Heating and air conditioning system
OwnerDouglas A. Newcomerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heating and cooling system for a building utilizes lower vents which open into lower portions of rooms of a building, and upper vents which open into upper portions of rooms of the building. When the system is operating in a heating mode, heated air is delivered into the upper portions of the rooms through the upper vents and air is removed from the rooms through the lower vents. When the system is operating in a cooling mode, cool air is delivered into the rooms through the lower vents, and air is removed from the rooms through the upper vents. Operating the heating and cooling modes in this fashion provides the most efficient operation of the heating and cooling system.
Claims19
A method of heating and cooling a room of a building, comprising:
- delivering heated air to the room through at least one upper vent positioned in an upper part of the room and removing air from the room through at least one lower vent positioned in a lower part of the room during a heating operations;
- and
- delivering cooled air to the room through the at least one lower vent and removing air from the room through the at least one upper vent during a cooling operation.
A method of configuring a heating and cooling system of a building, comprising:
- installing at least one upper vent in an upper portion of at least one room of the building;
- installing at least one lower vent in a lower portion of the at least one room of the building;
- coupling the at least one upper vent to a first I/O port of a switching unit;
- coupling the at least one lower vent to a second I/O port of the switching unit;
- coupling an inlet of the switching unit to an outlet of a heating and cooling unit that produces heated and cooled air;
- coupling an outlet of the switching unit to an inlet of the heating and cooling unit;
- wherein the switching unit is configured so that it can switch between a heating mode in which the inlet of the switching unit is coupled to the first I/O port and the outlet of the switching unit is coupled to the second I/O port, and a cooling mode in which the inlet of the switching unit is coupled to the second I/O port and the outlet of the switching unit is coupled to the first I/O port.
A switching unit for a heating and cooling system of a building, comprising:
- a rectilinear enclosure;
- an inlet opening into an interior of the enclosure;
- an outlet opening into the interior of the enclosure;
- at least one first I/O port opening into the interior of the enclosure;
- at least one second I/O port opening into the interior of the enclosure;
- and
- a switching plate that is rotatably mounted inside the enclosure, wherein the switching plate can be moved to a first operating position at which the switching plate operatively couples the inlet to the at least one first I/O port and the outlet to the at least one second I/O port, and wherein the switching plate can be moved to a second operating position at which the switching plate operatively couples the inlet to the at least one second I/O port and the outlet to the at least one first I/O port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.