GB2136107A

GB2136107A - An air heating apparatus for a building or dwelling

Info

Publication number: GB2136107A
Application number: GB08326226A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Vliet Cors Van
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-09-30
Filing date: 1983-09-30
Publication date: 1984-09-12
Also published as: DK429683A; NL178275C; FR2534003A1; DK156848C; IT8323074A0; IT1171095B; DE3335008A1; FR2534003B3; NL178275B; DK429683D0; IT8323074A1; GB2136107B; NL8301113A; DK156848B; GB8326226D0

Abstract

An air heating apparatus for a building or dwelling comprises an air heater (9) which is provided with burners, and which is connected to a distribution duct having branches 20, 21, 22 for the heated air extending to the various rooms/areas resp. 2, 3, 4, of the building and on the other hand to an air feed duct 12 for fresh external air and a return duct 17 for return air. The air heater 9 consists of a number of separate sections 9', 9'', 9''', each section being connected to its own distribution duct 20, 21, 22, which carries air to an area of the building having a specific heat requirement. One of the distribution ducts 20 may be fed solely with fresh external air while the remaining distribution ducts 21, 22 are fed with return air. The distribution duct 20, which is fed with fresh external air is preferably extending to the sleeping area 2 of the dwelling. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An air heating apparatus for a building or dwelling This invention relates to an air heating apparatus for a building or dwelling, comprising an air heater which is provided with burners and which is connected on the one hand to a distribution duct having branches for the heated air extending to the various rooms of the building and, on the other hand, to an air feed duct connected to the delivery side of an air feed fan, the intake side of which communicates with a feed duct for fresh external air, and a return duct for return air.

In a known air heating apparatus of this kind, problems frequently arise in connection with controlling the quantity and temperature of the air to be fed to the various rooms of the building.

Complex and involved outflow units are frequently required for such purposes.

In addition, a double duct system is also known in which both heated and non-heated air are fed to each room. The temperature of the air to be injected into the room is controlled by varying the relative proportion of these two air flows by means of mixer outflow units which are also complicated. Although such known air heating apparatus operates satisfactorily, it will be apparent that an air heating apparatus comprising a double duct system and associated control equipment is fairly expensive.

Areas having different heat requirements can be distinguished in the building or dwelling, e.g.

the living area, the sleeping area, the sun-side, the non-sun-side or combinations thereof. Starting from this idea, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air heating apparatus which is cheap to install and with which the internal temperature is controllable easily and economically in terms of energy.

To this end, according to the invention, the air heater consists of a number of separate sections, each containing-a group of burners while each section is connected to its own distribution duct which carries air to an area of the building, having a specific heat requirement.

In this way, each area of the building is fed with air, having a temperature adapted to the specific heat requirements of such area. Thus a convenient temperature can be maintained throughout the building with an economic use of fuel, while the apparatus itself even retains a simple construction. Although the temperature control with this system is less fast and less accurate than the double duct system, it is much cheaper, and this is important particularly to cheaper housing constructions.

Preferably, the temperature of the air in each distribution duct is controlled by a room thermostat which is disposed in the associated area of the building and which controls the fuel supply to the air heater section associated with that distribution duct.

Generally, in known air heating systems a mixture of fresh external air and return air is drawn in by the air feed fan. Although the return air is filtered before being recycled into the system, it is impossible completely to prevent certain contaminations and/or smells remaining in the return air, so that they are then distributed over the entire building. This disadvantage can be effectively obviated in the apparatus according to the present invention by the fact that at least one of the distribution ducts is connected, via the associated section of the air heater, to a separate air feed duct which is connected by a fan only to the fresh external air feed duct, while the remaining distribution ducts are connected by a second fan solely to the return duct for return air.

The invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawing wherein: Fig. 1 is a diagram of an air heating apparatus according to the invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagram of another embodiment of the air heating apparatus of Fig. 1.

Like parts in the two figures are indicated by like references as far as possible.

The left-hand block 1 in the drawing diagrammatically illustrates a dwelling having a sleeping area 2, a living area 3 on the sun side, a living area 4 on the non-sun side and wet rooms 5.

The right-hand block 6 is a diagram showing the air heating unit which consists of a combustion chamber 7 and an air intake chamber 8. The combustion chamber contains an air heater 9 provided with gas burners and a water heater 1 0.

The intake chamber 8 contains an air feed fan 11 and a fresh external air feed duct 12 with a heat exchanger 13 connected thereto. Heat exchanger 13 is also connected to a discharge duct 14 for the five gases from the combustion chember, said gases being discharged via the heat exchanger 13 by means of an extraction fan 1 5 and a conduit 16. A return duct 1 7 also leads into the intake chamber and enables return air from the living areas and the sleeping area of the dwelling to be recycled.

The air heating apparatus shown in the figures is a closed system, suitable particularly for well insulated and draught-proof dwellings in which no open combustion takes place. The dirty air fed to the combustion chamber 7 from the wet rooms 5 via a conduit 18 is used as air for combustion for the air heater and the water heater. The total air feed and discharge for the dwelling is thus completely controlled by the two fans 11 and 1 5.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the mixture of fresh external air and return air drawn in by fan 11 is fed via an air feed duct 19 to the air heater 9.

As will be apparent from the drawing, the air heater consists of three sections 9', 9" and 9"' each containing a group of burners. Duct 19 branches into three ducts 20, 21 and 22 for each section of the air heater, each branch co-operating with the associated section of the air heater. Thus the air of the distribution duct 20 is heated by the section 9', the air of the distribution duct 21 by the section 9" and the air of the distribution duct 22 by the section 9"'. The distribution duct 20 extends to the sleeping area 2 of the dwelling, the temperature of the air fed through this conduit being controlled by means of a room thermostat 23 which controls the gas supply to the associated section 9'.The distribution duct 21 extends to the living area 3 onthe sun side and a room thermostat 24 controls the gas supply to the section 9", while the distribution duct 22 leads to the living area 4 on the non-sun side, a room thermostat 25 controlling the gas supply to the section 9"'. In this way, a separate quantity of air having the temperature required for each specific area of the dwelling is fed to that area, and in comparision with the conventional air heating apparatus this provides a considerable energy saving.

The embodiment of the apparatus shown in fig.

2 is generally identical to-the apparatus of fig. 1 with the exception that the common air feed duct 1 9 extending to the air heater 9 is replaced by a duct divided into two separate ducts 19' and 19".

The air feed fan 11 in this case consists of a double fan 11' and 1 1", which draws in two separate air flows. One air flow contains only fesh external air which is fed to the air feed duct 19' via the air feed duct 1 2, the heat exchanger 1 3 and the fan part 1 1'. The other air flow. contains only return air which is fed to the air feed duct 19" via the return duct 1 7 and the fan part 1 1".

The fresh external air fed by the feed duct 19' is fed to the section 9' of the air heater 9 and then via the distribution duct 20 to the sleeping area 2 of the dwelling. The return air fed by the feed duct 1 9" is fed to the sections 9" and 9"' of the air heater 9 and via the respective distribution ducts 21 and 22 to the living areas 3 and 4 of the dwelling. The resulting situation is that solely fresh external air is fed to the sleeping area 2 of the dwelling while the living areas 3 and 4 are fed solely with return air. The advantage of this is that no return air containing contaminations can reach the sleeping area of the dwelling.

A common habit of the occupants of a dwelling is to leave the windows of the bedroom partly open during the day and at night, and this is a habit which does not fit in with the principles of a well-insulated and draught-proof dwelling. To counteract this traditional practice, the bedrooms in the apparatus according to the invention are ventilated mechanically with fresh external air without the disadvantage of any heat loss.

Some of the quantities of air fed or discharged through the various conduits are given below as an example in respect to a normal standard dwelling. The three distribution ducts each carry a quantity of air of 1 50 m3/h to the associated area of the dwelling. This discharge of dirty air from the wet rooms, e.g. the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, etc.

is also 150 m3/h. The remaining air returned to the air intake chamber 8 via return duct 17 is 300 m3/h, so that on balance 1 50 m3/h of fresh external air is supplied and an equal quantity of 1 50 m3/h dirty air is discharged with the flue gases to the exterior.

It will be apparent that numerous variants are possible within the scope of the invention. Thus two separate fans may be provided instead of a double fan, one for the fresh external air and one for the return air. The air heater may, for example, consist of more than three sections, in which case the building or dwelling is split up into a corresponding number of areas. More or other sections of the dwelling can also be heated solely with fresh external air.

Claims

1. An air heating apparatus for a building or dwelling, comprising an air heater which is provided with burners and which is connected on the one hand to a distribution duct having branches for the heated air extending to the various rooms of the building and, on the other hand, to an air feed duct connected to the delivery side of an air feed fan, the intake side of which communicates with a feed duct for fresh external air and a return duct for return air, characterised in that the air heater consists of a number of separate sections, each containing a group of burners and that each section is connected to its own distribution duct which carries air to an area of the building having a specific heat requirement.

2. An air heating apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the temperature of the air in each distribution duct is controlled by a room thermostat which is disposed in the associated area of the building and which controls the fuel supply to the air heater section associated with that distribution duct.

3. An air heating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that at least one of the distribution ducts is connected, via the associated section of the air heater, to a separate air feed duct which is connected by a fan only to the fresh external air feed duct and, that the remaining distribution ducts are connected by a second fan solely to the return duct for return air.

4. An air heating apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that there is a total of three distribution ducts, one 6f which extends to a sleeping area, another to a living area on the sun side, and another to a living area on the non-sun side and in that the distribution duct supplying solely fresh external air, leads to the sleeping area of the dwelling or building.