Patent ID: 7252807

Claim:
A recirculation system for retaining substantial thermal energy content of air drawn from within a confined environment as part of an exhaust flow which includes gaseous contaminants, the gaseous contaminants of the exhaust flow including carbon monoxide gas, comprising: a collector device located within the confined environment to receive and establish the exhaust flow of contaminants and air from within the confined environment; a cleaner device connected to receive the exhaust flow from the collector device; the cleaner device comprising a scrubber module, a liquid removal module and a filtering and conversion module connected in series through which the exhaust flow passes; the scrubber module including flow passageways through which the exhaust flow passes and into which cleaning liquid is distributed for mixture with and entrainment of contaminants of the exhaust flow; the liquid removal module removing cleaning liquid from the flow from the scrubber module; the filtering and conversion module comprising an odor-removing filter and a catalyst; the odor-removing filter removing odor from the flow from the liquid removal module; the catalyst operating at room temperature to facilitate conversion of the carbon monoxide gaseous contaminants in the flow from the liquid removal module into benign carbon dioxide gaseous constituents; and a delivery device located within the confined environment to receive the flow from the cleaner device and discharge the flow into the confined environment; and wherein the scrubber module further comprises: a baffle-defining structure comprising a plurality of vertically spaced and interdigitated deflection plates which define a serpentine-shaped flow passageway through which the exhaust flow moves generally upward; and a liquid distributor positioned within the passageway of the baffle-defining structure to flow liquid cleaning agent downward through the passageway and generally onto the deflection plates; the baffle-defining structure further comprising a plurality of vertically spaced deflection plates extending generally horizontally in the passageway, each deflection plate having a main portion sloping downward and an outer end lip portion extending from the main portion, vertically adjacent and consecutive deflection plates in the passageway extending in opposite directions with respect to one another, the vertically spaced deflection plates interdigitating with one another, and the lip portions horizontally overlapping the main portion of at least one vertically adjacent deflection plate to form the passageway in a serpentine manner having repeated alternating-direction turns around the lip portions of the deflection plates; and the liquid flows off the lip portion of each deflection plate into and through the exhaust flow turning around the lip portion to mix the exhaust flow and the liquid to entrain the contaminants in the liquid.