Integral energy recovery ventilator with bypass by rotation for rooftops
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorRenee Tozer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rooftop air conditioning unit includes a cabinet, an energy recovery wheel rotatably mounted within the cabinet, and a controller. The energy recovery wheel can transfer heat between an outdoor air stream and a return air stream when rotated into an operational position and will not transfer heat when rotated into a bypass position. The controller can select the operational position of the energy recovery wheel and an operational mode of the energy recovery wheel.
Claims19
A rooftop air conditioning unit comprising:
- a cabinet;
- an energy recovery wheel which is rotatably mounted within the cabinet, wherein the energy recovery wheel is configured to transfer heat between an outdoor air stream and a return air stream when rotated into an operational position and is further configured not to transfer heat between the outdoor air stream and the return air stream when rotated into a bypass position;
- and
- a controller which is configured to select the operational position of the energy recovery wheel and an operational mode of the energy recovery wheel.
An energy recovery ventilator system for a rooftop air conditioning unit, the rooftop air conditioning unit comprising a cabinet, the energy recovery ventilator system comprising:
- an energy recovery wheel which is rotatably mounted within the cabinet, wherein the energy recovery wheel is configured to transfer heat between an outdoor air stream and a return air stream when rotated into an operational position and is further configured not to transfer heat between the outdoor air stream and the return air stream when rotated into a bypass position;
- and
- a controller which is configured to select the operational position of the energy recovery wheel and an operational mode of the energy recovery wheel.
A method of operating a rooftop air conditioning unit comprising an energy recovery ventilator system, the method comprising:
- configuring a plurality of dampers to direct a flow of outdoor air and a flow of return air through the energy recovery ventilator system;
- selecting, with a controller, an operational mode of an energy recovery wheel;
- rotating the energy recovery wheel about a positional axis of rotation to position the energy recovery wheel in both an outdoor air path and a return air path to facilitate exchanging heat between an outdoor air stream and a return air stream, wherein the positional axis of rotation is orthogonal to an operational axis of rotation;
- drawing, with a supply fan, a mix of outdoor air and return air through the energy recovery ventilator system;
- and
- rotating the energy recovery wheel about the operational axis of rotation within a cabinet to exchange heat between the outdoor air stream and the return air stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.