U.S. patent application number 12/582824 was filed with the patent office on 2010-05-27 for multi-circuit electrified ceiling grid.
This patent application is currently assigned to USG Interiors, Inc.. Invention is credited to Daniel Boss.
Application Number | 20100126105 12/582824 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42194938 |
Filed Date | 2010-05-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100126105 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Boss; Daniel |
May 27, 2010 |
MULTI-CIRCUIT ELECTRIFIED CEILING GRID
Abstract
A suspended ceiling elongate grid tee having a lower flange, a
vertical web, and an upper hollow reinforcing bulb, at least some
of the flange, web and bulb elements, having relatively flat
exposed or accessible surfaces, and a plurality of pairs of
conductors attached to said flat surfaces and extending along
substantially the full length of the tee whereby grid tee is
capable of carrying at least two fully independent DC circuits.
Inventors: |
Boss; Daniel; (Lake Villa,
IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PEARNE & GORDON LLP
1801 EAST 9TH STREET, SUITE 1200
CLEVELAND
OH
44114-3108
US
|
Assignee: |
USG Interiors, Inc.
Chicago
IL
|
Family ID: |
42194938 |
Appl. No.: |
12/582824 |
Filed: |
October 21, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61118062 |
Nov 26, 2008 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/664 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04B 9/068 20130101;
H01R 25/147 20130101; E04B 9/244 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/664 |
International
Class: |
E04C 2/30 20060101
E04C002/30 |
Claims
1. A suspended ceiling elongate grid tee having a lower flange, a
vertical web, and an upper hollow reinforcing bulb, at least some
of the flange, web and bulb elements, having relatively flat
exposed or accessible surfaces, and a plurality of pairs of
conductors attached to said flat surfaces and extending along
substantially the full length of the tee whereby grid tee is
capable of carrying at least two fully independent DC circuits.
2. A grid tee as set forth in claim 1, wherein said conductors
comprise ink strips coated over said flat surfaces.
3. A grid tee as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tee is a
roll-formed sheet metal product.
4. A grid tee as set forth in claim 3, wherein said conductors are
attached to the sheet metal before it is shaped from a flat
profile.
5. A grid tee as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flat conductors
are metal foil strips or metal tapes adhesively bonded to the grid
tee.
Description
[0001] This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/118,062, filed Nov. 26, 2008.
[0002] The invention relates to suspended ceiling structures and,
in particular, to electrification of such ceiling structures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Prior Art
[0003] Commercial building spaces such as offices, laboratories,
light manufacturing facilities, health facilities, meeting and
banquet hall facilities, educational facilities, common areas in
hotels, apartments, retirement homes, retail stores, restaurants
and the like are commonly constructed with suspended ceilings.
These suspended ceiling installations are ubiquitous, owing to
their many recognized benefits. Such ceilings ordinarily comprise a
rectangular open grid suspended by wire from a superstructure and
tile or panels carried by the grid and enclosing the open spaces
between the grid elements. The most common form of grid elements
has an inverted T-shaped cross-section. The T-shape often includes
a hollow bulb at the top of the inverted stem of the T-shape. A
popular variant of this standard T-shape includes a downwardly open
C-shaped channel formed by the lower part of the inverted tee.
[0004] Advances in electronics has fed further advances and lead
the world into the digital age. This digital movement creates an
ever-increasing demand for low voltage direct current (DC)
electrical power. This demand would seem to be at least as great in
finished commercial space as any other occupied environment. A
conventional suspended ceiling has potential to be an ideal
structure for distributing low voltage electrical power in finished
spaced. Many relatively low power devices are now supported on such
ceilings and newer electronic devices and appliances are
continuously being developed and adopted for mounting on
ceilings.
[0005] The ceiling structure, of course, typically overlies the
entire floor space of an occupiable area. This allows the ceiling
to support electronic devices where they are needed in the occupied
space. Buildings are becoming more intelligent in energy management
of space conditioning, lighting, noise control, security, and other
applications. The appliances that provide these features including
sensors, actuators, transducers, speakers, cameras, recorders, in
general, all utilize low voltage DC power.
[0006] As the use of electronics grows, the consumption of low
voltage electrical power likewise grows. This seemingly ever
accelerating appetite for DC power presents opportunities for more
efficient transformation of relatively high voltage utility power
typically found at 110/115 or 220/240 alternating current (AC)
volts with which the typical enclosed space is provided. Individual
power supplies located at the site of or integrated in an
electronic device, the most frequent arrangements today, are often
quite inefficient in transforming the relatively high voltage AC
utility power to a lower DC voltage required by an electronic
device. Typically, they can consume appreciable electric power in a
standby mode when the associated electronic device is shut off. It
is envisioned that a single DC power source serving the electronic
needs of a building or a single floor of a building can be designed
to be inherently more efficient since its cost is distributed over
all of the devices it serves and because it can take advantage of
load averaging strategies.
[0007] Thus, grid tees used in suspended ceilings, with little
added cost, can provide a medium for electrifying the entire
ceiling area, including the space immediately above, the plane of
the ceiling space, and the space immediately below the ceiling with
low voltage power.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The invention comprises a grid tee member having a plurality
of separate low voltage electrical circuits each effectively
running its full length. The circuit conductors can be individually
accessed at substantially any point along the length of the tee for
receiving or supplying electrical power. Each of the conductors can
be joined at the ends of its respective tee to corresponding
conductors on other tees to provide full electrification of a
suspended ceiling. Ideally, the circuits are each formed by a flat
strip of a conductive ink or like coating or a metal foil or tape.
The invention lends itself to use with conventional roll formed
sheet metal grid tees. The conductive strips can be applied to the
strip stock of the tee before, during or after the roll forming
process.
[0009] The relatively low voltage and power requirements of typical
solid state ceiling mounted appliances, enable the strips to be
comparatively inexpensive and unobtrusive since they and any
related insulating layers require little material content. By
making the conductive strips relatively wide, and locating them
widely spaced over the exposed or accessible surfaces of the tee
permits use of low cost connectors or terminals of loose
dimensional tolerances.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a generalized
conventional grid tee of a first style provided with a first
arrangement of longitudinally extending electrical conductors;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a generalized
conventional grid tee of a second style provided with another
arrangement of longitudinally extending electrical conductors;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the first style of grid
tee with a variation in the arrangement of longitudinally extending
electrical conductors;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the first style of grid
tee with still a further arrangement of longitudinally extending
electrical conductors;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the second style of grid
tee with a still further example of a pattern of longitudinally
extending electrical conductors; and
[0015] FIG. 6 is yet another example of an arrangement for multiple
circuits on the second style of grid tee.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0016] In FIGS. 1-6, two generally conventional styles of suspended
ceiling grid tees 10, 11 are represented by their cross-sections.
FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 illustrate a two-piece tee 10 having a main body
12, with diverging portions 13 of a horizontal lower flange 14, a
double layer vertical stem or web 16, and a hollow reinforcing bulb
17 forming its upper part. A separate cap 15 is assembled on the
lower faces of the flange portions 13. FIGS. 2, 5 and 6 illustrate
a single piece tee 11 having a lower flange 21 in the form of a
downwardly open C-shaped channel, a double layer vertical stem or
web 16, and a hollow upper reinforcing bulb 17. The tees 10, 11 can
represent both main runners and cross runners, terms used in the
art to designate, respectively, long elements (nominally 12 or 10
feet or metric equivalent) joined end-to-end and shorter elements
(nominally 2 or 4 feet or metric equivalent) that bridge the space
between parallel main runners. Most commonly, the tees 10, 11 are
manufactured of prepainted steel strip by roll-forming techniques.
It will be understood, however, that other forming techniques such
as an extrusion process can be used and other materials such as
aluminum or plastics can be used to produce the tees 10, 11.
[0017] The figures illustrate electrical conductors 26 in the form
of flat strips fixed to various exposed surfaces of the grid tees
10, 11. The conductors 26 in the illustrated examples are
relatively flat strips, typically being much thinner than the
proportions illustrated in these figures for purposes of
illustration. The strips 26 in one economical form are bands or
traces of printed conductive ink. Such ink is available
commercially from T-Ink, Inc. of New York, N.Y. USA. One convenient
way of fabricating the grid tees 10, 11 is to roll form their
respective shapes from flat metal stock, typically steel. While the
metal stock strip is flat, its eventual exposed surface can be
coated with an insulating material by known techniques such as roll
coating, spraying, powder coating, or like process using known
electrically insulating materials. The side of the sheet stock that
will bear the conductive strips 26 is either completely coated with
electrically insulating material, or is coated with bands where the
conductive strips will be applied. Alternatively, insulating
material can be applied locally to the surfaces in question after
the tee 10 or 11 has been formed. As another alternative, the
conductive strip material where it is a foil or tape can be coated
or laminated with an electrically insulating material at least on
its side that will face towards the grid tee. In the latter case,
for example, an adhesive can be applied to the underside of the
insulator of the conductive strip 26 or can be applied to the tee
10 or 11 thereby permitting the conductive strips 26 to be
permanently attached to the grid tee.
[0018] Over coating or over laminating the conductive strip whether
it be a conductive ink trace or a metal foil or tape, is optional,
if not preferred. Inspection of FIGS. 1 and 2 reveals that the
conductors 26 are attached to generally flat exposed or (in the
case of the flange 21 of the tee 11) accessible surfaces of the
respective tees 10, 11. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the arrangement
or pattern of the conductive strips 26 need not be symmetrical with
a central vertical plane through the respective tee 10, 11. It will
be understood that in the illustrated arrangements, each of the
conductive strips 26 is electrically isolated from the remaining
strips on a particular tee 10, 11. Moreover, where the tee 10 or 11
is formed of a metal, such as steel or aluminum, as is typical, the
body of the tee can be used as a common pole at a voltage polarity
opposite the polarity of voltage applied to one or more conductors
26.
[0019] FIGS. 3-6, inclusive, illustrate grid tees 10, 11 on which
individual local pairs of conductors 27, 28 are provided. It will
be seen that the conductors can be arranged in pairs that are
symmetrically disposed on the grid tee about its central vertical
plane or can be asymmetrically arranged. Additionally, the pairs of
conductors can be either immediately adjacent each other, or can be
spaced from one another. For example, in the embodiments of FIGS. 4
and 6, certain pairs of the conductors are on opposite sides of a
central vertical plane of the tee. Like the conductors 26 described
in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2, the conductors 27, 28 can be
provided in a variety of forms including conductive ink traces,
metal foils or tapes.
[0020] The conductors of each pair 27, 28, will normally be
operated at opposite polarities. It will be understood that the
individual conductors 26 in the arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2, and
the pairs of conductors 27, 28 in FIGS. 3-6 permit as many
independent circuits as conductors 26, or pairs of conductors 27,
28 exist on a given tee 10 or 11. Where desired, the conductors 26,
and pairs of conductors 27, 28 can be operated at different voltage
levels to satisfy the needs of particular digital or electronic
devices. Further, it will be seen, that voltage can be supplied to
devices that exist below, at, or above the plane of the
ceiling.
[0021] It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of
example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying
or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the
teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore
not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the
extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.
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