LAMINAR FLOW DIFFUSER WITH INTEGRATED LIGHTING

Abstract

A laminar flow diffuser with integrated lighting has a frame for supporting an air plenum and a lower housing. The air plenum receives conditioned air from a source of conditioned. The lower housing is attached to the bottom of the plenum. An aperture plate damper installed below the top plenum regulates the flow of air from the plenum through the laminar flow diffuser. A clear or translucent engineered, fire rated polymer perforated diffuser face forms the outlet from the lower housing to the room below. LED strips are positioned around the inside periphery of the lower housing. A light guide is installed adjacent the LED lighting strips to spread the light across the area of the perforated diffuser face.

Claims

1. A diffuser with integrated lighting comprising: a. a frame supporting: i. an air plenum for receiving conditioned air from a source of conditioned air; and ii. a lower housing, having a peripheral panel, connected to the air plenum for receiving conditioned air from the air plenum; b. an aperture plate damper mounted below the air plenum to control the flow of conditioned air through the diffuser; c. a clear or translucent perforated diffuser face with openings, the perforated diffuser face forming an outlet from the lower housing to an occupied space below the diffuser; and d. at least one LED lighting strip attached to an inside surface of the peripheral panel above the clear or translucent perforated diffuser face.

2. The diffuser of claim 1, wherein a light guide, with a top surface, a bottom surface, and an edge, is mounted above the perforated diffuser face with the edge closely positioned to the LED lighting strip and wherein the lighting guide has openings between its top surface and bottom surface.

3. The diffuser of claim 2, wherein the light guide has a reflective layer on its top surface.

4. An assembly of diffusers comprising: a. a plurality of diffusers connected together and connected to a single source of conditioned air, each diffuser comprising: i. a frame supporting: (a) an air plenum for receiving conditioned air from the source of conditioned air; and (b) a lower housing, having a peripheral panel, connected to the air plenum for receiving conditioned air from the air plenum; ii. an aperture plate damper mounted below the air plenum to control the flow of conditioned air from the air plenum through the diffuser, the aperture plate having aperture plate openings; iii. a clear or translucent perforated diffuser face with openings, the perforated diffuser face forming an outlet from the lower housing to an occupied space below the diffuser; and iv. at least one LED lighting strip attached to an inside surface of the peripheral panel above the clear or translucent perforated diffuser face; and wherein, the conditioned air delivered to each diffuser is determined by the configuration of the aperture plate damper openings in each diffuser of the assembly.

5. The assembly of claim 4, wherein a light guide, with a top surface, a bottom surface, and an edge, is mounted above the perforated diffuser face with the edge closely positioned to the LED lighting strip and wherein the lighting guide has openings between its top surface and bottom surface.

6. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the light guide has a reflective layer on its top surface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of an individual laminar flow diffuser with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the individual laminar flow diffuser with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

[0015] FIG. 3A is an end elevation section view of the individual laminar flow diffuser with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

[0016] FIG. 3B is an enlarged portion of the end elevation section view of FIG. 3A of the individual laminar flow diffuser with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

[0017] FIG. 4A is a side perspective view of the individual laminar flow diffuser with the perforated face plate removed to expose the light guide.

[0018] FIG. 4B is a bottom plan view of the individual laminar flow diffuser with the perforated face plate removed to expose the light guide.

[0019] FIG. 4C is a bottom perspective view of the light guide and aperture plate damper in accordance with the present invention.

[0020] FIG. 4D is an edge view of the light guide and aperture plate damper in accordance with the present invention.

[0021] FIG. 4E is an enlarged bottom plan view of the individual laminar flow diffuser with the perforated face plate removed to expose the light guide and aperture plate damper in accordance with the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an integrated assembly of eight individual laminar flow diffusers with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 6 is a top plan view the integrated assembly of eight individual laminar flow diffusers with integrated lighting in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0024] FIGS. 1, 2, 3A-B, and 4A-E illustrate an individual laminar flow diffuser 10 of the present invention. The laminar flow diffuser 10 includes a frame 12 that supports a plenum 16 and a lower housing 34. In other embodiments, the plenum 16 and the lower housing 34 may be a single structure divided into two sections. Such laminar flow diffusers 10 generally are dimensioned to fit the standard T-bar ceiling installations and have nominal dimensions of 24 inches×24 inches or 24 inches×48 inches. The laminar flow diffuser 10 is mounted in a T-bar ceiling of an occupied space by means of mounting hooks 14 attached to the frame 12.

[0025] The plenum 16 includes side panels 18, end panels 20, a top panel 22 and an open bottom. The lower housing 34 is attached to the open bottom of the plenum 16. In one embodiment the lower housing 34 has a peripheral panel comprising housing side panels 35 and housing end panels 36. The peripheral panel, however, may in other embodiments be a continuous panel or have additional panels. The plenum 16 and the lower housing 34 are separated from each other by an aperture plate damper 38 that regulates the flow of air from the plenum 16 into the lower housing 34.

[0026] A clear or translucent engineered fire rated polymer perforated diffuser face 28 is connected to the bottom of the lower housing 34. The polymer perforated diffuser 28 face is made of ⅛″ thick polycarbonate and perforated with openings 30 to produce 13% to 23% free (open) area. The perforated diffuser face 28 allows conditioned air to flow freely into the room below with minimal pressure drop and allows for adequate flow equalization across the perforated face 28 thereby producing ideal laminar air flow characteristics in the room below. The translucent perforated diffuser face 28 is attached to the bottom of the frame 12 by means of quick release fasteners or threaded bolts 40 so that the perforated diffuser face 28 can be removed for maintenance and cleaning. While the illustrated diffuser has a flat rectangular perforated diffuser face 28, the diffuser of the present invention is not limited to such a flat rectangular perforated diffuser face and may incorporate other embodiments of diffuser outlets well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0027] A series of LED lighting strips 32 are attached to the inside of the housing side panels 35 and housing end panels 36 of the lower housing 34 by means of LED light strip mounts 33 (FIG. 3B). The LED lighting strips 32 shine through the clear or translucent perforated diffuser face 28 to provide light to the room below.

[0028] With reference to FIGS. 3A-B and 4A-E, a light guide 42 is used to equalize (spread) the light emitted from the LED lighting strips 32 evenly across the area of the perforated diffuser face 28 of the laminar flow diffuser 10. The light guide 42 comprises a clear acrylic sheet 45 with a reflective layer consisting of a metal sheet 44 mounted on top of the acrylic sheet 45. In other embodiments, the reflective layer may be a reflective coating used in place of the reflective metal sheet 44 to form the reflective layer. The light guide 42 has an edge 47. Particularly, the clear acrylic sheet 45 transmits maximum light along its entire lower surface due to the 92% luminance transmittance rating. The light guide 42 is perforated with light guide openings 43 to allow for 8% to 13% free (open) area to allow air flow to pass through the light guide 42, in combination with the aperture plate damper 38 to provide adequate back pressure for air flow equalization within the common plenum, and to minimize pressure drop. The reflective metal sheet 44 reflects the light transmitted through the acrylic sheet 45 downward toward the perforated diffuser face 28 and prevents light from being emitted inefficiently from the top of the acrylic sheet 45 away from the translucent perforated diffuser face 28.

[0029] The light guide 42 is mounted on light guide mountings 49 and is spaced above the perforated diffuser face to define an air space 48. The light guide 42 is mounted with its edges 47 in close proximity to the LED strips 32, in the same plane as the LED strips 32, above the perforated diffuser face 28, and parallel to the perforated diffuser face 28. The light produced by the LED strips 32 passes into the edges 47 of the light guide acrylic sheet 45. The light guide 42 fully equalizes (spreads) the light within the laminar flow diffuser 10 before the light is emitted from the perforated diffuser face 28 of the laminar flow diffuser 10. As shown in FIG. 3B, the light guide 42 are positioned directly above, and parallel to the perforated diffuse face 28, in order to allow the maximum amount of light transfer from the LED strips 32 to the clear or translucent perforated diffuser face 28 and thereby provide a high quality, equalized and even light to be emitted from the laminar flow diffuser. FIGS. 4A-B show the light guide 42 mounted in the lower housing 34. FIG. 4D shows the edge 47 of the light guide 42, the acrylic sheet 45, the top mounted reflective metal sheet 44, the light guide openings 43, and the aperture plate damper 38 positioned directly above the reflective sheet 44. FIG. 4E shows the light guide 42 backed by the aperture plate damper 38. As shown in FIG. 4E, the aperture plate damper 38 with openings 41 can be slid with respect to the light guide 42 (left to right in FIG. 4E) so that the light guide openings 43 can be constricted by the aperture plate damper 38 to thereby control the flow of conditioned air from the plenum 16 to the perforated diffuser face 28.

[0030] FIGS. 6-7 illustrate an integrated assembly of eight individual laminar flow diffusers 10a-h connected together. Such an integrated assembly can provide a large well lighted work area where the amount of entrained residual room air is reduced. Each of the individual laminar flow diffusers 10a-h is supplied with conditioned air from a source of conditioned air through top or side inlets 26e-h (FIGS. 6 and 7). Where conditioned air is supplied to the inlets 26e-h from a single conditioned air source, the need to balance the air flowing through the individual laminar flow diffusers may be required. The air flowing to the plenums for the individual laminar flow diffusers is internally equalized as a result of back pressure created by the light guide 42 and the aperture plate damper 38 within each laminar flow diffuser 10a-h. Balancing the air flow from each laminar flow diffuser 10a-h is accomplished by means of the face adjustable aperture plate dampers 38 installed in each laminar flow diffuser 10a-h. Electrical power is provided to each LED strip through a LED driver located in an electrical enclosures 24a-h on the top of the air plenum.

[0031] While this invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that variations and modifications can be affected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described herein and as described in the appended claims.