U.S. patent application number 11/223754 was filed with the patent office on 2006-03-23 for battery pack back-up for diesel fuel heated dessicant reactivation.
Invention is credited to Spencer W. Hess.
Application Number | 20060060183 11/223754 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36072601 |
Filed Date | 2006-03-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060060183 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hess; Spencer W. |
March 23, 2006 |
Battery pack back-up for diesel fuel heated dessicant
reactivation
Abstract
In a diesel fuel heated dessicant reactivation apparatus, a
battery powered source of electrical energy is employed to maintain
its heat exchanger operative when monitored temperature levels
increase to that threshold at which the "fire-eye" and/or the
primary relay of the ignition system would be otherwise
damaged.
Inventors: |
Hess; Spencer W.; (Whiting,
NJ) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Charles I. Brodsky
2 Bucks Lane
Marlboro
NJ
07746
US
|
Family ID: |
36072601 |
Appl. No.: |
11/223754 |
Filed: |
September 12, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60610589 |
Sep 17, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
126/110R ;
126/116R |
Current CPC
Class: |
F26B 21/001 20130101;
F26B 21/083 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
126/110.00R ;
126/116.00R |
International
Class: |
F24H 3/06 20060101
F24H003/06 |
Claims
1. In apparatus for dehumidifying moisturized air present within a
building from a point external thereto having an enclosure housing
a heat exchanger, a dessicant, a first blower drawing ambient air
from outside said enclosure over said heat exchanger through said
dessicant in a first direction, a second blower drawing said
moisturized air through said dessicant in a second direction, and
means for firing said heat exchanger with diesel fuel, the
improvement comprising: a thermal sensing device monitoring
temperature levels within said housing; and a battery power source
of electrical energy coupled between said thermal sensing device
and said heat exchanger; wherein said thermal sensing device
controls said power source to supply electrical energy to operate
said heat exchanger when the monitored temperature levels increase
to a predetermined threshold.
2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said battery power source of
electrical energy includes an electrical invertor.
3. The improvement of claim 1 in apparatus employing a heat
exchanger operable with a "fire-eye", wherein said temperature
sensing device controls said battery power source to supply
electrical energy when monitored temperature levels increase to a
temperature at which said fire-eye is damaged by the temperature
then within said heat exchanger.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] A provisional application describing this invention was
filed Sep. 17, 2004, and assigned Ser. No. 60/610,589.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Research and development of this invention and Application
have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under
any Federal program.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX NOT APPLICABLE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] 1. Field of the Invention
[0004] This invention relates to the restoration industry, in
general, and to the drying-out of water damaged buildings, in
particular.
[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0006] As is well known and understood, many factors can adversely
affect the indoor air quality of buildings, but nothing is as
threatening to the indoor environment as water intrusion. As is
also well known, when water damage occurs--be it as a result of a
burst pipe, a leaky roof or windows, or a flood--it becomes
essential to take immediate action. Otherwise, the contents of
vital records can be ruined, operations can be disrupted, tenants
can be displaced, rental income can be negatively impacted and such
irreparable damage can be done as to result in costly repairs or
even total loss. As is more and more being appreciated, the
moisture can also feed mold growth--which, in itself, is such an
onerous threat as to which no building becomes immune.
[0007] As is additionally well known and appreciated, water
intrusion often occurs without warning--for example, as a result of
hurricane flooding, when pipes burst (frequently in the middle of
the night or when no one is around), or when roof air conditioning
systems fail.
[0008] When water intrusion of this sort occurs, a professional
disaster restoration services provider is summoned to immediately
take action to stabilize the environment, mitigate loss, and
preserve good indoor air quality. After first quickly identifying
"totalled" contents and removing them from the building, the next
step is to dry the air using dehumidification systems specifically
engineered for that purpose. In particular, the use of dessicant
dehumidification systems has grown in popularity as the most
effective water abatement technology due to their ability to create
low relative humidity and dew point temperatures inside a
structure. Unlike cooking-based dehumidifiers (which cool the air
to condense moisture and then draw it away), dessicants attract
moisture molecules directly from the air and release them into an
exhaust air stream. Able to attract and hold many, many times their
dry weight in water vapor, such dessicants are very effective in
removing moisture from the air at lower humidity levels, and do not
freeze when operated at low temperatures.
[0009] As described in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,628 (which issued
Nov. 25, 2003), mobile dessicant dehumidifiers have begun to be
employed more and more in recent years to dry water damaged
buildings to reduce health problems caused by the incipient mold
which develops. As is there noted, silica gel is oftentimes
employed as the dessicant in a wheel through which the moistened
air is pulled from the walls, the floor, the concrete, etc. into
the dehumidifying chamber. As the silica gel absorbs the moisture,
it became necessary to additionally heat the dessicant to liberate
the moisture it collects. Where large scale dessicant equipment is
employed, the heat energy required is typically provided by
electric heating or propane heating. However, problems existed with
both those methods of reactivating the dessicant.
[0010] As my aforementioned patent went on to describe, electrical
heating required a large amount of electric power, which many
damaged buildings would not have available. Utilizing alternatively
provided generators, on the other hand, added additional expense
from their rental, along with an accompanying high fuel bill.
Propane fuel dehumidifiers, moreover, exhibited many disadvantages
of their own: a) Special permits were frequently required to
transport the propane to the work site by trailer or other vehicle;
b) Additional permits were oftentimes required for working with
propane at the work site itself; c) A resupply of propane may not
be readily available--as where the building being dried was at a
remote location or when a resupply was needed in the
middle-of-the-night, or on a Sunday; d) Firing the dehumidifier
with propane produced a moisturizing effect which undesirably
wetted the processed air being dried; and e) Propane, itself, was
highly flammable.
[0011] My patent recognized the need to rapidly dehumidify
water-logged buildings and their contents by recirculating air
between the building involved and equipment employed--with the air
being ducted from the building through the equipment (which absorbs
moisture from the air to lower its humidity), and with the dried
air being routed back into the building where it absorbs additional
moisture from the surrounding air in the building and the building
contents. Also recognizing that the recirculation process needs to
be carried out continuously, 24 hours a day, until the building
interior is determined to be sufficiently dry, such drying process
needs to continue for a number of days--especially where a
structure such as a hotel or office building has been damaged by
water due to a storm or the extinguishment of a fire. However, in
order for the dessicant to keep absorbing water, my patent further
recognizes that the dessicant must be continuously heated to
evaporate the water that it has absorbed. Thus, the equipment
employed required an energy source or sources to (i) drive a
processed air blower to recirculate air to and from the drying
equipment and the building, (ii) drive a reactivation blower to
direct heated ambient air through the dessicant, and (iii) heat the
ambient air prior to its passing through the dessicant. For a
hotel, office building, or other typical commercial building,
relatively large amounts of energy continued to be required to heat
the ambient air so as to keep the dessicant sufficiently dry--due
to the high volumetric rates of air flow involved (measured in
cubic feet per minutes).
[0012] As described in my issued patent, on the other hand, such
firing of the heat exchanger to heat the air for evaporating
moisture from the dessicant forswore the use of electric heaters or
propane burners as previously employed, and proceeded by the
burning of diesel fuel--or its equivalent of kerosene or No. 1 or
No. 2 fuel oil. As there set out, the diesel fuel thus employed in
the heating process was available virtually anywhere where diesel
trucks served as a means of transportation. Because diesel fuel
provided a greater amount of BTU's per gallon than propane, less
fuel was required to provide the heat for the dessicant than with
propane, resulting in a cost savings in use. Also, because such
fuel burned without producing moisture, the processed air became
that much drier, enabling the reactivation of the dessicant to be
accomplished faster, thereby increasing performance in operation.
And, because the dessicant dehumidifier of the invention operated
more efficiently, its construction allowed for a reduction in the
required horsepower of the reactivation blower pulling the ambient
air over the heat exchanger--resulting in a more compact machine,
for easier transportation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] While proper water abatement and recovery operations require
professional assistance in being able to quickly assemble a
cohesive work team, provide rapid emergency response time, provide
a turnkey operation for recovery and restoration with guaranteed
results through the removal of standing and excess moisture so as
to speed return to occupancy and operation of an affected business,
similar needs (albeit on a reduced scale) continue to be needed
where the loss occurs in homes, townhouses, condominiums and
apartments. There, rather than primarily concerning itself with
structural drying, large loss recoveries and systematic project
management, primary concern is with cleaning, sanitizing and
disinfecting interior surfaces--contamination from mold, bacteria,
mildew and potential biological hazard to the occupiers of the
premises are of greater concern. As described in my simultaneously
filed Non-Provisional Patent Application entitled Self-Contained
Trailer for Diesel Fuel Heated Dessicant Reactivation, Serial No.
______ a self-contained trailer can be had, in which the dessicant
drier is itself mounted along with all things needed for the
restoration service in allowing the equipment to be driven from
place-to-place like an emergency response ambulance whenever and
wherever a need arises.
[0014] However, in all these uses, a need has been found to exist
for a battery back-up in the event an electrical power failure
arises--or, even in the event that a disgruntled neighbor
disconnects the electrical plugs and wiring in an attempt to quiet
the noise generated during the machine operation. This followed
from a realization that if the disconnect occurs in the middle of a
heating cycle, the heat backs up through the burner to damage the
oil burner itself by damaging its "fire-eye", and/or the primary
relay that serves as the ignition device for the burner.
[0015] As will be appreciated, the "fire-eye" is a safety device
which looks at the fire in essentially controlling the burning to
keep on operating; if the "fire-eye" senses that it is not then
burning, the burner gets shut-off. Not only is it upsetting if a
job stops when the electric power fails, the resulting cost to
repair the damaged "fire-eye" becomes quite expensive.
[0016] In accordance with the present invention, an electric
invertor is employed as part of the electrical panel which connects
with its relays, devices and to a thermal device which is connected
only to the blower part of the burner. If a power failure were to
occur in the middle of a heating cycle, the thermal device control
senses the heat in the burner that could cause the damage, and
responds to activate the battery pack system to keep the blower
running until the heat is blown out. Once the control cools down,
it then becomes safe to shut everything off, so that the control
effectively arms and disarms the system. Once the machine is shut
off properly after the job is done, and cools down properly, the
control essentially becomes shut off. A trickle charge can be
employed to recharge the battery.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] These and other features of the present invention will be
more clearly understood from a consideration of the following
description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in
which:
[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram helpful in an understanding of the
apparatus and method of my Patent No. 6,652,628 for dehumidifying
air present within a building from a point external thereto;
and
[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates the battery pack back-up for continuing
the operation in the event of an electrical power failure which
could otherwise lead to a damage of its above-described oil
burner.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates the dessicant reactivation apparatus of
my aforesaid patent and its method of operation through the use of
an enclosure 10 having a heat exchanger 12 and a dessicant 14.
Reference numeral 20 identifies a building in which moisturized air
is present which the apparatus of the invention is to dehumidify,
with the enclosure 10 having a bottom surface 16 which may rest
upon a trailer or truck bed adjacent the building 20 once driven to
the work site. Alternatively, the enclosure 10 could be off-loaded
from the trailer or truck bed onto the ground itself. Reference
numeral 18 indicates a diesel fuel burner according to that
invention, having an exhaust gas stack 22. As will be understood,
the diesel fuel burner 18 heats the exchanger 12 from the inside
out.
[0021] As described in such patent, a first, or reactivation,
blower 24 draws ambient air from the surrounds via an 18-inch
ductwork 70, for example, into the enclosure 10, over and about the
diesel fired heat exchanger 12 and through the dessicant 14 in a
first direction, as illustrated by the arrows 50; the moisture
liberated, heated air through the dessicant 14 is discharged
outside the enclosure 10 as shown by the arrows 51-52. A second, or
processed air, blower 26 draws the moisturized air from within the
building through like ductwork 72 and the dessicant 14 in a second
direction (shown by the arrows 60), which traps the moisture
therein before discharging the dried air out the enclosure 10 as
shown by the arrows 61-62. The diesel--fired heat exchanger 12 thus
dehumidifies the dessicant 14 of the moisture collected from the
wet building air in reactivating the dessicant 14 for continuing
use.
[0022] In this construction, the ambient air from outside the
enclosure 10 is shown as being drawn through the dessicant 14 in a
direction opposite to that in which the moisturized air is pulled
from the building through the dessicant 14. In such manner of use,
a dessicant 14 including a silica gel composition was particularly
attractive in collecting the moisture from the water damaged
building's air.
[0023] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such
operation follows from the use of the silica gel dessicant being in
the form of a rotating wheel in a frame within the enclosure 10.
The operation then follows by providing the dehumidifying chamber
with the heat exchanger and the dessicant, drawing the ambient air
from outside the building over and about the heat exchanger through
the dessicant in a first direction, and drawing the moisturized air
out from the building through the dessicant in a second, opposite
direction. In accordance with this, for example, FIG. 1 shows the
processed air blower 26 as pulling the moisturized air from the
building right-to-left to be dried, whereas the reactivation blower
24 pulls the ambient air from left-to-right to liberate the
moisture collected by the dessicant. Such construction is typically
referred to as "direct firing", in which the heat from the burning
chamber 12 passes directly through the silica gel wheel and its
dessicant.
[0024] As will be understood, the problem of possible damage to the
oil burner of the heat exchanger is unique to that with diesel
fuel, kerosene and No. 1 or No. 2 firing in that a "fire-eye" is
there employed. Were it to melt down as the heat backs up through
the burner, once electrical power is lost during the heating cycle,
the machine just stops operating. In propane driven set-ups, on the
other hand, a solenoid is included which measures the pressure for
the gas line; if there is no pressure present, the solenoid senses
there is no fuel to run and it is automatically triggered and
shut-off. With the propane fire then, it does not matter how much
heat is present, as it is just a "hot stove" which essentially
exists.
[0025] With the type of firing employed with the diesel fuel heated
dessicant reactivation apparatus on the other hand, the "fire-eye"
physical piece can be destroyed by the excessive heat. Once it is
destroyed, even if the burner is attempted to be started again, the
sensing device is not operable to control how the system is to
operate. The present invention uses the motor that is already there
to blow the air that the burner naturally has; when the power goes
off, the motor shuts down in stopping any air movement and the heat
that otherwise gets too hot to cause the damage that results. With
the invertor of the invention keeping the motor running so that the
hot air is blown out the natural exhaust, the temperature is
reduced and the situation of possible damage is prevented from
happening in the first place. FIG. 2 shows the battery back-up by
reference numeral 110, the burner by reference numeral 112, the
electrical panel for the system by 114, and the electric control by
116 which is triggered by either the power failure or the manual
disconnecting of the electric wiring.
[0026] While there has been described what is considered to be
preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be readily
appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be
made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For
at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims
appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the
invention.
* * * * *