Abstract:
An energy recovery device includes a first fluid path extending between a fresh air inlet and a fresh air outlet, and a second fluid path extending between an exhaust inlet and an exhaust air outlet. The first fluid path and the second fluid path may direct flow in a direction that is substantially parallel to one another through at least part of the energy recovery device. In some cases, a bend may be provided in at least part of the energy recovery device such that the first fluid path directs flow in a direction that is at a first angle relative to fluid flow through the second fluid path for a first portion of the first fluid path, and in a direction that is at a second angle relative to fluid flow through the second fluid path for a second portion of the first fluid path.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application Number 201110032500.X, which was filed Jan. 30, 2011, and which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to ventilation equipment, and in particular, to an energy recovery device for ventilation equipment. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    As people are paying more attention to the air quality, there is a need for ventilation equipment that provides fresh air-flow. Such ventilation equipment often employs an energy recovery device to achieve the complete heat exchange between a fresh air-flow and an exhaust air-flow, thus fresh air-flow can be achieved while making use of the energy from the exhaust air-flow, so that a fresh air-flow of a higher quality can be provided to users. 
         [0004]    For example, in International Publication No. WO2009090395, an energy recovery device is disclosed, which includes an exhaust air-flow inlet, an exhaust air-flow outlet in fluid communication with the exhaust air-flow inlet via a first duct, a fresh air-flow inlet, and a fresh air-flow outlet in fluid communication with the fresh air-flow inlet via a second duct. However, this international patent application does not disclose the specific construction of the energy recovery device. 
         [0005]    An energy recovery device in the prior art has a feature that by means of a “X” configuration or a “S” configuration, the direction of fresh air-flow and the direction of exhaust air-flow are crossed. The energy recovery device with such a configuration increases the height or length of the ventilation equipment, thus increasing the costs of the ventilation equipment. At the same time, this energy recovery device in the prior art only provides slots and projections for sealing at its inlet side/outlet side, which increases the risk of mixing the fresh air-flow with the exhaust air-flow, and reduces the quality of fresh air-flow. Furthermore, the counter-flow energy exchanging portion of the energy recovery device in the prior art is provided with ducts, which are parallel to one another and equal in length and in distance therebetween, so as to form laminar flow and to enable the pressure drop in each of the ducts to remain balanced without the need to consider the differences in inlet angles, outlet angles, pressures and speeds, but this reduces the efficiency of the energy exchange. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    An object of the present invention is to provide a novel energy recovery device with low costs, high efficiency to address the disadvantages in the prior art. 
         [0007]    In an illustrative embodiment, an energy recovery device is provided that may include at least two frames which are adjacently arranged, wherein said at least two frames comprise fresh air-flow and exhaust air-flow frames, wherein the fresh air-flow frame comprises fresh air-flow frame rods and a plurality of fresh air-flow ducts arranged therein, with each fresh air-flow duct has a fresh air-flow duct inlet, a fresh air-flow duct outlet, and a bend section of the fresh air-flow duct for connecting them; the exhaust air-flow frame may include exhaust air-flow frame rods and a plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts arranged therein, with each exhaust air-flow duct having an exhaust air-flow inlet, an exhaust air-flow outlet, and a bend section of the exhaust air-flow duct for connecting them. The plurality of fresh air-flow ducts and the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts may be in a mirror image arrangement such that the fresh air-flow duct inlets and exhaust air-flow duct outlets are located generally on the same side, and the fresh air-flow duct outlets and the exhaust air-flow duct inlets are located generally on the same side, so that the exhaust air-flow in the space to be ventilated is discharged into the atmosphere from the exhaust air-flow duct outlet after entering the exhaust air-flow duct inlet and passing through the bend section of the exhaust air-flow duct, and the fresh air-flow from the atmosphere enters into the space to be ventilated through the bend section of the fresh air-flow duct after entering the fresh air-flow duct inlet. The fresh air-flow and the exhaust air-flow may have energy exchange via the fresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts. 
         [0008]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the fresh air-flow frame and the exhaust air-flow frame are hexagons in shape; the fresh air-flow frame comprises a first fresh air-flow frame rod, a second fresh air-flow frame rod, a third fresh air-flow frame rod, a fourth fresh air-flow frame rod, a fifth fresh air-flow frame rod and a sixth fresh air-flow frame; and the exhaust air-flow frame comprises a first exhaust air-flow frame rod, a second exhaust air-flow frame rod, a third exhaust air-flow frame rod, a fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod, a fifth exhaust air-flow frame rod and a sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod; wherein the fresh air-flow duct inlets of the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts are provided on the fifth fresh air-flow frame rod of the fresh air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow duct outlets of the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts are provided on the first fresh air-flow frame rod of the fresh air-flow frame, the exhaust air-flow duct inlets of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts are provided on the second exhaust air-flow frame rod of the exhaust air-flow frame, and the exhaust air-flow duct outlets of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts are provided on the fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod of the exhaust air-flow frame, so that the flowing direction of the fresh air-flow in the fresh air-flow ducts is opposite to the flowing direction of the exhaust air-flow in the exhaust air-flow ducts. 
         [0009]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts and each of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts are “C-shaped” or “L-shaped”. 
         [0010]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts has unequal lengths, and they are spaced from one another unequally. 
         [0011]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts has unequal lengths, and they are spaced from one another unequally. 
         [0012]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts have different inlets and outlets, respectively. 
         [0013]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts have different inlets and outlets, respectively. 
         [0014]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the energy recovery device further comprises a medium with heat transmissibility and moisture permeability, which is arranged between the at least two frames. 
         [0015]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the medium with heat transmissibility and moisture permeability arranged between the at least two frames is a membrane and/or paper. 
         [0016]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein a cover lid is used for installing said at least two frames. 
         [0017]    An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the fresh air-flow frame, the exhaust air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts are all made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. 
         [0018]    Another illustrative embodiment may include ventilation equipment, wherein said ventilation equipment includes a housing and an above-mentioned energy recovery device provided therein, with said housing includes a fresh air-flow inlet, a fresh air-flow outlet, an exhaust air-flow inlet and an exhaust air-flow outlet, and wherein the fresh air-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluid communication with the fresh air-flow inlet of said housing, the fresh air-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluid communication with the fresh air-flow outlet of said housing, the exhaust air-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluid communication with the exhaust air-flow inlet of said housing, and the exhaust air-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluid communication with the exhaust air-flow outlet of said housing. 
         [0019]    Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: when the fresh air-flow ducts and exhaust air-flow ducts employ a “C-shaped” configuration or a “L-shaped” configuration, the inlets and outlets can be located at the same side, allowing either side of the ventilation equipment to have a bypass function, thus increasing the area for total heat exchanging at every level, and improving a good energy exchange efficiency. 
         [0020]    Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: the fresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts may include inlets, outlets and “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections, wherein the “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections are used for counter-flow heat exchanging, thus making it possible for the six frame rods of the fresh air-flow frame and the exhaust air-flow frame to be sealed properly without relative movements therebetween. 
         [0021]    Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: the fresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts may employ parallel bent portions, unequal angles and lengths, and unequal inlets and outlets, thus enabling the energy exchange to be realized by way of turbulent flows, so as to increase the efficiency of energy exchange. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]    With reference to the accompanying drawings, the disclosure of the present invention will become readily understandable. It is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that these accompanying drawings are intended only for purpose of illustration, and are not intended to limit the protective scope of the present invention, in which: 
           [0023]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of the ventilation equipment with an energy recovery device according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of an energy recovery device according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 3  shows a view of one of the frames having a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 4  shows a view of another frame having a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device of  FIG. 2 ; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 5  shows a layout diagram of at least two frames having a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device of  FIG. 2 . 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0028]    The particular embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in  FIGS. 1-5  and the following description to teach those skilled in the art how to implement and reproduce the best mode of the present invention. For the sake of teaching the inventive principles, some conventional aspects are simplified or omitted. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the variants derived from these embodiments will fall into the protective scope of the present invention. It should be also understood by those skilled in the art that the features mentioned below can be combined in various ways to form a plurality of variants of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited by the specific embodiments described below, instead it is defined only by the terms of the claims and the equivalents thereof. 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of the ventilation equipment comprising an energy recovery apparatus in an embodiment according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the ventilation equipment comprises a housing, a fresh air-flow outlet  1 , a fresh air-flow inlet  3 , an exhaust air-flow inlet  5 , an exhaust air-flow outlet  7 , an energy recovery device  9  arranged in the housing; a first separation wall  14   a , a second separation wall  14   b , a third separation wall  14   c , a fourth separation wall  14   d  and a fifth separation wall  14   e , each of these separation walls is arranged in the housing. In this case, the housing comprises the first side wall  13   a , the second side wall  13   b , the third side wall  13   c , and the fourth side wall  13   d , wherein each of these side walls is arranged next to one another in succession. Among them, the fresh air-flow outlet  1  and the exhaust air-flow outlet  5  are arranged on the first side wall  13   a , and the fresh air-flow inlet  3  and exhaust air-flow outlet  7  are arranged on the third side wall  13   c . The energy recovery device  9  comprises at least two frames, in which one frame is referred to as the fresh air-flow frame  15 , and the other frame is referred to as the exhaust air-flow frame  17 . A medium with good heat conductivity and moisture permeability (not shown) is disposed between the fresh air-flow frame  15  and the exhaust air-flow frame  17 .  FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of an energy recovery apparatus in an embodiment according to the present invention.  FIG. 3  shows a view of one of the frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the energy recovery device  9  comprises at least one normal hexagonal shaped fresh air-flow frame  15 , which comprises a first fresh air-flow frame rod  15   a , a second fresh air-flow frame rod  15   b , a third fresh air-flow frame rod  15   c , a fourth fresh air-flow frame rod  15   d , a fifth fresh air-flow frame rod  15   e , and a sixth fresh air-flow frame rod  15   f . The fresh air-flow frame  15  also comprises a plurality of “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts  16  which are arranged therein, with each of the fresh air-flow ducts  16  comprising a fresh air-flow duct inlet  16   a  and a fresh air-flow duct outlet  16   b . In which a plurality of fresh air-flow duct inlets  16   a  are arranged on the fifth fresh air-flow frame rod  15   e , and a plurality of fresh air-flow duct outlets  16   b  are arranged on the first fresh air-flow frame rod  15   a .  FIG. 5  shows a layout diagram of at least two frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the energy recovery device  9  further comprises at least one normal hexagonal shaped exhaust air-flow frame  17 , and  FIG. 4  shows a view of the other one of the frames with a plurality of ducts for forming the energy recovery device in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the exhaust air-flow frame  17  comprises the first exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   a , the second exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   b , the third exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   c , the fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   d , the fifth exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   e , and the sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   f , wherein each of these exhaust air-flow frame rods is arranged next to one another in succession. The exhaust air-flow frame  17  also comprises a plurality of “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts  18  which are arranged therein, with each of the exhaust air-flow ducts  18  comprising an exhaust air-flow duct inlet  18   a  and an exhaust air-flow duct outlet  18   b . A plurality of exhaust air-flow duct inlets  18   a  are arranged on the second exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   b  of the exhaust air-flow duct  18 , and a plurality of exhaust air-flow duct outlet  18   b  are arranged on the fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod  17   d .  FIG. 5  shows a layout diagram of the at least two frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recovery device in  FIG. 2 . It can be seen from  FIG. 5  that the plurality of “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts  18  arranged on the exhaust air-flow frame  17  and the plurality of “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts  16  arranged on the fresh air-flow frame  15  are in a mirror image arrangement. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the third separation wall  14   c , the fourth separation wall  14   d , the fifth separation wall  14   e , the third side wall  13   c , the fourth side wall  13   d  and the fresh air-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device  9  form a fresh air-flow inlet area. The first separation wall  14   a , the fourth separation wall  14   d , the first side wall  13   a , the fourth side wall  13   d  and the fresh air-flow outlet side of the energy recovery device  9  form a fresh air-flow outlet area, in which an air blower  11  is arranged in the fresh air-flow outlet area. The first separation wall  14   a , the second separation wall  14   b , the first side wall  13   a , the second side wall  13   b  and the exhaust air-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device  9  form an exhaust air-flow inlet area. The second separation wall  14   b , the third separation wall  14   c , the second side wall  13   b , the third side wall  13   c  and the fresh air-flow outlet side of the energy recovery device  9  form an exhaust air-flow outlet area, in which another air blower  11  is arranged in the exhaust air-flow outlet area. 
         [0030]    When the ventilation equipment shown in  FIG. 1  is in operation, on the one hand, the exhaust air-flow in the ventilation space enters into the exhaust air-flow inlet area under the effects of the air blower  11  arranged in the exhaust air-flow outlet area, then it enters the “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts  18  via the plurality of exhaust air-flow duct inlets  18   a  arranged on the exhaust air-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device  9 , subsequently, it enters from the exhaust air-flow duct outlets  18   b  of the “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts  18  into the exhaust air-flow outlet area, and finally, it is exhausted into the atmosphere via the exhaust air-flow outlet  7 . On the other hand, the fresh air-flow in the atmosphere is drawn into the fresh air-flow inlet area under the effects of the air blower  11  arranged in the fresh air outlet area, then it enters into the “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts  16  via the plurality of fresh air-flow duct inlets  16   a  arranged in the fresh air-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device  9 , subsequently, it enters from the fresh air-flow duct outlets  16   b  of the “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts  16  into the fresh air-flow inlet area, and finally it enters into the space to be ventilated via the fresh air-flow outlet  1 . Since the fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the exhaust air-flow ducts  18  are arranged next to one another in the energy recovery device  9  in a mirror image arrangement, this allows the fresh air-flow which has passed through the “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the exhaust air-flow which has passed through the “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts  18 , to have heat exchange in the energy recovery device  9  via a medium with heat conductivity and moisture permeability characteristics arranged between the fresh air-flow frame  15  and the exhaust air-flow frame  17 , —so as to enable the fresh air-flow which has had heat exchange with the exhaust air-flow to be pumped into the space to be ventilated. 
         [0031]    In an embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow frame  15 , the exhaust air-flow frame  17 , the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts  18  are preferably made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. It needs to be mentioned that the fresh air-flow frame  15 , the exhaust air-flow frame  17 , the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts  18  can also be made of other materials, and this would still fall into the scope of the present invention. 
         [0032]    In an embodiment of the present invention, the medium with good heat conductivity and moisture permeability characteristics arranged between the fresh air-flow frame  15  and the exhaust air-flow frame  17  is a membrane or a piece of special paper. For those skilled in the art, the membrane and the special paper are the membrane and paper commonly used in the art, therefore they do not need to be described redundantly herein. 
         [0033]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow duct  16  and the exhaust air-flow duct  18  can also adopt an L-shaped configuration. As can be seen in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts  16  and exhaust air-flow ducts  18  respectively have bend sections, different inlets and outlets, different lengths and different spacing. The “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” configuration is applied in the fresh air-flow ducts  16  and exhaust air-flow ducts  18  in the ventilation equipment according to the present invention, which can allow the inlets and outlets to be placed on the same side, enabling any side of the ventilation equipment to have a bypass function, thus increasing the total heat exchange area per layer, and improving the energy exchange efficiency. 
         [0034]    In an embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the exhaust air-flow ducts  18  comprise inlets, outlets, and “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections, in which the “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections are used for counter-flow heat exchanging, and this allows all of the six frame rods of the fresh air-flow frame  15  and the exhaust air-flow frame  17  to be sealed properly without any movement relative to one another. 
         [0035]    In an embodiment of the present invention, the parallel bend sections (such as “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections), unequal angles and lengths, and unequal inlets and outlets are adopted in the fresh air-flow ducts  16  and the exhaust air-flow ducts  18 , enabling the energy exchange to be performed by turbulent flows, thus improving the energy exchange efficiency. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 List of names of the components and reference numerals thereof 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                  1 
                 fresh air-flow outlet 
               
               
                   
                  3 
                 fresh air-flow inlet 
               
               
                   
                  5 
                 exhaust air-flow inlet 
               
               
                   
                  7 
                 exhaust air-flow outlet 
               
               
                   
                  9 
                 energy recovery device 
               
               
                   
                 11 
                 air blower 
               
               
                   
                 13a 
                 first side wall 
               
               
                   
                 13b 
                 second side wall 
               
               
                   
                 13c 
                 third side wall 
               
               
                   
                 13d 
                 fourth side wall 
               
               
                   
                 14a 
                 first separation wall 
               
               
                   
                 14b 
                 second separation wall 
               
               
                   
                 14c 
                 third separation wall 
               
               
                   
                 14d 
                 fourth separation wall 
               
               
                   
                 14e 
                 fifth separation wall 
               
               
                   
                 15 
                 fresh air-flow frame 
               
               
                   
                 15a 
                 first fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 15b 
                 second fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 15c 
                 third fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 15d 
                 fourth fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 15e 
                 fifth fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 15f 
                 sixth fresh air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 16 
                 fresh air-flow duct 
               
               
                   
                 16a 
                 fresh air-flow duct inlet 
               
               
                   
                 16b 
                 fresh air-flow duct outlet 
               
               
                   
                 17 
                 exhaust air-flow frame 
               
               
                   
                 17a 
                 first exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 17b 
                 second exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 17c 
                 third exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 17d 
                 fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 17e 
                 fifth exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 17f 
                 sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod 
               
               
                   
                 18 
                 exhaust air-flow duct 
               
               
                   
                 18a 
                 exhaust air-flow duct inlet 
               
               
                   
                 18b 
                 exhaust air-flow duct outlet