Improved method and apparatus for preheating ventilation air for a building

Abstract: Ventilation air for a building is preheated by providing on a south-facing wall (12) a solar-energy absorbent collector panel (16) with a plurality of air-inlet openings (6) which communicate with air collection channels behind the panel. Outside air passing upwardly along the panel is heated by the heat of the panel which it­ self is heated by a combination of solar radiation and heat being lost from the interior of the building. The outside air, passing upwardly a short distance along the panel to the closest air inlet opening, is withdrawn therethrough into the air collection channel and expelled into the interior of the building.

Description: This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for controlling the entry of ventilation air into a building, and preheating the air with solar energy and recovered building losses. Commercial, industrial, domestic and apartment buildings require ventilation, and it is common for the natural leakage around doors, wall-ceiling joints, etc. found in standard building construction to allow sufficient air to enter the building. A pressure drop from the exterior to the interior of the building can arise from many factors, such as high winds, exhaust fans and combustion air for fuel-burning furnaces. This tends to draw outside air into the building through any crack or opening. The problem with the conventional approach is that the amount of ventilation air is not controlled, the temperature in the building near the outside walls is lower than average and less comfortable, and additional heat must be provided to heat the outside air to room temperature during the heating season. This problem has typically been solved by installing gas, oil or electric heaters and air-moving fans to heat the incoming air. When solar panels are used to heat a building, air is recirculated from the building through the collector and back. During the heating season, the ambient temperature is lower than the room temperature, and therefore a recirculating solar collector operates at a much reduced efficiency level. There has been disclosed two methods and apparatus which avoid using consumable energy, like oil, to heat incoming air for a building. Instead of simply recirculating interior air from the building through a solar collector and back to the building, fresh make-up air for ventilation purposes is introduced into the building after first passing the air through a solar collector located on a south-facing wall of the building. In Canadian Patent Specification No.1,196,825, there is disclosed a solar collector consisting of glazing over a darkened wall. U.S. Patent Specification No.4,774,932 discloses a solar collector consisting of a darkened collector panel with corrugations running vertically, and collecting means for withdrawing the heated air from the vertical grooves formed by the corrugations from a location near the top of the panel. German Patent Specification No. 29 29 219A discloses the use of a perforated blackened sheet laid over an undulating roof deck as a solar energy absorber. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of preheating ventilation air for a building having a sun-facing surface through which heat from the interior of the building escapes, on which surface a solar radiation-absorbent collector panel is provided to define an air collection space with the surface and to be exposed to the ambience, the panel being corrugated with the corrugations running in a substantially vertical direction to form a plurality of substantially vertical grooves and being provided with a plurality of air inlet openings to communicate the ambience with the air collection space, the method comprising withdrawing outside air from the air collection space and injecting it into the building using air moving means which has an inlet at the top of the air collection space and an outlet within the interior of the building, whereby there is established a negative pressure differential across the collector panel with respect to the ambience, to draw outside air into the air collection space and to heat the admitted outside air with solar heat from the collector panel and with heat lost from the interior of the building, the outside air passing upwardly in laminar flow along the outside of the panel so that the air is heated both before and after it is admitted to the air collection space through the inlet openings, characterised in that the air inlet openings are located along the furthest recessed portions of the grooves. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for preheating ventilation air for a building having a sun-facing surface through which heat from the interior of the building escapes, the apparatus including a solar radiation-absorbing collector panel mounted on the sun-facing surface to define an air collection space with the surface, and to be exposed to the ambience, the panel being corrugated with the corrugations running in a substantially vertical direction to form a plurality of substantially vertical grooves and being provided with a plurality of air inlet openings to communicate the ambience with the air collection space, and air moving means having an inlet at the top of the air collecting space, and an outlet within the interior of the building, whereby the air moving means, in operation, establishes a negative pressure differential across the collector panel with respect to the ambience, to draw outside air into the collection space, and to heat the admitted outside air both with solar heat from the collector panel, and with heat lost from the interior of the building, the outside air passing upwardly in laminar flow along the outside of the panel so that the air is heated both before and after it is admitted through the openings, characterised in that the air inlet openings are located along the furthest recessed portions of the grooves. Several embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denote like parts throughout the several views, and in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a make-up or ventilation air system for a building constructed in accordance with one embodiment of this invention; Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken at the line A - A in Figure 1; Figure 2a is a horizontal sectional view taken at the line B - B in Figure 2; Figure 3 is a vertical section through a second embodiment of this invention; Figure 3a is a horizontal sectional view taken at the line B - B in Figure 3; Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through a third embodiment of this invention; figure 4a is an enlarged view of a portion of Figure 4. Attention is first directed to Figure 1 which shows a partly broken-away perspective view of a system for carrying out the present invention. A building wall is shown in part at 10 in the figure, this being typically a block and brick composite structure. As with all building walls, even those well insulated, a steady heat loss is experienced through the wall when the outside temperature is below the inside temperature. The wall 10 has an outer surface 12 to which is affixed a mounting plate 14. Secured to the mounting plate 14 are a number of corrugated sub-panels 16', 16'', 16''', etc. together constituting the collector panel 16 which is coated on the outside with a solar radiation absorbing material, such as dark paint. Far more desirable than dark paint would be a "selective coating" with high absorption for solar radiation and little infra-red heat emission at temperatures occurring at the collector panel on a sunny day, to keep total energy losses low. In this embodiment of the invention, as previously mentioned, the panel 16 is composed of a number of overlapping corrugated sub-panels 16', 16'', etc. From the top downwardly, they are spaced from the mounting plate 14 at decreasing distances leaving openings 6'', 6''' etc. between the sub-panels, which serve as air inlet openings through which the heated outside air enters an air collection space 15. The air collection space 15 is defined between and by the collector panels 16 and the mounting plate 14, and in turn communicates with a plenum 22 at the top end of the panel 16. The cross-section of the plenum 22 can be made to widen toward a fan housing 30 by adjusting the position of a separator wall 23 such that substantially equal amounts of air are gathered along the length of the plenum 22 from different regions of the air collection space 15. The fan housing 30 contains a conventional fan or air impeller 31 and includes motorized dampers 32 which can be adjusted to allow air from the interior of the building to be mixed with heated air coming from the plenum 22. Communicating with the housing 30 is a fabric air duct 34 which is preferably flame retardant and made of polyfabric, the duct 34 being suspended by a plurality of duct hangers 36 from a suitably strung support wire or rod 38. The air duct has a plurality of openings 40 through which the heated outside air can pass into the building. By appropriately sizing the openings 40, the air can enter the interior of the building as a high velocity air jet, thus promoting good mixing with the air in the building and minimizing stratification. It is preferred that the duct 34 be located at the ceiling level for the sake of convenience in industrial and commercial buildings. Other levels and routings for the duct 34 may be chosen in apartment buildings. The fan within the housing 30 would typically be sized to meet the ventilation requirements and eliminate any negative pressure in the building. A positive pressure can be achieved with outside air entering the building through the fan 31, the air being heated by solar heat, recovered building heat loss, and stratified heat found near a high ceiling. Air can leave the building through cracks and other openings where previously air had entered. It will be noted that the plenum 22 overhangs the corrugated panel 16. When the sun stands high in the sky, this arrangement reduces overheating the air. Alternatively, the plenum 22 can be provided with a by-pass damper 43 which can be opened when heated air is not required. It will further be appreciated that the outside air which is heated e.g. by corrugated panel 16'', will pass upwardly as a well-defined laminar stream along the grooves 20'' and will be drawn through the inlet openings 6'' into the air collection space 15 well before either turbulence or wind can disturb the laminar hot-air stream to the point where heat could be lost. Assuming for the moment that there were no inlet openings 6'', 6''', and that the panel 16 were very high, then the laminar air streams would heat up further and would rise faster and faster until the well-defined laminar flow would turn turbulent, and would widen and heat up more outside air. This would mean that part of the heat would not be recovered. In constructions according to this invention, turbulent flow can be prevented, even in windy conditions, if the distance between inlet openings 6', 6'' and 6''' is chosen to be sufficiently short. The more closely the inlet openings 6 are spaced, e.g. the smaller the sub-panel height h in Figure 1, the smaller is the possibility of heat being lost under adverse conditions, such as the existence of a wind. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of a variant of Figure 1 at the line A-A and Figure 2a shows a horizontal sectional view of the structure of Figure 2 at the line B-B. In Figure 2 there is a fourth tier of sub-panels identified by the numeral 16''''. Both Figures indicate that the openings 6', 6'', etc. are placed at the inner portion of each groove 20', 20'', etc. by closing off the remainder of the space between overlapping panels, through the insertion of baffles 8 and by positioning the lower plate of plenum 22 so as to leave opening 6'. The sub-panel 16'''' is open at the bottom as seen at 7 in Figure 2. Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view, similar to Figure 2, of another embodiment of the invention. With supports 19, a corrugated collector panel 16a is fastened to a wall-mounting plate 14a, at a uniform distance from the bottom to the plenum 22. Equal sized inlet holes 6a are provided at the inner portion of the grooves 20 as is more clearly seen in Figure 3a. The latter is a horizontal sectional view of the structure of Figure 3 taken at line B-B. In order to ensure a uniform intake of heated air to the air collection space 15 per unit panel area, the holes 6a near the panel top are spaced more widely apart than the holes 6a near the bottom of the panel 16. There are also holes 7a at the bottom. It may be noted that equally spaced holes with decreasing diameters toward the panel top would be an alternative way to achieve the same goal of uniform air intake across the collector panel 16. It should be noted further that the method disclosed permits the construction of collector panels whose surface temperature is the same across the panel. It alternatively permits the construction of panels with increasing or decreasing temperature in any direction or any portion of the panel. Figure 4 shows a vertical sectional view of yet another embodiment of the invention. The corrugated panel 116 is spaced at some distance from the wall or the wall mounting plate 114 near the top of the panel, while being closer to the wall at the bottom. Identical air inlet opening holes 106 are punched into the panel 116 in the grooves 120 as seen in the enlarged view of the panel 116 in Figure 4a. Suitable support brackets 19a are used where fastening is required. The inlet opening holes 106 can be punched on site from the outside. The material of the holes is not punched out, but is rather displaced as shown in Figure 4a, in order to strengthen the rim 9 of the hole and thus maintain the original strength of the corrugated panel. If the holes, instead of being punched, are produced by a thermal melting method (similar to welding or supersonic heating), the hole material will form a preferred heavy rim framing the hole. Figures 1 to 4 present facade constructions for ventilation air heating systems which, as embodiments of this invention, are particularly suitable for industrial and commercial buildings. The invention, however, is just as attractive for single family dwellings and apartment houses.

Claims: A method of preheating ventilation air for a building (10) having a sun-facing surface (12, 14, 14a) through which heat from the interior of the building escapes, on which surface a solar radiation-absorbent collector panel (16, 116) is provided to define an air collection space (15,) with the surface (12, 14, 14a) and to be exposed to the ambience, the panel (16, 116) being corrugated with the corrugations running in a substantially vertical direction to form a plurality of substantially vertical grooves (20, 20', 20'') and being provided with a plurality of air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b) to communicate the ambience with the air collection space (15,), the method comprising; withdrawing outside air from the air collection space (15,) and injecting it into the building (10) using air moving means (30, 31, 32, 34) which has an inlet at the top of the air collection space (15,) and an outlet (40) within the interior of the building (10), whereby there is established a negative pressure differential across the collector panel (16, 116) with respect to the ambience, to draw outside air into the air collection space (15,) and to heat the admitted outside air both with solar heat from the collector panel (16, 116) and with heat lost from the interior of the building (10), the outside air passing upwardly in laminar flow along the outside of the panel (16, 116) so that the air is heated both before and after it is admitted to the air collection space (15,) through the inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b), characterised in that the air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b) are located along the furthest recessed portions of the grooves (20, 20', 20''). The method claimed in claim 1 in which the collector panel (16, 116) has, on its exterior side, a selective surface coating permitting high absorption of solar radiation and low emission of far infra-red heat-radiation. The method claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the horizontal cross-section of the air collection space (15) decreases in the direction away from the air-moving means (30, 31, 32, 34). The method claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, in which the area of the air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b) per unit collector panel area increases with increasing distance from the air-moving means. The method claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the air collection space (15,) between the collector panel (16, 116) and the surface (12, 14, 14a) is subdivided by suitable walls (19) into a plurality of parallel channels. An apparatus for preheating ventilation air for a building (10) having a sun-facing surface (12, 14, 14a) through which heat from the interior of the building (10) escapes, the apparatus including a solar radiation-absorbing collector panel (16, 116) mounted on the sun-facing surface (12, 14, 14a) to define an air collection space (15,) with the surface (12, 14, 14a), and to be exposed to the ambience, the panel being corrugated with the corrugations running in a substantially vertical direction to form a plurality of substantially vertical grooves (20, 20', 20'') and being provided with a plurality of air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b) to communicate the ambience with the air collection space (15,), and air moving means (30, 31, 32, 34) having an inlet at the top of the air collecting space and an outlet (40) within the interior of the building (10), whereby the air moving means, in operation, establishes a negative pressure differential across the collector panel (16, 116) with respect to the ambience, to draw outside air into the collection space (15,), and to heat the admitted outside air both with solar heat from the collector panel (16, 116) and with heat lost from the interior of the building (10), the outside air passing upwardly in laminar flow along the outside of the panel (16, 116) so that the air is heated both before and after it is admitted through the openings (6), characterised in that the air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 10b) are located along the furthest recessed portions of the grooves (20, 20', 20''). The apparatus claimed in claim 6, in which the collector panel (16, 116) has, on its exterior side, a selective surface coating permitting high absorption of solar radiation and low emission of far infra-red heat-radiation. The apparatus claimed in claim 6 or 7, in which the horizontal cross-section of the air collection space (15) decreases in the direction away from the air-moving means (30, 31, 32, 34). The apparatus claimed in claim 6, 7 or 8, in which the area of the air inlet openings (6, 6', 6'', 7, 7a, 7b) per collector panel area increases with increasing distance from the air-moving means (30, 31, 32, 34). The apparatus claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9, in which the air collection space (15,) between the collector panel (16, 116) and the surface (12, 14, 14a) is subdivided by suitable walls (19) into a plurality of parallel channels.

Inventors: HOLLICK JOHN C, PETER ROLF W, HOLLICK, JOHN C., PETER, ROLF W.
Applicants: SOLARWALL INT LTD, SOLARWALL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: F24J2
IPC codes: F24J2, F24D5, E04D13