METHODE DE CONTROLE DE CONCENTRATION DE L'AZOTE ET DE L'OXYGENE PURIFIES D'UN MILIEU D'AIR CONDITIONNE

A METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE CONCENTRATION OF PURIFIED NITROGEN AND OXYGEN IN AIR CONDITIONED SPACE

Abrégé français

Lit et enceinte pour lit comprenant un cadre pour soutenir un matelas, des pattes, une tête de lit, un pied de lit, des éléments de raccord et un ou plusieurs réflecteur(s), l'emplacement du matelas étant choisi en fonction de la forme du réflecteur et de la direction des rayons incidents.

Abrégé anglais

A bed and enclosure for the same that comprises a frame to support a mattress, legs, headboard, footboard, connecting elements and one or more reflectors, wherein a location of a mattress is selected based on a shape of a reflector and direction of incoming radiations.

Revendications

Claims
The invented method and its embodiments in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed
are defined as follows:
1. A method of controlling the concentration of oxygen and nitrogen in
residential or
commercial buildings having air conditioned spaces comprising the step of
injecting a
mixture of purified nitrogen and oxygen into a stream of supplied air flowing
in an air
passage distributing conditioned air from an air conditioning unit to the
spaces, the
mixture being regulated in the range from 2% to 100% by volume of the supply
air flow
in response to a signal sent by a control board.
2. A method of controlling the concentration of oxygen and nitrogen in
residential or
commercial buildings as claimed in claim 1, wherein the concentration of
purified
nitrogen in the injected purified oxygen-nitrogen mixture is regulated from 1%
to 100%
based on the required needs.
3. An air conditioning system that includes an air conditioner, a conditioned
air supply duct,
a purified oxygen storage unit connected to the air supply duct through an
oxygen
regulating valve, a purified nitrogen storage unit connected to the air supply
duct via a
nitrogen regulating valve, an oxygen analyzer being connected to a control
board which
regulates the valves thereby can vary the flow of purified nitrogen and oxygen
into the
supply duct.
1

Description

CA 02472752 2007-05-30
A METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE CONCETRATION OF PURIFIED NITROGEN
AND OXYGEN IN AIR CONDITIONED SPACE
This invention is related to the air conditioning and can be used in
residential or commercial
buildings having air conditioned spaces.
Various air conditioning systems have been widely used to regulate the
temperature and create
comfortable conditions inside homes and buildings. However, air conditioning
systems have
caused so called "Sick Building Syndrome" which has resulted due to the
accumulation of
harmful impurities in indoor air. The symptoms attributed to this syndrome
include headache,
nausea, and shortness of breath, sinus congestion, and eye-nose-throat
irritation.
Filters and dehumidifiers have been used to remove airborne dust particles and
moisture in order
to clean the air in individual systems, refer the USA Patent 5,749,359 and
stationary systems,
refer to the USA Patents 5,502,975 and 6,589,323. However, the cleaning of
indoor air does not
result in the same quality, as it would be by replacing it with the outdoor
one. The refreshment of
indoor air can be done by employing the ventilation system to bring outdoor
air inside. However,
this method can further deteriorate the quality of indoor air in the case of
heavy smog. Doctors
often advise people with heart and breathing problems, who live in large
cities, that are affected
by smog, such as Toronto and Hamilton in Canada, New York and Buffalo in the
USA, Mexico
City, Deli in India and Rome in Italy to stay indoors during hot summer days.
To prevent the contamination of indoor air with polluted outdoor one, the
latter one is used
mostly for the heat exchange, as per inventions described by the Canadian
Patents 2321243 and
1248807. An atmosphere control apparatus, as per Canadian Patent 1281795,
employs two
separate chambers with a large storage capacity. Cool and warm air, supplied
by an air
conditioner, is stored in the first and second chambers respectively. In order
to create the
required temperature, cool or warm air is selectively blown outward into the
compartment. This
method has limited applications and also does not have provision to refresh
indoor air because
the air conditioner produces warm and cold air for these compartments.
A significant health improvement was obtained through the enrichment of air
with purified
oxygen, which is delivered through the hoses and masks to the head - facial
area of hospital
patients or other recipients; refer to the USA Patents 4,991,616 and
4,681,099. The USA Patent
5,460,175 describes the distribution method of the mixture of air with up to
95% oxygen to the
aircraft crewmembers. The most advanced air-oxygen breathing mixtures and
method of their
optimization and delivery are described in the USA Patent 6,131569 and
PCT/DE97/00324. The
above-mentioned invention is based on the regulation of oxygen content in the
air depending on
the recipient's measured physical condition and performance. However, most of
these methods
and systems were created to deliver the oxygen - air respiratory mixtures
through the head -
facial area, directly to the face or mouth of the recipients. They can't be
used for the air
refreshment inside the buildings and homes and to deliver fresh or enriched
with oxygen air
simultaneously to all the recipients, such as employees or family members.
The invention per the USA patent 6,726,558 provides systems and methods of
supplying
oxygen-enriched air to an enclosed space or compartment. The systems and
methods may distill
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CA 02472752 2007-05-30
oxygen from ambient air by a molecular sieve pressure cycle mechanism, such as
pressure swing
absorption, may generate oxygen from water using electricity or may use oxygen
enriched air
produced by membrane filtration. The invention helps people improve their
wellness,
productivity and comfort, improve performance of mental and / or physical
tasks, increase their
alertness, quality of life and pleasure, reduce their drowsiness, and aid in
curing and preventing
disease by increasing the percentage of oxygen in the enclosed space to a
beneficial and safe
level. However, this method does not fully refresh the indoor air. Air is a
mixture of 21 % oxygen
(02) and 78% nitrogen (N2). Only oxygen is consumed during breathing by
individuals.
However, the nitrogen content in the air is 3.7 times greater than oxygen.
Therefore, nitrogen
accumulates 3.7 times more airborne contaminants in indoor air.
We have found that most disadvantages of all known methods and air
conditioning systems may
be overcome by injecting of a mixture of purified nitrogen and oxygen into a
stream of supplied
air flowing in an air passage distributing conditioned air from an air
conditioning unit to the
spaces, wherein the mixture being regulated in the range from 2% to 100% by
volume of the
supply air flow in response to a signal sent by a control board.
In other embodiment of the proposed method the concentration of purified
nitrogen in the
injected purified oxygen-nitrogen mixture is regulated from 1% to 100% based
on the required
needs.
An air conditioning system to carry out the invented method includes an air
conditioner, a
conditioned air supply duct, a purified oxygen storage unit connected to the
air supply duct
through an oxygen regulating valve, a purified nitrogen storage unit connected
to the air supply
duct via a nitrogen regulating valve, an oxygen analyzer being connected to a
control board
which regulates the valves thereby can vary the flow of purified nitrogen and
oxygen into the
supply duct.
The following Figure illustrates an example of the air conditioning system for
the building with
four floors.
In the Figure, that illustrates the air conditioning system, each floor is
marked (1) through (4);
and the air conditioner (5) is connected to each floor by the air supply duct
(6). Each floor is
equipped with the air inlet (7) for the fresh air. Also each floor, as well as
individual
compartments on the floor, can be equipped with the exhaust ventilation (8)
that is placed in the
area that generates most significant amount of contaminants such as kitchen in
the house,
printing area in the office or welding or painting area in the production
shop. The air supply duct
(6) is connected to the compressed or liquid oxygen (11) and nitrogen (12)
storage units through
the regulating valves (14) and (15) respectively. The injection of liquid
nitrogen and oxygen
would reduce also the consumption of electric energy by the air conditioning
system as they have
low temperature. The oxygen analyzer (10) is placed in the main air supply
duct (6) and is
electronically connected to the control board (13). The control board (13) is
connected
electronically to the regulating valves (14) and (15), air conditioner (5),
oxygen analyzers (9) and
(10).
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CA 02472752 2007-05-30
"1'he purified oxygen and nitrogen in the ratio 1:3.7 are injected into the
air supply duct (6) in the
range from 2% to 100% by volume of the supply air flow to maintain the normal
concentration
of oxygen (21%) and nitrogen (78%) in the indoor air. As a result, the
injection of purified
nitrogen in combination with oxygen is 3.7 times more effective to obtain
refreshing effect than
the injection of just oxygen because the purified oxygen and nitrogen dilute
contaminants inside
the building and purge them away through the exhaust ventilation (8) and
natural imperfections
such as leakage through windows and doors. Purified mixture of oxygen and
nitrogen create the
effect of fresh outdoor air inside the building and eliminate the root cause
of the "Sick Building
Syndrome".
The proportional changing of injected oxygen and nitrogen, or only one of
these gases can be
used to regulate the nitrogen and oxygen contents in the air. The
concentration of oxygen is
controlled by the oxygen analyzer (10) and is regulated automatically by the
control board (13)
through valves (14) and (15).
The proposed air conditioning system can be used to regulate the concentration
of nitrogen in air
by injecting of the purified oxygen-nitrogen mixture with the content of
nitrogen from 1% to
100% into the air supply duct. The elevated content of nitrogen can be used
for training purpose
to adapt people to a lack of oxygen, different medical reasons, research, and
other required needs
including preventing of spreading of fire. The low content of nitrogen and
elevated content of
oxygen can be used to increase the energy level of people by the end of
business day or in
hospitals inr>ase of medical needs.
Any amount of purified oxygen and nitrogen will improve the quality of the
indoor air. However,
the most economical amount is 2 - 25%.
For example, if the recommended productivity of the air-conditioning system is
15 to 20 cubic
feet per minute (cfm.) per person, oxygen or oxygen-nitrogen mixture should be
0.3 to 5 cf7n per
person.
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