Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
HEATING, VENTING AND AIR CONDITIONING (HVAC) SYSTEM FOR
MANUFACTURED HOUSES
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to heating, venting and air conditioning (HVAC)
distribution
networks for houses, including manufactured houses and to methods for
manufacturing
such networks.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Definitions:
"Ductwork" or "ducts" used herein denotes a plurality of air ducts or conduits
by which air
may be transferred from one location to another.
"Story" is any user occupiable level of a house, not including basements or
crawlspaces
(the basement level and crawlspace level being referred to herein as the
"basement").
"HVAC" is a collective term for heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning
system.
"Manifold" is a collector and/or distributor conduit or chamber, having a
plurality of inlets
and/or outlets, totaling more than two, for collecting or distributing air
between a source
and one or more predetermined locations in the house or its vicinity.
The manufacturing of completed or partially completed houses (both of which
are referred
to herein as "manufactured houses") within a factory for subsequent transport
to the
installation location of the manufactured house, for example in a subdivision,
is well-
known. When compared to outdoor stick building, manufacturing houses within a
factory
provides numerous advantages, including the improved ability to work at all
hours of the
day and without concern for weather, and providing greater worker safety and
comfort
and improved efficiency in use of material, energy and equipment.
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In the case of manufactured houses that are to be heated, cooled and/or
ventilated by
means of, for example, a forced air system, including a furnace, air
conditioner or heat
exchanger (e.g. a heat pump), a large number of ducts and/or conduits must be
installed to
provide ventilating, cooling or heating to various rooms and locations of the
manufactured
house. The ducts or conduits are either installed in the factory or after the
house has been
placed upon its foundation in the subdivision, or a combination or both. The
ducts and
conduits conventionally pass through the basement ceiling and within the
interior walls of
the manufactured house.
By way of example, a conventional manufactured house, having one or more
storeys,
(which, when the manufactured house has been installed on a foundation, the
now
enclosed foundation forms the basement of the manufactured house), may be
built in a
factory with the duct work pre-installed in the factory, the furnace, air
conditioning unit,
and manifolds being installed and connected to the pre-installed ductwork
after the
manufactured house is fully installed on the foundation. In this example, once
the house
has been transported to the site and placed upon its foundation, the furnace
and air
conditioner and the manifolds rnay be installed to connect the furnace and
other HVAC
units as applicable, to the pre-installed ductwork.
Conventionally, the furnace and air-conditioning unit are placed in the
basement and the
air distribution and collection manifolds are placed below the ceiling of the
basement i.e.
directly below and adjacent the first story floor. Individual hot air/cold air
and return ducts
extending to separate locations of the house are then connected to these air
distribution
and collection manifolds.
As a result, a large number of ducts pass through the basement ceiling and the
interior
walls of the manufactured house to provide ventilating, or hot or cold air to
the first and
second storeys and to provide a passageway for return air from the first and
second storeys.
This design is labor intensive, lacks efficiency of building material usage
and usually
requires modification or cutting of existing structural elements of the house,
or elaborate
"work grounds" to provide a passage for the ducts.
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It will also be noted that in a typical house, the basement requires the least
amount of
heating, and yet the furnace is often situated in the baserrient, at a
relatively long distance
from the locations to be heated. Furthermore; where physically possible, it is
generally
advantageous to provide larger duct passageways rather than a larger number of
smaller
passageways to move the same volume of air, the larger ducts providing
relatively reduced
friction when compared to smaller volume passageways. Furthermore, when
comparing
larger volume ducts to a volume equivalent number of smaller ducts, the
reduced friction
of larger volume ducts generally results in reduced air flow noise, and
reduced heat (or
cold, in the case of air conditioning) losses through the duct, the heat (or
cold) losses being
proportional to the total surface area of the duct (a large duct having less
total surface area
than a volume equivalent number of smaller ducts).
There is additionally an ongoing demand to reduce the material usage cost and
timeframe
of building manufactured houses.
SLJIvIMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided, an
air
distribution network in a house having or defining at least one story, the
story defining a
floor, and having a source of a heated, vented or aar-conditioned air. The air
distribution
network is connected to the source and comprises at least one air distribution
manifold
disposed above the floor of the first story of the house. The network also
comprises a
plurality of ducts connected to the manifold and extending to various
locations of the
house for moving the air between the source and the various locations.
Advantageously, the present invention significantly reduces the amount of
labor and in
particular on-site labor required to install central heating and air-
conditioning network in a
house, specifically in a manufactured house.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it reduces the need to
cut into or
through or modify existing structural or other elements of the house during
the installation
of the network.
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It is a further advantage of the present invention that it can yield
additional headroom in
the basement of the house.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in more
detail by way
of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in
which like
numerals correspond to like elements and in which:
Figure 1 is a simplified cross-sectional representation of a prior art
manufactured
house illustrating a HVAC network;
Figure 2a is a simplified cross-sectional representation of a manufactured
house
with a HVAC network according to one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2b is a simplified cross-sectional representation of a manufactured
house
with a HVAC network according to an alternative embodiment of the present
invention;
Figure 3 is a simplified cross-sectional representation of a manufactured
house
with a HVAC network according to an alternative embodiment of the present
invention:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to Figure I, a typical conventional house is shown as having two
stories on
three levels - a basement, a first story level and a second story level. This
arrangement
corresponds to a "two-storey house" in everyday language, it being understood
however,
that in some jurisdictions, some one story and two story houses have no
basements.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the house has a basement floor 10, a first story
floor 12, a
second story floor 14 and a second story ceiling 16. Other structural elements
of the house
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(walls, joists etc) are omitted for clarity. The house is equipped with a
forced-air heating
and distribution system. Generally; the system includes a source of heated
air, a furnace
18, a hot-air subsystem and a cold-air subsystem which deal respectively with
the
distribution of forced hot air from the furnace 18 and the return of cold air
to the furnace.
In Figures 1, 2a and 2b, the furnace is located on the basement floor. In
Figure 3, the
furnace is disposed on the first story floor, for reasons discussed herein.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the hot-air subsystem forms an air distribution
network. It
includes a hot-air manifold 20 connected to the furnace 18 typically through a
plenum 22.
The manifold 20 is typically situated between joists (not illustrated) of the
first story floor
12. A plurality of hot-air ducts 24, 26, 28, and 30 is connected to the
manifold 20 such
that when the manifold 20 receives forced hot air from the furnace 18; the air
is in turn
distributed to appropriate locations of the house. The distribution of air is
controlled by
means well known in the art and typically passes through vents 42 located in
the floors,
walls and/or ceiling of the rooms of the house.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the cold-air subsystem forms an air return
network. It includes a
cold air manifold 31 connected to the furnace 18; typically via a vertical
conduit (riser) 29.
The cold air manifold 31 in turn branches into a plurality of return ducts 34,
3638, and 40
for carrying cooled air back into the furnace for re-heating.
It is understood that the same or additional ductwork may also be connected to
an air
conditioning unit (not illustrated) in an analogous manner known to a person
skilled in the
art to provide cooled air to the house.
Referring to Figure 2a, it will be noted that the furnace 18 is disposed on
the basement
floor, but both the hot air manifold 20 and the cold air manifold 31 are now
situated above
the first story floor 12.
As illustrated in Figures 2a and 2b, the hot air manifold 20, which may be
horizontally or
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vertically aligned (or a combination of horizontal and vertical alignment)
within the walls
and/or ceiling, as space permits, is connected to the furnace through or by
way of a
plenum 22. The hot air manifold 20 is branched into ducts 24, 26, 28, 30 and
32. The cold
air manifold 31 which may also be horizontally or vertically aligned (or a
combination of
horizontal and vertical alignment) within the walls and/or ceiling, as space
permits, is
connected to the furnace through or by way of a vertical conduit or riser 29.
The cold air
manifold 31 is branched into ducts 34, 36 and 38.
It is understood that the same or additional ductwork may also be connected to
an air
conditioning unit (not illustrated) in an analogous manner known to a person
skilled in the
art to provide cooled air to the house.
The absence of the cold and hot air manifolds under the first story floor
provides an added
head room in the basement. This positioning of the cold and hot air manifolds
above the
first story floor 12, in a more centrally located position within the house,
permitting the
use of shorter lengths of smallerllow volume ducts and reduces interference or
potential
interference between the ducts and the structural and other elements of the
house interior,
while at the same time allowing the air to travel through larger ducts a
greater percentage
of the distance between the furnace and the areas in the house to be heated or
cooled,
thereby decreasing heat losses, air noises and loading on the forced air
distribution fan.
Refernng to Figure 3, in this embodiment, the fizrnace 18 (and/or an air-
conditioning unit,
or a ventilating unit) is now disposed on the floor of the first story. It can
conceivably be
placed on the second story or higher floor, if the building has a considerable
number of
levels. In this embodiment, the hot air manifold 20 is branched into ducts 24,
26, 30 and
32. The cold air manifold 31 which rnay also be horizontally or vertically
aligned (or a
combination of horizontal and vertical alignment) within the walls and/or
ceiling, as space
permits, is connected to the furnace through or by way of a vertical conduit
or riser 29.
The cold air manifold 31 is branched into ducts 34, 36 and 38.
In each of the above-referenced embodiments, additional air vents may also be
positioned,
for example, on the manifolds, where convenient; and where it may be
advantageous to do
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so, or along the ductwork upstream or downstream from the manifolds.
By positioning the furnace (and/or an air-conditibning unit, or a ventilating
unit) in a
generally central location within the house or building as illustrated in
Figure 3, and on or
above the first story, one may significantly reduce the distance that the air
must move
during its circulation between the furnace and/or air conditioner, and those
areas in the
house to be heated or cooled potentially reducing and saving building material
and
reducing the need for significant modification or cutting of existing
structural elements of
the house, or elaborate "work grounds" to provide a passage for the ducts:
While the invention is described in detail with particular reference to
manufactured
houses, it is understood that it can readily be applicable to conventional
houses erected in a
"stick built" manner, on site, from the ground up:
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with
reference to specific
embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications
and changes
can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the
invention.
The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an
illustrative rather
than a restrictive sense.
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