Patent Abstract:
The present invention improves both the quality and the flow of air delivered by a stationary fan such as a ceiling fan and a portable fan. Ceiling fans provide limited indoor air flow, but do not function as air conditioning and quality improvement apparatus. The present invention provides fans with an ability to increase indoor and outdoor air quality where they operate. One or a combination of a cooling unit and a heating unit and a filtering device and a secondary multidirectional fan provide consumers with air quality improvement options for stationary and portable fans to fulfill their specific needs for a given area.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention lies in the field of environmental engineering and more particularly to improve the quality and the flow of air delivered by fans. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Currently, portable and stationary fans such as a ceiling fan provide only connection for a light fixture and do not provide direct and multiple connections to air quality improvement devices. The present invention provides fans with an ability to connect one or a combination of different air quality improvement devices such as heaters, coolers, filters, UV lights to improve and condition air where they operate. Therefore consumers are provided with versatile portable and stationary fans that heats and cools and filters the air as desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention lies in the field of environmental engineering and more particularly to improve the quality of air delivered by fans. Currently, fans such as a ceiling fan provide only built-in connection for a light fixture and do not provide direct and multiple built-in connections to air quality improvement devices. The present invention provides multifunctional portable and stationary fans that include a universal connector for one or a combination of air quality improvement devices. The universal connector include easy and safe versatile mechanical, magnetic, and electrical connections for air quality improvement devices such as filters, heaters, coolers, UV lights, electrostatic filters, and ionization devices such as ozone generators. Therefor, consumers are provided with a multifunctional fan that conditions and improves air where it operates. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1A shows a ceiling fan and a light fixture connection port that is attached to the ceiling fan. 
     FIG. 1B shows a ceiling fan and a universal connector that is attached to the ceiling fan. 
     FIG. 2 shows a vertical universal connector including a male vertical connector attached to an air improvement device and a female vertical connector attached to a stationary fan. 
     FIG. 3 shows a horizontal universal connector including a male horizontal connector attached to an air improvement device and a female horizontal connector attached to a stationary fan. 
     FIG. 4 shows detailed description of a rotational universal connector including a male rotational connector and a female rotational connector. 
     FIG. 5 shows detailed description of a self-locking universal connector including a male self-locking connector and a female self-locking connector. 
     FIG. 5A shows cross section  1 — 1  of FIG.5 including a complementary air filter that envelops and attached to stationary fan blades. 
     FIG. 6 shows a magnetic universal connector including a male magnetic connector and a female magnetic connector. 
     FIG. 7 shows detailed description of a multiple connector including multiple male connectors and multiple female connectors. 
     FIG. 8 shows detailed description of a number of air quality improvement devices including a secondary fan and a heating unit and a cooling unit connected to a stationary fan using an universal connector comprising a male and a female connectors. 
     FIG. 9 shows detailed description of a portable fan including a universal connector and an air quality and quantity improvement devices such as a filter and a heating unit connected to the universal connector. 
     FIG. 10 shows a side view of a portable multifunctional fan including a cooling unit connected to the portable fan. 
     FIG. 11 shows a front view of a portable multifunctional fan including a cooling unit connected to the portable fan. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1A shows a typical ceiling fan including a light fixture connection port  16 A and a ceiling connector box  11 . Light fixture  16 B is connected to said port  16 A. Light fixture connection port  16 A is only for connecting light fixtures such as  16 B and is not for air quality and quantity improvement devices such as a heating unit and an UV biological filter both of which have different mechanical and electrical connection requirements. Furthermore, voltage and current (AMP) and associated cable sizes and safety requirements are not provided by said port  16 A for said air improvement devices. 
     FIG. 1B shows a preferred embodiment of present invention including a stationary fan  10  attached to a ceiling by mechanical means using ceiling connection box  11  that has electrical connections to a power source. Said fan  10  includes fan rod  12  connected to box  11  and fan motor unit  13  connected to said electrical power source such as AC main or DC available from box  11  through rod  12 . Fan blades  14  are connected to said motor unit  13  that has a control switch. Extension rod  16  is connected to fan rod  12  through fan motor unit  13  and a universal connector such as  15  attached to said extension rod  16 . Said built-in universal connector  15  replaces light fixture ports such as  16 A and provides versatile mechanical and electrical connections for air quality and quantity improvement devices. Universal connector  15  includes a vertical male connector  15 A and a vertical female connector  15 B. Therefor, fan light fixture connection port  16 A is replaced by said female connector  15 A which is connected to said male connector  15 B and a blank connector  15 C. Said male connector  15 A is attached to an air quality and quantity improvement device. Stationary fan  10  and its universal connector  15  meet with voltage and AMP requirements of an air improvement device such as a heater and an electrostatic filter and include associated right sized cables for said voltage and AMP requirements. 
     FIG. 2 shows a vertical universal connector  15  comprising a female connector  15 A and male connector  15 B. Said female connector  15 A is connected to fan  10  using extension rod  16  and said male connector  15 B is connected to a desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as an UV light disinfectant  21  or a light fixture. Said connector  15  includes electrical connection using female and male terminals  19  and  20  respectively and mechanical connections using female and male locking devices  17  and  18  respectively. Therefor, electrical and mechanical connections are established between stationary fan  10  and said improvement device  21  using said connector  15 . The connection is easily established using said connector  15  without using any tools and without being exposed to safety hazards associated with wire-to-wire connections and open wire connectors. Said safety hazards, however, are present in light fixture connection ports such as  16 A of a typical ceiling fan as shown in FIG.  1 A. 
     FIG. 3 shows a horizontal universal connector  22  comprising a female connector  22 A and male connector  22 B. Said female connector  22 A is connected to fan  10  using extension rod  16  and said male connector  22 B is connected to a desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as an electrostatic filter  23  or is connected to a light fixture. Said connector  22  includes electrical connections similar to the ones explained in FIG.  2 . The electrical and mechanical connections are easily established without using any tools and without being exposed to open wire connections. 
     FIG. 4 shows a rotational universal connector  24  comprising a female connector  24 A and male connector  24 B. Said female connector  24 A is connected to stationary fan  10  using extension rod  16  and said male connector  24 B is connected to desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as an ionic filter and ozone generator  25  or a light fixture. Said connector  24  includes electrical and mechanical connections between fan  10  and said improvement device  25  using connector  24 . The connection is easily established without cutting off the power source and without using any tools and being exposed to safety hazards associated with open wire connections. 
     FIG. 5 shows a self-locking universal connector  26  comprising a female connector  26 A and male connector  26 B. Said female connector  26 A is connected to stationary fan  10  using extension rod  16  and said male connector  26 B is connected to a desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as a chemical filter  27 . Said connector  26  includes mechanical connections between fan  10  and said improvement device  26  using said connector  26 . A complementary fan blade filters  14 A envelops and covers blades  14 . Complementary filter  14 A is easily installed by moving said filter  14 A in direction of  14 B and removed by moving said filter  14 A in the direction of  14 C over blade  14 . 
     FIG. 6 shows a magnetic universal connector  28  comprising a female connector  28 A and male connector  28 B. Said female connector  28 A is connected to fan  10  using extension rod  16  and said male connector  28 B is connected to a desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as a physical filter  29 . Said connector  28  includes electromechanical connections between fan  10  and said improvement device  29 . The connection is easily established without using any tools and without being exposed to wire connections. 
     FIG. 7 shows a multiple connector  30  comprising more then one and a combination of universal connectors such as  24 . Said universal connectors are connected to a multiple male connector  30 B which is connected to ceiling fan  10  using multiple female connector  30 A which is attached to extension rod  16  of said ceiling fan  10 . One or more than one desired air quality and quantity improvement devices such as  25  are connected to male connector  30 B using  24 A and  24 B. Said connector  30  includes electrical and mechanical connections between fan  10  and said improvement devices such as  25 . The connection is easily established using universal connector  30  without using any tools and without being exposed to safety hazards associated with open wire connections. 
     FIG. 8 shows a secondary fan  31  with a self locking universal joint  32  and a heating and cooling unit  33  which include a heating unit  33 A and a cooling unit  33 B. Heating unit  33 A consist of one or combination of a metal heating element and ceramic heating element and quarts/crystal heating element. Cooling unit  33 B consist of a removable cooled or frozen grid filled with fluid. Said grid is cooled and frozen in an available freezer. Said cooling unit  33 B is connected to said secondary fan  31  or directly connected to said stationary fan  10  using a universal blank male connector  15 C attached to said unit  33 B. Said male connector is connected to female connector  26 A that is attached to secondary fan  31  and stationary fan  10 . Said cooling unit  33 B includes a condensation water retention chamber  33 C build in and said chamber  33 C collects condensation water. Heating unit  33 A is connected to female connector  26 A which is attached to said secondary fan  31  and fan  10  using male connector  26 B attached to said heating unit  33 A. Said heating unit  33 A is to condition air in terms of temperature to more desired levels to supplement other means of indoor heating. Since air near ceilings has relatively higher temperature than air near floors, the efficiency of heating unit  33 A would be higher. The secondary fan  31  with a self locking universal joint  32  can also be used to manage the direction of the air flow delivered by fan  10  to cover areas where fan  10  can not generate strong enough air circulation alone. FIG. 8 also demonstrates possible combinations of different air quality and quantity improvement devices in a desired order in sandwich construction using a universal connector and its female and male universal connectors. 
     FIG. 9 shows detailed description of portable fan  34  comprising a power source  35  and a motor  36  and blades  37  connected to said motor  36  that is powered by power source  35 . Air quality improvement devices such as an electrostatic filter  38  and a heating unit  40  are attached to said fan  34  using a universal connector such as  39  which includes female and male connectors  39 A and  39 B respectively. Heating unit  40  consist of heating element  41  which is powered by same electric power source  35  which powers fan motor  36 . Universal connector  39  includes female and male connectors for electrical and mechanical connections for air quality devices. FIG. 9 also shows fan  34  which includes portable arm  42 A and stand  42  that is connected to  42 A using rotational joint  43  and stand leg  44  attached to stand  42 . In summary, one or a combination of air quality improvement devices such as electrostatic filter and ionic filter and ozone generator and physical filter and heating unit and cooling unit and a secondary fan are connected to portable fan  34  using a universal connector such as  39 . 
     FIG. 10 shows a side view of a portable fan  34  comprising a cooling unit  45  a power source  35  and a motor  36  and blades  37  connected to said motor  36  that is powered by  35 . Fan  34  includes portable arm  42 A and stand  42  connected to  42 A using rotational joint  43  and stand leg  44  attached to stand  42 . Cooling unit  45  includes a removable grit  46  filled with fluid which is cooled and frozen using an available freezer. FIG. 10 and 11 show a cooling unit  45  attached to a portable fan  34  using slide in-and-out or clip in-and-out connector such as  47 . Connector  47  includes lock  48  to secure grit  46  and a condensation water collection and containment chamber  50  that can be drained as needed. Fluid collection and retention chamber can be designed as a part of grit  46  or as a part of connector  47  depending on the size of the fan  34 . 
     While I have fully shown and described embodiments of my apparatus for universal ceiling fan no limitations as to the scope of the present invention should be implied from the foregoing description. The true scope of the present invention is limited only by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5