Heating And Air Conditioning System

Abstract

A heating system which may also include a cooling air conditioning section for a multiple unit building such as one of dwelling flats in which the units are adjacent to each other in the completed building such as being on a single floor and are arranged for prefabrication exteriorly of the building before being lifted and fastened into place. The assembly of building units can all be on a single floor and each unit is provided with a hot fluid such as a hot water heat exchanger for heating the air in the unit and the entire building is provided with a generally vertical chimney means of small horizontal extent positioned preferably centrally in the assembly for disposing of flue gases and a single fuel fired heater for the heat exchangers positioned in the chimney and exhausting flue gases thereto for disposal. The heater is vertically elongated and of a small horizontal extent occupying only a fraction of the horizontal area of the chimney with piping for the heated fluid extending from the heater to all of the heat exchangers for heating the exchangers as desired. The heat exchanger may also include an air cooling member such as a refrigerant evaporator coil in the heat exchanger and means for selectively directing air from each unit over the heater portion for heating the air and over the cooling member for cooling the air of each unit as desired.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a heating system for a multiple unit building in which a plurality of adjacent building units such as those on a single floor are heated from a single heater that is vertically elongated and of small horizontal extent for positioning in a chimney to occupy only a small part of the horizontal extent thereof so that the remainder of the chimney functions to exhaust flue gases in the customary manner. This heater is connected to separate hot fluids heat exchangers in each of the units so that any or all of the units may be heated from the single heater which is contained in a portion only of the chimney area.

One of the features therefore of this invention is to provide a compact efficiently arranged heating system which may also contain an air conditioning unit for a plurality of units such as dwelling flats in the building.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a semi-diagrammatic floor plan lay-out of a single floor of a residential building showing six units or flats.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through three vertically adjacent floors of the building and taken adjacent an exterior wall thereof.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of one type of heat exchanger used in the building.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the heat exchanger.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the chimney and heater portion of the building.

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along line 6--6 of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are views similar to FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively, but illustrating a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view through a fuel fired heater.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the heater of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 11--11 of FIG. 10.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Many buildings and particularly flat or apartment buildings are being constructed as "industrialized" buildings in which standard parts are used wherever possible and are assembled together in any of a desired number of ways either at the job site or remote from the job site. In all these, however, large subassemblies of floors and walls are constructed and then lifted into position and secured there, thereby reducing the amount of labor required at the building site to a desired minimum. This invention is particularly adapted to such industrialized building construction methods as the heating and air conditioning units where used can be assembled in the individual units and then when the units are fastened in position it is only necessary to connect the various pipes, conduits and electrical supply lines to complete the assembly of a predetermined number of units.

Thus in FIG. 1 there is illustrated the floor plan of six separate flats 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 all assembled on a single floor 16 of the building. These flats are separated from each other by interior walls 17 in the customary manner and the building is provided with the customary stairs 18 and stair wells 19 interconnecting the floors of the building.

The building has outer support bearing and heavy structural members 20 while the horizontal members 21 comprise cross stringers 22 shown schematically in FIG. 1 and in more detail in FIG. 2. These support the floor 23 of one unit or flat and the ceiling 24 of the next unit below it. The paired floors and ceilings are spaced apart to provide a hidden space 25.

In the illustrated embodiment the building structure 16 comprises fabricated steel but the invention is also applicable to a building comprising reinforced concrete. A standard procedure in the fabrication of an industrialized building is to assemble completely the floor and support members for an individual flat or apartment illustrated at 10-15 and each is then lifted into position and fastened in place as by bolting to make the assembly as is illustrated by the six flat floor unit in FIG. 1.

In order to heat and, if desired, air condition the units there is provided a hot fluid heat exchanger 26 for each unit. In the prefabrication of the individual units the units are assembled as described above and the individual exchangers 26 for each unit with its air ducts 27 where such are required are also assembled with the individual units. Similarly the hot water piping 28 for each unit would be assembled with the unit and would also be preassembled in the unit. Preferably the heat exchangers with the necessary piping and duct work for each unit would be assembled into the framing away from the building site so that the units with these elements in place would be transported to the site and then lifted into position to form the entire floor. Thus the major amount of piping and conduit work would be done in the subassembly phase of the construction and it would be only necessary to interconnect the ducts and pipes for the assembly of units after the units had been installed.

As shown in FIG. 1 the building structure includes a vertical chimney means 29 of small horizontal extent, preferably substantially centrally located in the assembly 16 of flat units 10-15 and thus substantially centrally of the building. This chimney is of substantially conventional size and would normally be that used in a building of this type.

In the customary building the building units or floors would be heated by a hot water heater or boiler in the basement and the flue gases discharged into a chimney of about the same outward appearance and size as the chimney space 29 of this invention. This size of the chimney and the space alotted for it would, of course, be a function of the size of the boiler which in turn would be determined by the size of the building. The present invention eliminates the use of a large central boiler and heating system of the customary type and rather provides a smaller unitized system on a single floor or assembly of a plurality of adjacent building units basis so that the heater not only uses as little space as possible on each floor but also utilizes a portion of the space customarily provided for the chimney.

In a specific example the cross sectional area of the chimney space 29 was about four square feet which although small in area provided for a flue gases exhausting chimney and as a location for a compact hot water heater which was hidden from view and did not occupy otherwise usable floor space.

As is shown in FIG. 2 a heater 30 is provided for each floor 16 and each heater is vertically elongated and of small horizontal area so as to fit within the chimney space 29 while leaving the chimney space around it for the upward passage of the flue gases. In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 the flue gases exhaust through a pipe 32 into the annular space 33 of the chimney 31. The chimney has an opening 34 which permits access to the burner, pump and motor system of the heater 30 which will be described more fully hereinafter. The pipe or exhaust flue 32 discharging into the annular space 33 provides free movement of the exhaust gas up the chimney and through the roof of the building in the customary manner.

The chimney space or areaway 29 is provided with an access door 35 on each floor that permits installation and service access to the heater 30 and associated parts of the heating system.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a second and somewhat preferred embodiment of the heater and flue arrangement. Here, there is also provided an access door 35 and a similar heater 30 but the chimney 36 is at one side of the heater 30 within the space 29 and the heater 30 exhausts into the interior 37 of the chimney 36 by way of the exhaust flue or pipe 38. In this embodiment the heater 30 is directly open to service through the access door 35 and does not require the provision of an additional opening similar to the opening 34 in the embodiment of FIG. 5. In FIG. 7 the access door 35 is removed so as to illustrate the relative positions of the heater 30 and chimney 36 in front elevation.

In both embodiments of FIGS. 5 and 6 and 7 and 8 the interior of the chimney means space 29 is open to the atmosphere to provide sufficient oxygen for the heater 30.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate one embodiment of a hot water heat exchanger 26. In this embodiment the heat exchanger also includes a refrigerating air conditioning system but where air conditioning or cooling is not required this may be omitted. Thus in the floor plan arrangement of FIG. 1 the three flats 10, 11 and 12 on the north side of the building have their heat exchangers 26 for heating only and omitting the refrigerating portion. In the other flats 13-15 on the south side of the building each heat exchanger 26 does contain a refrigerated section so that the air within the units or flats may be selectively heated or cooled as desired.

In the exchanger 26 of FIGS. 3 and 4 there is provided a generally rectangular unit which is dimensioned to be positioned completely within the space between the floor 23 and ceiling 24 as previously described and as illustrated in FIG. 2. The heat exchanger comprises an inlet plenum chamber 39 having air inlets 40 in two branches on each of the opposite sides as shown in FIG. 3 and an outlet plenum chamber 41 having two pairs of air outlets 42 on opposite sides of the chamber 41.

The hot water from the heater 30 is supplied to a heating coil 43 of customary construction in the open wall section 44 between the chambers 39 and 41. Thus the hot water is conducted to the coil 43 through an inlet line 45 and from the coil through an outlet line 46.

Located just rearwardly of the wall section 44 containing the heating coil 43 is an air permeable refrigerant evaporator coil indicated schematically at 47. In order to force air through the exchanger 26 there is provided a direct drive air blower 48 that draws air from the space 39 and forces it through an air supply conduit 49 and from there first through the evaporator 47 and then the heating coil 43.

The rear wall of the inlet plenum chamber 39 is defined by a vertical partition 50 that forms the front wall of a condensing section 51 which contains a motor and compressor unit 52 for the refrigerant and an air cooled condenser indicated schematically at 53 for the refrigerant. Also located in the condensing section 51 immediately adjacent the condenser 53 are propeller fans 54 for cooling the condenser 53. The evaporator, condenser and compressor unit 52 are of course all parts of a conventional refrigeration system and are interconnected in the customary manner.

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 illustrate one embodiment of a heater 30. This heater comprises a cylindrical shell 55 in which is located an expansion tank and reservoir 56 for the water with water being drawn therefrom at the top by a pair of outlet pipes 57. The reservoir 56 surrounds a concentric flue 58 for the combustion gases which pass out through the previously described flue extension pipe 32 at the top of the heater.

The flue 58 is expanded at the bottom to an enlarged cylindrical shape as indicated at 59 and positioned therein is a tubular baffle 60 closed at its upper and lower ends and located substantially concentrically of the shell 55 and the flue 58-59. Between the baffle 60 and the enlarged flue bottom 59 is positioned a series of generally circular coils 61 preferably made of stainless steel and each coil containing spaced fins 62. Adjacent ends of the coils 61 are connected to a space 63 between the shell 55 and flue bottom 59 while the other ends of the coils are connected to a similar space 64. Each of the spaces 63 and 64 extends laterally halfway around the heater and the spaces are separated from each other by vertical baffles 65.

The finned coils 61 comprise extended surface heat exchanger units that are bent into a substantially circular shape as described. This permits the flue gases to pass upwardly through the flue 58-59 and over the surfaces of the tubes and fins in heat exchange relation with the water contained therein. The space 63 receives the inlet water from a bottom pipe 65 in a manner to be described hereinafter while the space 64 provides for heated outlet water which ultimately passes out through the upper pipes 57.

The inlet water from the pipe 65 is passed through a water pump 66 and from there through a generally vertical outlet pipe 67 into the confines of a baffle section 68 which defines the limits of the inlet space 63. Thus the baffle section 68 forms a header box serving as an inlet to the tubes of the coils 61 of the heat exchanger. These tubes are arranged so that the water passes through the circular tubes and comes out into the opposite space 64 and from there passes into the expansion tank and reservoir 56 where it is drawn off through the pipes 57 for passage to the heat exchangers. The water in this reservoir 56 is also in contact with the flue gases in the flue 58-59 as these gases pass upwardly to the chimney and from there to the exterior. This additional heat that is picked up by the water before it passes through the pipes 57 helps to improve the efficiency of the boiler system.

The pump 66 is operated by a bottom motor 69 while the heat to the unit is supplied by a gas burner 70 located beneath the coils 61 and above a horizontal baffle 71.

As can be seen from the above description of the invention and the illustrated embodiments thereof the heating system of this invention is ideally suited for prefabricated or industrialized building and building units and the heating portions occupy very small space and, in fact, do not use otherwise usable floor space. In addition, the heating system utilizes a separate heater for each fractional number of the complete assembly of building units such as all of the flats or apartments on one floor. This means that if there is a failure of one heater only that small fractional number of units will be affected and not those in the entire building. In addition, the piping, service conduits and installation of the heaters are greatly simplified over the customary structures where a single heater such as a boiler is used to provide heating to an entire building.

Having described my invention as related to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, it is my intention that the invention be not limited by any of the details of description, unless otherwise specified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as set out in the appended claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A heating system for a multiple unit building, comprising: an assembly of a plurality of adjacent building units on each floor of said building; a plurality of hot fluid heat exchangers each accessible to a unit for heating the air in said unit; a generally vertical chimney means of small horizontal extent conventional for the heating requirements of the building positioned in said building for disposing of flue gases; a single fuel fired heater for each of said plurality of heat exchangers in said assembly of units, said heater being positioned in said chimney means and having means for exhausting flue gases to said chimney means and being vertically elongated and of a horizontal extent occupying only a fraction of the horizontal area of said chimney means to provide space between said heater and chimney means for the passage of flue gases from heaters on lower floors; and fluid flow conduits for heated fluid extending between said heater and all said plurality of heat exchangers for heating the same.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said units are dwelling flats having floors comprising cross stringers and said heat exchangers are positioned between stringers and between the floor of one flat and the ceiling of the flat next below it.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said chimney means is positioned substantially centrally of said assembly of adjacent units.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said heat exchangers comprise hot water units, said heater comprises a hot water heating section and there are provided water pipes connecting the heating section with all of said heat exchangers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said adjacent units comprise dwelling flats with each flat being prefabricated exteriorly of the building before positioning in the building as a part of the assembly of a plurality of said units, with each said assembly thereby having its own individual said heater.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said units comprise dwelling flats, the building comprises outer vertical support bearing structural members and the floors comprise cross stringers including floor supports and tie-in members, the chimney is located substantially centrally of each said assembly of adjacent units and the heat exchangers for the flats are positioned within the confines of the floors and between the cross stringers.

7. A heating and air conditioning system for a multiple unit building, comprising: an assembly of a plurality of adjacent units; a plurality of heat exchangers each accessible to a unit for heating and air conditioning the air in said unit; a generally vertical chimney means of small horizontal extent positioned in said assembly for disposing of flue gases; a single fuel fired heater for said plurality of heat exchangers positioned in said chimney means having means for exhausting flue gases to said chimney means, said heater being vertically elongated and of a horizontal extent occupying only a fraction of the horizontal area of said chimney means; fluid flow conduits for heated fluid extending between said single heater and all said plurality of heat exchangers; an air cooling member in said heat exchanger; means for supplying a cooling medium to each said heat exchanger cooling member; and means for selectively directing air from each unit over the heater portion of each heat exchanger for heating the air in said unit and over the air cooling member of said heat exchanger for air conditioning the air of each unit.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said units are dwelling flats having floors comprising cross stringers and said heat exchangers are positioned between stringers and between the floor of one flat and the ceiling of the flat next below it.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said units comprise dwelling flats, the building comprises outer vertical support bearing structural members and the floors comprise cross stringers including floor supports and tie-in members, the chimney is located substantially centrally of each said assembly of adjacent units and the heat exchangers for the flats are positioned within the confines of the floors and between the cross stringers.