Air inlet damper apparatus

Abstract

An air inlet damper apparatus for minimizing the entrance of outside air into a poultry house when the ventilation exhaust fans are running and the radiant tube heater is not operating. The apparatus has a housing with a passage and a coupling flange; a pin that spans the passage and divides the apparatus into a low pressure side and an outside high pressure side, where the low pressure side is in fluid communication with a blower supplying combustion air to the tube heater; a damper blade connected to the pin; a stop; and a means for controlling the damper blade. The controlling means is responsive to pressure. The damper blade pivotally opens away from the stop when there is a static pressure differential that is higher than the negative pressure created by the ventilation exhaust fans, or when the controlling means electromechanically actuates the damper blade.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1) Field of the Invention [0002] The invention relates to an air damper apparatus, and more particularly to an air inlet damper apparatus for tube heaters that are operating in a building that has a negatively fluctuating pressure, wherein the air inlet damper apparatus prevents the entrance of outside air through a tube heater when the tube heater is not operating. [0003] 2) Prior Art [0004] Over the last several years, there has been increasing utilization of tube heaters, and in particular radiant tube heaters for poultry houses. These are propane or natural gas-fired heaters in the shape of long tubular cylinders (pipes) that are usually hung near the ceiling of the house. Several variations of tube heater are available. Radiant heating has some advantages over forced air heat, as has been seen by the adoption of radiant brooders. [0005] Typically, a tube heater is comprised of a burner housed in an enclosure connected to an emitter tube, which...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The invention, furthermore, is a combination tube heater and air inlet damper apparatus, where the combination is in a building equipped with one or more exhaust fans, where the combination is comprised of: the tube heater with a blower for bringing in outside combustion air through the air inlet damper apparatus, where the apparatus has a damper blade and a controlling means. The controlling means substantially prevents the negative pressure inside the poultry house from pulling air from outside through the air inlet spigot and into the conditioned space within the house.

Problems solved by technology

While the exhaust fans are running, the pressure in the house is negative.

The condensation, in turn, will run off onto the floor of the house, which is undesirable because it creates health concerns for the birds.

In addition, the cold air entering the house will reduce the temperature, which increases the cycle frequency of the tube heater, thereby increasing the fuel consumption.

This is undesirable because poultry houses use evaporative cooling pads on the side of the house to reduce the temperature.

The effect of the introduction of hot air is that the exhaust fans will have to run longer to keep the temperature down, thus increasing the energy consumption.

Furthermore, when the heater is operating the air inlet damper cannot restrict the intake of combustion air.

In addressing the problem, there are a number of limitations that add to the complexity of the problem.

The air inlet damper cannot produce a pressure drop at the exhaust of the heater tube that is sufficient to prevent reliable operation of the air proving safety pressure switch.

The environmental conditions inside the poultry house are such that any moving parts exposed to the inside of a poultry house will be directly exposed to dust and moisture, which will collect on the surface and damage or interfere with the normal operation of a motor or a moving component.

Therefore, any exposed moving part must be located in the loft space above the main house space; however, there are access difficulties for both maintenance and installation in the loft.

To operate the electromechanical actuator, an additional circuit will be required adding to the cost and complexity of the installation.

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