Air damper valve

In an air damper comprising;

• a housing structure;
• a plurality of opposed blades each having rotatable shaft means and flow control plates;
• said blades having means supporting said shaft means on said housing structure enabling said control plates to be disposed in aligned relation to define a substantially planar shut-off structure for said damper and to regulate air flow therethrough;
• the improvement wherein said means supporting said shaft means comprises bearing means supporting said shaft means of one blade on one side of said planar structure and the shaft means of an immediately adjacent blade on the opposite side of said planar structure;
• said blades consisting of a plurality of alternate blades with their shafts means disposed in a plane upstream of said planar structure, and a plurality of alternate blades with their shaft means disposed in a plane downstream of said planar structure, said plane upstream of said planar structure being defined by the axes of associated shaft means and bearing means, said plane downstream of said planar structure being defined by the axes of associated shaft means and bearing means, whereby said blades are mounted in two sets;
• a linkage system for operating said shaft means;
• and operating means for operating said shaft means and said linkage system;
• said bearing means, blades, and linkage system being constructed and arranged so that upon operation of said operating means the rotational displacement of each blade from any reference position is approximately the same and the air flow distribution throughout the flow area of said damper is substantially uniform;
• said linkage system comprising an arm fixed to each shaft means at the same side of each blade, said arms being of equal length and with said blades disposed in said aligned relation and defining said planar shut-off structure the arm of one blade extends from its shaft means generally in one direction toward said planar shut-off structure and the arm of an immediately adjacent blade extends from its shaft means in a direction roughly opposite from said one direction toward said planar shut-off structure, and a plurality of links connected between said arms, each of said links extending between the terminal outer ends of each pair of immediately adjacent arms.

In a method of making an air damper comprising the steps of;

• constructing a housing structure;
• mounting a plurality of opposed blades in said housing structure with each blade having rotatable shaft means and flow control plates;
• supporting said blades with means supporting said shaft means on said housing structure enabling said control plates to be disposed in aligned relation to define a substantially planar shut-off structure for said damper and to regulate air flow therethrough;
• the improvement wherein said supporting step comprises supporting said shaft means with bearing means supporting said shaft means of one blade on one side of said planar structure and the shaft means of an immediately adjacent blade on the opposite side of said planar structure;
• providing a linkage system for operating said shaft means;
• and connecting operating means to said shaft means for operating said shaft means and said linkage system;
• said bearing means, blades, and linkage system being constructed and arranged so that upon operation of said operating means the rotational displacement of each blade from any reference position is approximately the same and the air flow distribution throughout the flow area of said damper is substantially uniform;
• said step of providing a linkage system comprises the step of fixing an arm to each shaft means at the same side of each blade, said arms being of equal length and with said blades disposed in said aligned relation and defining said planar shut-off structure said steps of fixing an arm to each shaft comprises extending an arm of one blade from its shaft means generally in one direction toward said planar shut-off structure and extending the arm of an immediately adjacent blade from its shaft means in a direction roughly opposite from said one direction toward said planar shut-off structure, and connecting a plurality of links between said arms with each of said links being connected between the terminal outer ends of each pair of immediately adjacent arms.