Air handler with evaporative air cooler
AssigneeSouthern Equipment Company
InventorTimothy M. Asbridge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air handler for conditioning recirculated or make-up space air and including a conditioning chamber and air flow means for moving air therethrough. An evaporative air cooler of the air handler has an air permeable pad extending across the chamber and a fluid spray system for maintaining a moist condition of the pad. The spray system is constructed and arranged to discharge cooling fluid spray patterns covering the upstream side of the pad in a plurality of predefined zones, and further includes a plurality of moisture sensors positioned at predetermined locations adjacent to the downstream side of the pad. A controller is responsive to sensed moisture conditions for controlling the activation and deactivation of the spraying mechanism to maintain at least a preselected moisture content in the pad.
Claims15
In an air handler for conditioning recirculated or make-up space air and including a conditioning chamber and air flow means for moving air therethrough, and further comprising an evaporative air cooler having air permeable pad means extending across the chamber on one side of said air flow means and spray means for maintaining a moist condition of such pad means;
- the improvement which comprises said spray means being constructed and arranged to discharge plural cooling fluid spray patterns covering the upstream side of said pad means in a plurality of predefined zones, and further includes a plurality of moisture sensors positioned at predetermined locations on the downstream side of said pad means, and control means responsive to a sensed low moisture level condition by any one of said moisture sensors for controlling the activation of said spray means whereby to maintain at least a preselected minimum moisture content throughout the zones of said pad means.
A method of evaporative cooling in an air handler for conditioning recirculated or make-up space air in a conditioning chamber having air flow means controlling air movement therethrough, and further comprising an air permeable pad extending across the chamber on one side of said air flow means and spraying means for maintaining a moist condition of the pad;
- the method comprising locating said spraying means to discharge cooling fluid spray patterns covering the upstream side of said pad in a plurality of predefined zones, sensing the moisture content of said pad at a plurality of downstream locations therein, and controlling the activation and deactivation of said spraying means in response to sensed moisture conditions at said plural locations to maintain a substantially constant moisture content within preselected parameters throughout the pad.
An evaporative air cooler for conditioning air for use in space cooling, including a conditioning chamber having an accordion-shaped air permeable pad with plural panels obliquely oriented across the chamber, spray means for moistening the pad panels and airflow means for moving air through the chamber and angularly through the pad panels therein;
- said evaporative cooler further comprising a plurality of moisture sensors positioned at predetermined locations adjacent to the downstream side of said pad panels, control means responsive to sensed moisture conditions for controlling the activation and deactivation of said spray means, and said spray means being constructed and arranged to discharge cooling fluid spray patterns covering the upstream side of said pad panels in a plurality of predefined zones and maintaining at least a preselected minimum moisture content throughout said zones.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.