abstract

A universal air handler unit includes a blower and evaporator juxtaposed one another within a compact, weather resistant cabinet adapted for outdoor installation. Ports for cool and return air ducts disposed on one side of the cabinet couple directly to the blower and evaporator respectively. Return air drawn by the blower into the cabinet passes across the evaporator core, then through the blower and back out through the adjacent cool air duct. Coolant lines couple to a stand-alone condenser/compressor unit. In a particular embodiment, an adapter enables stacking the condenser/compressor unit atop the cabinet to reduce the overall footprint of the combination. In another embodiment, a manifold adapted to couple to the cool and return air ducts may be installed in various locations, the air handler unit slideably coupling to the manifold during installation, and easily decoupling and reecoupling for transportation and maintenance.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A universal air handler for an air conditioning system installed in a building, said building having a roof covering a building interior surrounded and defined by at least three substantially vertical building walls, said building further having conditioned and return air ducts extending from within said building interior and accessible from outside said building, said universal air handler comprising

a cabinet having
a cabinet bottom and a cabinet top separated by cabinet walls surrounding and defining a cabinet interior, said cabinet top having cabinet top corners;
an air intake chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air intake port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
an air outlet chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air outlet port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
at least one of said cabinet walls including removable access panels adapted to provide access into said air intake chamber and said air outlet chamber;
an evaporator coil disposed within the cabinet interior and dividing the cabinet interior between said air intake chamber and said air outlet chamber;
a blower housed within the outlet chamber and adapted to draw air into the cabinet through the air intake port, across the evaporator coil and out the outlet port;
blower rails extending along said cabinet bottom within said air outlet chamber and supporting said blower;
and
a quick-coupling manifold disposed adjacent said building and having
a vertically disposed bulkhead juxtaposed said building and having two bulkhead sides separated between a bulkhead top edge and a bulkhead bottom edge, said bulkhead surrounding and defining a conditioned air duct coupler affixed to said conditioned air duct and a return air duct coupler affixed to said return air duct;
a substantially horizontal shelf having a proximate shelf edge coupled to said bulkhead and extending to a distal shelf edge;
a conditioned air collar coupled to said air outlet port and adapted to mate with said conditioned air duct coupler;
and
a return air collar coupled to said air intake port and adapted to mate with said return air duct coupler.

12 more elements

A universal air handler for an air conditioning system, the air handler comprising

a cabinet having a cabinet interior surrounded by a cabinet bottom, a cabinet top and cabinet walls;
an air intake chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air intake port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
an air outlet chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air outlet port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
an evaporator coil disposed within the cabinet interior and dividing the cabinet interior between said intake chamber and said outlet chamber;
a blower housed within the outlet chamber and adapted to draw air into the cabinet through the air intake port, across the evaporator coil and out the outlet port;
a quick-coupling manifold adapted to be disposed adjacent a building and having
a bulkhead juxtaposed said building and having
a conditioned air collar axially aligned with said air outlet port;
a return air collar axially aligned with return air intake port;
a shelf coupled to said bulkhead and extending horizontally from said building;
two shelf rails disposed on said shelf and extending normal to said bulkhead, at least one of said shelf rails bearing a first latch bar on a shelf rail end distal said bulkhead;
two glider rails disposed on said cabinet bottom and adapted to slidably mate with said two shelf rails, at least one of said glider rails bearing a second latch bar adapted to abut said first latch bar;
and
a threaded bolt coupled between said first latch bar and said second latch bar and adapted to draw said second latch bar and said first latch bar into position juxtaposed to each other and for causing said
conditioned air collar to mate with said conditioned air outlet port;
and
return air collar to mate with said return air intake port.

14 more elements

An improved method of air conditioning a building, the method comprising

providing a condenser unit adapted to be disposed outside said building;
providing a coupling manifold adapted to be disposed adjacent said building, said coupling manifold having
a bulkhead adapted to be disposed juxtaposed to said building and affixed to a conditioned air duct and a return air duct within said building, said bulkhead surrounding and defining a conditioned air port and a return air port;
a shelf coupled to said bulkhead by a proximate shelf edge and extending away from said bulkhead to a distal shelf edge;
providing a plurality of shelf rails disposed on said shelf and extending normal to said bulkhead, at least one of said plurality of shelf rails bearing a first latch bar on a shelf rail end distal said bulkhead;
providing a plurality of glider rails disposed on said cabinet bottom and adapted to slidably mate with said plurality of shelf rails, at least one of said plurality of glider rails bearing a second latch bar adapted to abut said first latch bar;
providing a universal air handler having
a cabinet having a cabinet bottom, a cabinet top and cabinet walls surrounding and defining a cabinet interior;
an evaporator coil dividing said cabinet interior into a conditioned air chamber and a return air chamber;
a blower positioned within said conditioned air chamber;
an outlet air port coupled to said conditioned air chamber and adapted to pneumatically couple to said conditioned air port;
an intake air port coupled to said return air chamber and adapted to pneumatically couple to said return air port;
installing said bulkhead juxtaposed to said building with said shelf extending away from said building;
then
coupling said conditioned air duct to said conditioned air port and said return air duct to said return air port;
then
positioning said universal air handler on said shelf with said outlet air port and said intake air port directed toward said bulkhead and aligning said shelf rails with said glider rails;
then
sliding said universal air handler across said shelf toward said bulkhead by moving said universal air handler on said shelf rails and said glider rails until said outlet air port couples to said conditioned air port and said intake air port couples to said return air port;
then
connecting said evaporator coil to said condenser unit;
and
cinching said cinch bar to said latch bar until the abut each other.

20 more elements

An improved method of air conditioning a building, said building includes a plurality of walls supporting a plurality of roof trusses supporting a building roof, the method comprising

providing a condenser unit adapted to be disposed outside said building;
providing a coupling manifold adapted to be disposed adjacent said building, said coupling manifold having
a bulkhead adapted to be disposed juxtaposed to said building and affixed to a conditioned air duct and a return air duct within said building, said bulkhead surrounding and defining a conditioned air port and a return air port;
a shelf coupled to said bulkhead by a proximate shelf edge and extending away from said bulkhead to a distal shelf edge;
providing a universal air handler having
a cabinet having a cabinet bottom, a cabinet top and cabinet walls surrounding and defining a cabinet interior;
an evaporator coil dividing said cabinet interior into a conditioned air chamber and a return air chamber;
a blower positioned within said conditioned air chamber;
an outlet air port coupled to said conditioned air chamber and adapted to pneumatically couple to said conditioned air port;
an intake air port coupled to said return air chamber and adapted to pneumatically couple to said return air port;
installing said bulkhead juxtaposed to said building with said shelf extending away from said building by
truncating at least one of said roof trusses a spaced distance from one of said walls;
then
abutting said bulkhead against said at least one roof truss with said shelf extending across said one of said walls;
then
coupling said conditioned air duct to said conditioned air port and said return air duct to said return air port;
then
positioning said universal air handler on said shelf with said outlet air port and said intake air port directed toward said bulkhead;
then
sliding said universal air handler across said shelf toward said bulkhead until said outlet air port couples to said conditioned air port and said intake air port couples to said return air port;
then
connecting said evaporator coil to said condenser unit.

19 more elements

a cabinet having
a cabinet bottom and a cabinet top separated by cabinet walls surrounding and defining a cabinet interior, said cabinet top having cabinet top corners;
an air intake chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air intake port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
an air outlet chamber within said cabinet interior and coupled to an air outlet port disposed within one of said cabinet walls;
at least one of said cabinet walls including removable access panels adapted to provide access into said air intake chamber and said air outlet chamber;
an evaporator coil disposed within the cabinet interior and dividing the cabinet interior between said air intake chamber and said air outlet chamber;
a blower housed within the outlet chamber and adapted to draw air into the cabinet through the air intake port, across the evaporator coil and out the outlet port;
blower rails extending along said cabinet bottom within said air outlet chamber and supporting said blower;
and
manifold means coupled across at least one of said air intake port and said air outlet port for coupling said cabinet to said conditioned and return air ducts and
an X-mount disposed on top of said cabinet top and adapted to affix and support a condenser unit atop said cabinet, said X-mount having
four triangular panels, each of said four triangular panels having
three panel edges;
three panel flanges disposed one each on each of said three panel edges, and having panel flange lengths;
fasteners adapted to affix two of said three panel flanges to another two of said three panel flanges on two others of said four triangular panels,
whereby said four triangular panels form a substantially planar surface coextensive with said cabinet top and having an X-mount perimeter.

13 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/312,638Filed 23 May 2015 · us provisional application
Priority: 23 May 2014
Published: US 2017/0089594 A130 Mar 2017
Granted: 4 Jun 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

F24F 1/022
Self-contained room units for air-conditioning, i.e. with all apparatus for treatment installed in a common casing: comprising a compressor cycle
A47C 4/54
Foldable, collapsible or dismountable chairs: inflatable chairs
A47C 27/081
Fluid mattresses: of pneumatic type
A47C 27/087
Fluid mattresses: with means for connecting opposite sides, e.g. internal ties or strips

Family

Application62/002,727Us provisional application · filed 23 May 2014
US 2017/0089594 A1Pre-grant publication · published 30 Mar 2017
US 10,309,661 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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