Weather responsive insulation system for greenhouses and the like
AssigneeRoll-Out Insulation Systems, Inc.
InventorCharles C. Cary
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An insulating system for reducing heat loss from a structure during one part of the day and for permitting light to enter the structure during another part of the day, this system comprising a roll mounted on the structure, a flexible sheet of material wound around the roll, structure supporting the roll immediate its length and engaging portions of the wound sheet, and means for unwinding the sheet from around the roll and deploying it in a plane and for rotating the roll to rewind the sheet therearound; and a system for detecting build-up of snow or ice.
Claims10
In a greenhouse having a roof, a pair of spaced transverse end walls, and a pair of spaced longitudinally extending side walls, a system for reducing heat loss through the roof during one part of a day and for permitting sunlight to pass through the roof to a growing area within the greenhouse during a second portion of the day, said system comprising:
- a flexible sheet of insulating material mounted within the greenhouse and arranged for movement between a storage position in which the sheet is stowed along a longitudinal side of said growing area and permits sunlight to pass through the roof to the growing area, and an insulating position in which the sheet is deployed in a generally horizontal plane extending across the growing area between the growing area and the roof;
- support means engaging the sheet at spaced intervals along its length and supporting the sheet in the storage and insulating positions;
- deploying means for moving the sheet from its storage to its insulating position;
- retracting means for moving the sheet from its insulating to its storage position;
- means providing a seal between each of the opposite longitudinal edges of the sheet and the most adjacent side wall of the greenhouse when the sheet is in its insulating position, said sheet and said means providing a seal substantially preventing heat loss from below said sheet to above said sheet when said sheet is in said insulating position;
- and,
- control means operatively connected to and controlling said deploying means and said retracting means,
- said control means including a snow-ice detection system for detecting the build-up of non-liquid precipitation and having a generally planar, imperforate, horizontal, upwardly-facing accumulation surface arranged to retain non-liquid precipitation incident thereupon and to permit liquid precipitation to spill over the edges thereof, and
- said control means being responsive to build-up of non-liquid precipitation on said accumulation surface to prevent said deploying means from moving said sheet towards said insulating position and to cause said retracting means to move said sheet towards said storage position when the weight of said build-up exceeds a predetermined level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.