US3309021A - Baseboard humidifier - Google Patents

Description

March 14, 1967 M. A. POWERS 3,309,021

BASEBOARD HUMIDIFIER Filed Sept. 21, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I, I INVENTOR J 34 MILTON A. PO 22p 1 35 I E1 m/ 33 7 Y ATTORNEYS March 14, 1967 POWERS 3,309,021

BASEBOARD HUMIDIFIER Filed Sept. 21,, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MILTON A. POWERS ATTORNEYS March 14, 1967 POWERS 3,309,021

BASEBOARD HUMIDIFIER Filed Sept. 21, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VENTOR MILTON A. POWERS BY 5 M 7/144 407% ATTORNEYS March 14, 1967 M. A. POWERS BASEBOARD HUMIDIFIER Filed Sept. 21, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR MILTON A. POWERS /wwwwa ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,309,021 BASEBOARD HUMIDIFIER Milton A. Powers, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., assignor to Skuttle Manufacturing Company, Milford, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Sept. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 397,998 2 Claims. (Cl. 23778) This invention relates to humidifiers adapted for combination with more or less conventional heating units and particularly with baseboard type units.

In its preferred embodiment the invention will be described as incorporated with a baseboard hot water heater unit with the supply of water for the humidifier being drawn from the hot water circuit. The humidifier itself is of novel construction, embodying one or more rotary water pick-up disks slowly driven adjacent the heater unit and disposed in the path of normal air circulation.

It is therefore the major object of this invention to provide a novel humidifier assembly wherein one or more water pick-up disks are slowly rotated in the path of air flow.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel combination of heater unit and humidifier, particularly for baseboard heater assemblies.

It is another object of the invention to provide a humidifier assembly wherein a plurality of water pick-up disks are slowly rotated with their lower ends immersed in a body of water in novel association.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel compact combination of heater unit and humidifier wherein water pick-up rotors are slowly rotated adjacent the heater unit and in the path of air flow induced by the heater unit.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel combination of a hot water radiator and a humidifier wherein water for the humidifier is derived from the hot water supply line to the radiator.

Further objects will appear as the description proceeds in connection with the appended claims and the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation partly broken away and in section showing a baseboard type humidifier according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is :a section substantially on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 showing details;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation partly broken away and in section showing another embodiment having a different type of disk drive;

FIGURE 4 is a section substantially on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation partially broken away and in section showing a further embodiment having different disk shapes and drive arrangements;

FIGURE 6 is a section substantially on line 66 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 shows in cross section a special construction of a water pick-up disk;

FIGURE 8 is an end elevation of the disk of FIGURE 7 partially broken away and sectioned;

FIGURE 9 is a cross section showing another type of water pick-up disk; and

FIGURE 10 is an end elevation of the disk of FIGURE 9 partially broken away and in section.

Referring to FIGURES l :and 2 the combined assembly of the invention comprises a heat exchange unit 21 enclosed in a casing 22 in the lower part of which is a humidifier receptacle 23 adapted to contain a body of water 24. The lower ends of one or more humidifier disks, three being shown here at 25, 26 and 27, are immersed in water 24. The humidifier disks are slowly rotated and are capable of picking up water from the body 3,309,021 Patented Mar. 14, 1967 24, and this water is evaporated from their upper surfaces into the air stream indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 2, to pass into the surrounding atmosphere.

The heat exchange unit 21 is here a hot water radiator of the usual base-board type, comprising a through conduit 28 on which is mounted a series of disc-like radiating fins 29 adapted to provide a large total area of radiating surface to radiate heat into the interior of casing 20.

Conduit 28 is continuous with the usual hot water supply pipe 31 carrying hot water into the radiator unit, and the usual hot water outlet pipe 32 conveying the water back into the system. There is a continuous flow of hot water through conduit 28 when the system is calling for heat through the usual thermostatic controls (not shown).

The casing 22 is in the corner between the floor 33 and room side Wall 34 and comprises a rear wall 35 flush with the room wall, end walls 36 and 37 that are usually mainly closed except for passage of the hot water conduits, a top wall 38 having spaced air outlet apertures 39, a front wall 41 comprising a door 42 hinged at its lower end at 43 and latched at 44, and a bottom wall 45 that is held in spaced relation above the floor, as by legs 46, to allow air to enter apertures 47 The hinged front door is apertured at louvres 48 to admit air as shown by the arrows in FIGURE 2.

Within casing 20 humidifier receptacle 23 is mounted as by having opposite sides of its top rim 52 secured upon ledges 53 and 54 rigid with the casing walls. Ledges 53 and 54 also similarly support spaced transverse parallel shafts 55, 56 and 57 carrying the water pick-up disks 2527 respectively.

FIGURE 2 shows the central shaft 56 as having its opposite ends removably mounted in electric motor 58 and open top bearing 59,-respectively. Motor 58 is secured upon ledge 53 as by bracket 61, and the adjacent end of shaft 56 extends into internal driving engagement with the motor shaft.

Disk 26 is preferably an integral block of open port polyurethane foam, preferably flocked for added water pick-up capacity, having a central opening 62 to pass shaft 56, and it is secured non-rotatably on shaft 56 as by opposite collars 63 that are held by set screws 64 in tight frictional engagement with the sides of the disk. The lower edge of one or more radiator fins may be cut away as indicated at 65 in FIGURE 2 to enable free passage of the shaft 56 through the heating unit.

Only a single small motor 58 is required to drive the very light weight disks which are interconnected for concomitant rotation. Here the periphery of each disk 2527 is annularly grooved at 67 and an endless drive belt 68 passes along all the grooves. As shown the ends of the belt are looped over the end disks 25 and 27 and the medial portions of the belt are superposed in the groove on driven disk 26. This provides an efficient non-slip drive which keeps as much of the belt as possible out of the water body 24.

The disks 25 and 27 are supported on their shafts similarly to disk 26, and the shafts 55 and 57 are suitably mounted in end bearings on the opposite ledges 53, 54. Disks 25-27 are all preferably of the same size and composition, and may be made of the materials set forth in my copending application Ser. No. 327,026 filed Nov. 29, 1963, for Humidifier as well as those disclosed in this application.

The water level in receptacle 24 is maintained constant, as by a float 69 connected for controlling a suitable valve assembly 70 mounted on the pan wall and having a water inlet pipe 71 coupled into the hot water supply system at 72. Pipe 71 contains a manual shut-off valve 73. The valve assembly 70 is preferably that disclosed in my Letters Patent No. 3,099,286 issued July 30, 1963, wherein an inlet nozzle is uncovered to discharge water into the receptacle 23 whenever actuated by the fioat 69. Any suitable float controlled valve may be used here, or any other means for maintaining a constant level of water in body 24 derived from inlet pipe 71 may be employed.

In operation the heater unit 21 provides heat for the room or other space and enclosed'within casing 22, which is open at the bottom in apertures 47 and 48 and open at the top in apertures 39, it causes upward flow of air'as indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 2 at a considerable rate of flow without the aid of fans and other noisy aids.

The three disks 25-27 are slowly rotated at about three revolutions per minute with their lower ends immersed in the water body 24,and their upper areas in the path of air flow. The water in the pores of the disks is heated by the adjacent heater unit.21 and subjected to the air stream being heated, whereby relatively rapid evaporation of water into the air stream is accomplished efficiently and quietly. The number and size of disks 25-27 determines the amountofwater evaporated into the air.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, wherein similar numerals designate similar parts, the casing 22 encloses a different humidifier arrangement.

Two Water pick- up disks 83 and 84 of the same materials as those of FIGURES l and 2 are employed here. An electric motor 76 is mounted on a bracket 77 fixed to ledge 53 which its shaft coupled to a gear 78 meshed with a pair of gears 79 and 80 on transverse shafts 81 and 82 each journalled in bracket 77 and a bracket 75 secured to ledge 54.

On shafts 81 and 82 water pick- upudisks 83 and 84 are mounted, as by collars 63 and set screws 64, with their lower ends immersed in the water body 24 and their upper areas in the path of air flow through the casing '22.

Operation in this embodiment is similar to that of FIGURES 1 and 2.

Referring now to FIGURES and 6, another humidifier arrangement is shown in the combination. Here the heater unit 21 and casing 22 are as in the previous embodirnents, and the three shaftsSS, 56 and 57 are disposed as in FIGURES 1 and 2 with motor 58 driving the middle shaft 56.

This embodiment differs over FIGURES 1 and 2 in that two water pick-up units are mounted on each shaft, and a different arrangement isprovided for driving the end disks from the middle shaft.

Referring to FIGURE 6 it will be seen that two identical water pick-up disks 85 are secured in spaced relation on shaft 56, as by the usual collars 63, and disposed on opposite sides of the heater unit 21 for most effective action.v cylindrical as in the other embodiments but the periphery is serrated to provide teeth'86 meshed with teeth 87 and 88 of similar disks 89 and 90 mounted on shafts 55 and 57 respectively.

The meshed teeth 86, .87, 88 provide an efiicient noiseless slow speed low torque drive to the outer shafts 55 and 57, without the need of belts, gears and other mechanical devices.

Referring to FIGURES 7 and 8 there is illustrated a disk 90 adapted to be mounted on one of the transverse shafts in the humidifier of FIGURES 1-4. Disk 90' consists of a central major portion 91 of plain open pore foam such as polyurethane, which has not been flocked and is less expensive, and an annular peripheral rim portion 92 of open pore flocked foam. This outer rim portion 92 is formed by cementing a strip of flocked open pore foam around the periphery of inner portion 91, and cementing the ends as at 93. The radial dimension of annular flocked portion 92 is about equal to the depth of immersion of the disk 90' in the water reservoir 24 when the water in the reservoir is nearly exhausted, so that the advantageous water pick-up properties of the flocked open pore foam are realized during rotation of the disk 90 in the humidifier. The water picked up by Referring to FIGURE 5, each disk 85 is not annulus 92 is allowed to drain and diffuse down throughthe central portion of the disk after having been lifted by the flocked portion.

FIGURES 9 and 10 illustrate another form of water pick-up disk 95 which may be used in FIGURES 1-4. This disk is a homogeneous open pore foam body, and flocking is'applied to a peripheral region-96 as by spraying the flock through a suitable pressure gun 97. By coating either the flock itself or the peripheral region 96 of the disk with a light adhesive and moving the gun to blow floc radially directly into the disk pores and/or as far down the disk sides .as may be desired a suitably flocked annular peripheral region 96 is provided on disk 95. The air pressure of fioc gun-97 will insure deep.

penetration of the floc for adequate flocked foam water pick-up surface areas.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A combined baseboard radiator and humidifier assembly comprising a casing, a generally horizontally elongated radiator unit within said casing comprising a conduit for flow of hot water and a series of heat dissipating fins mounted along the conduit, hot water, supply and return lines connecting said conduit to a-source of hot water, an open top receptacle mounted within the lower part of said casing to contain a body of water extending along but at a lower level, than the said fins, a water pickup rotor mounted on a shaft extending transversely of the casing at substantially right angles to said conduit,

said rotor having a periphery of porous plastic material that during rotation has a minor lower area disposed in said body of water and its upper water bearing area dis-' posed adjacent said fins, passage means directly connecting the hot water supply line to discharge water into said receptacle, a valve in said passage means responsive to the water level in said receptacle for maintaining a substantially constant water level in said receptacle, a motor.

on said casing drive connected to saidshaft for rotating said rotor at a slowspeed, an air inlet opening in the.

lower part of said casing, and an air outlet opening in the upper part of said casing, said openings being so located that air flowing by connection through the casing i traverses saidupper part of said rotor and the radiator unit fins, heat from said fins assisting in evaporating water from said adjacent rotor upper area into the moving air.

2. In the combined baseboard radiator and humidifier:

assembly defined in claim 1, there being a plurality of said rotors rotatable upon transverse axes within the'casing, each rotor comprising a water pick up disk and said disks being spaced along the lengthof said radiator unit, and means for rotating all of said disks at the same time.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS EDWARD J. MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A COMBINED BASEBOARD RADIATOR AND HUMIDIFIER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A CASING, A GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY ELONGATED RADIATOR UNIT WITHIN SAID CASING COMPRISING A CONDUIT FOR FLOW OF HOT WATER AND A SERIES OF HEAT DISSIPATING FINS MOUNTED ALONG THE CONDUIT, HOT WATER SUPPLY AND RETURN LINES CONNECTING SAID CONDUIT TO A SOURCE OF HOT WATER, AN OPEN TOP RECEPTACLE MOUNTED WITHIN THE LOWER PART OF SAID CASING TO CONTAIN A BODY OF WATER EXTENDING ALONG BUT AT A LOWER LEVEL THAN THE SAID FINS, A WATER PICKUP ROTOR MOUNTED ON A SHAFT EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE CASING AT SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID CONDUIT, SAID ROTOR HAVING A PERIPHERY OF POROUS PLASTIC MATERIAL THAT DURING ROTATION HAS A MINOR LOWER AREA DISPOSED IN SAID BODY OF WATER AND ITS UPPER WATER BEARING AREA DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID FINS, PASSAGE MEANS DIRECTLY CONNECTING THE HOT WATER SUPPLY LINE TO DISCHARGE WATER INTO SAID RECEPTACLE, A VALVE IN SAID PASSAGE MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE WATER LEVEL IN SAID RECEPTACLE FOR MAINTAINING A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT WATER LEVEL IN SAID RECEPTACLE, A MOTOR ON SAID CASING DRIVE CONNECTED TO SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATING SAID ROTOR AT A SLOW SPEED, AN AIR INLET OPENING IN THE LOWER PART OF SAID CASING, AND AN AIR OUTLET OPENING IN THE UPPER PART OF SAID CASING, SAID OPENINGS BEING SO LOCATED THAT AIR FLOWING BY CONNECTION THROUGH THE CASING TRAVERSES SAID UPPER PART OF SAID ROTOR AND THE RADIATOR UNIT FINS, HEAT FROM SAID FINS ASSISTING IN EVAPORATING WATER FROM SAID ADJACENT ROTOR UPPER AREA INTO THE MOVING AIR.

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