Chilled Beam Air Conditioning System

Abstract

An improved chilled beam refrigeration and / or air conditioning systems uses a first chilled air flow to induce a second chilled air flow. Ambient air is drawn through first coils to produce a primary cooled air flow into an intake plenum on the suction side of a fan. The primary cooled air is drawn from the intake plenum, through the fan, and is exhausted into a discharge plenum at a positive pressure. Discharge nozzles along discharge face(s) of the discharge plenum direct the primary cooled air outward inducing a negative pressure in an area behind (or above) second coils. The negative pressure induces additional ambient air to be drawn through the second coils and cooled to provide additional cooled air. The additional cooled air mixes with the primary cooled air providing a larger refrigeration and / or air conditioning effect which would otherwise require additional motorized fans.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to refrigeration and / or air conditioning systems and in particular to chilled beam refrigeration and / or air conditioning systems.[0002]Conventional refrigeration and / or air conditioning systems include a central forced air unit with a fan circulating air through coils of an evaporator. The evaporator receives a flow of fluid refrigerant which evaporates into a vapor refrigerant flow out of the evaporator and thereby drops in temperature. The air circulated through the evaporator is cooled and then circulated throughout a house or other structure to provide a flow of cooled air into various areas of the structure. Unfortunately, significant energy is required to circulate the cooled air throughout the structure.[0003]Chilled beam refrigeration systems replace the circulation of the cooled air with circulation of cooled fluid. The cooled fluid is circulated through a radiator (or heat exchanger), generally at a high point ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing an improved chilled beam refrigeration and / or air conditioning systems which uses a first chilled air flow to induce a second chilled air flow. Ambient air is drawn through first coils to produce a primary cooled air flow into an intake plenum on the suction side of a fan. The primary cooled air is drawn from the intake plenum, through the fan, and is exhausted into a discharge plenum at a positive pressure. Discharge nozzles along discharge face(s) of the discharge plenum direct the primary cooled air outward inducing a negative pressure in an area behind (or above) second coils. The negative pressure induces additional ambient air to be drawn through the second coils and cooled to provide additional cooled air. The additional cooled air mixes with the primary cooled air providing a larger refrigeration effect which would otherwise require additional motorized fans.

[0013]In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, there is provided an improved chilled beam unit having controls to modulate the coil temperature in relation to the dew point level of the room to prevent condensation.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, significant energy is required to circulate the cooled air throughout the structure.

These devices may or may not utilize drain pans to catch condensate in the event that the dewpoint of the coil is lower than that of the surrounding room.

Unfortunately, while energy savings result from circulating liquid state fluid instead of air, the air flow through the radiator is often less than the optimal air flow for cooling the room.

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