APPARATUS TO AID IN MITIGATION OF RADON AND OTHER SOIL GASES

Abstract

Presented is an apparatus for radon and other soil gas mitigation. The apparatus includes an outer sleeve substantially cylindrical in shape and formed using one or multiple modular structures having foldable flaps with openings. The apparatus further includes a lid for closure of a top opening of the outer sleeve. The lid includes pipe flange(s) configured thereon for allowing a suction pipe to connect at its one end. During operation, other end of the suction pipe is operationally connected to operating inline fan which when operated exerts maximum negative pressure on the surrounding soil to entrain various soil gases that needs to be drawn out of the soil gas prone site (Eg. building).

Claims

1. An apparatus (100) adapted to aid in the mitigation of various soil gases, comprising: an outer sleeve (102) with a top opening (102e), and a bottom opening (102f), wherein the outer sleeve (102) is configured using at least one modular structure (102d-102d) that comprises a plurality of flaps (103), each of the plurality of flaps (103) being hingedly connected to one another and comprising a plurality of openings (104) configured thereon; and a lid (105) configured for closure of the top opening (102e) of the outer sleeve (102), wherein the lid (105) comprising at least one pipe flange (107a, 107b) configured thereon for allowing a suction pipe (109) to get connected thereto.

2. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of flaps (103) are foldably attached to one another so that during the assembly of apparatus (100), the plurality of flaps (103) can be folded and the at least one modular structure (102a-102d) can be configured to form the outer sleeve (102) or can be interconnected with another modular structure (102a-102d) to form the outer sleeve (102).

3. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the at least one modular structure (102a-102d) comprising a first extreme flap (103a) having a plurality of locking tabs (103f) extending outward from an end of the first extreme flap (103a).

4. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the at least one modular structure (102a-102d) comprising a second extreme flap (103e) having a plurality of locking tab retainers (103g) configured at an outer surface for receiving the plurality of locking tabs (103f) of the extreme flap (103a) of the same or other modular structures (102a-102d) that interconnect to form the outer sleeve (102).

5. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the at least one modular structure (102a-102d) comprising a plurality of intermediate flaps (103b-103d) having at least one hook member (103h) configured at a top end (T) of each of the intermediate flaps (103b-103d); and a set of support members 103i configured on a bottom end (B) of the intermediate flaps (103b-103d). wherein, during the assembly of one or more modular structures (102a-102d) to form the outer sleeve (102), the at least one hook member (103h) would hook onto an edge formation (103j) formed at the bottom end (B) of the intermediate flaps (103b-103d).

6. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the plurality of openings (104) are at least circular in shape, elongated and rectangular in shape, square in shape, oval in shape, or present in a combination thereof.

7. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the lid (105) is removably or fixedly configured for closure of the top opening (102e) of the outer sleeve (102).

8. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the at least one pipe flange (107a, 107b) may be integrally formed on the lid (105) or may be removably attached on a top surface (105) of the lid (105).

9. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the suction pipe (109) is suitably sized to connect to the at least one pipe flange (107a, 107b) at one end and to an operating inline fan at its another end to allow for maximum negative pressure to be exerted on the surrounding soil to entrain various soil gases to be drawn out of the soil gas prone site.

10. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the outer sleeve (102) is cylindrical in shape.

11. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the plurality of openings (104) are uniformly or non-uniformly distributed over the body of the plurality of flaps (103) forming the outer sleeve (102).

12. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein each of the pipe flange (107a, 107b) includes an opening (not seen) sealed using a breakable seal (107c) formed as an integral part of the top surface (105a) of the lid (105).

13. The apparatus (100) of claim 1 further comprising a cap (not seen) suitably sized to cover opening of the pipe flange (107a, 107b) that needs removed before connecting suction pipe (109) to the pipe flange (107a or 107b) for drawing radon or other harmful gases out of the soil.

14. The apparatus (100) of claim 1 further comprising a wire mesh (106) attached to interior of the outer sleeve (102) covering the plurality of openings (104), wherein the wire mesh (106) allows the soil gases to be drawn into the outer sleeve (102) and prevent soil or other debris from entering the outer sleeve (102).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The foregoing summary and the following detailed description of preferred embodiments are better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. There is shown in the drawings example of embodiments, however, the application is not limited to the specific system and method disclosed in the drawings.

[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus, in use, for the mitigation of radon and other soil gases in buildings or other site locations, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 for the mitigation of radon and other soil gases in buildings or other site locations.

[0020] FIG. 3 shows a front perspective view of a single modular structure used to form an outer sleeve of the apparatus of FIG. 2.

[0021] FIG. 4 shows a back perspective view of the modular structure of FIG. 3.

[0022] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a lid configurable on the outer sleeve of the apparatus of FIG. 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 6 illustrates an exploded view of the outer sleeve of the apparatus of FIG. 2.

[0024] FIG. 7 illustrates an exploded view of the apparatus of FIG. 2.

[0025] FIG. 8 illustrates a side view of the apparatus for the mitigation of radon and other soil gases in buildings or other site locations, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] FIG. 9 illustrates a side view of the apparatus for the mitigation of radon and other soil gases in buildings or other site locations, according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] FIG. 10 illustrates an exploded view of the apparatus of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Some embodiments, illustrating its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open-ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods and systems similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments, the preferred methods, and systems are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary.

[0029] The various features and exemplary embodiments of the present invention for a modular apparatus or device for the mitigation of radon and other similar soil gases will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying figures, namely FIGS. 1-10.

[0030] Referring to FIGS. 1-7, the device 100 for radon and similar soil gases mitigation includes an outer sleeve 102. The soil gases for the purpose of this application include but are not limited to radioactive gases and gases such as methane from decomposing organic matter or landfills, hydrocarbons from underground fuel spills, pesticides that have been used around buildings, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), water vapor.

[0031] The outer sleeve 102 according to an embodiment is made substantially cylindrical in shape. Typically, the outer sleeve 102 of the apparatus needs to be about 22 inches or 23 inches in diameter for satisfactory abatement of the radon and other similar harmful gases. In an embodiment, as shown, the outer sleeve 102 is formed using one or more modular structures 102a-102d. In a preferred embodiment presented in this disclosure, four such modular structures 102a-102d are shown interconnected to form the outer sleeve 102 of apparatus 100. However, it should be understood that the outer sleeve 102 may also be configured using a single modular structure or two such modular structures or even three such modular structures, or even more than 4 such modular structures, one just needs to customize the dimension and/or size of the modular structure being used for forming the outer sleeve 102.

[0032] Each of the modular structures 102a-102d, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 include a plurality of flaps 103a-103e (hereinafter collectively referred to as 103). The flaps 103 are foldably attached to one another so that during the assembly of apparatus 100, the flaps 103 can be folded and the structures 102a-102d are interconnected to form the cylindrical-shaped outer sleeve 102. In an embodiment, each of the modular structures 102a-102d may be 11 inches in width and 50 inches in length (L). However, it should be understood that this dimension 11 inches×50 inches of the modular structure can be customized as per design requirements.

[0033] As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 along with FIGS. 2, 6, and 7, some of the flaps 103a-103e forming the modular structure 102a-102d may vary in size, typically widthwise. In a particular embodiment as shown, the flaps 103b-103d are shown in identical size (having width W1) whereas the extreme flaps 103a and 103e are represented in identical size (with width W2) and differ in width compared to the flaps 103b-103d by W1-W2. However, it should be understood that the number of flaps forming the modular structure 102a-102d can vary and also dimension of each of the flaps 103b-103d forming the modular structure 102a-102d can vary (they all can be identical in size or width, or some of the flaps might be identical and some may not (as in the current example) or all of those may vary in dimension in widthwise). As seen, each of the flaps 103a-103e is hingedly connected to the subsequent flap, for example, the flap 103a is hingedly connected to flap 103b, likewise, flap 103b is hingedly connected to the flap 103c, and so on. The hinged connection ‘H’ may be a living hinged connection or some suitable mechanical hinge connection. As would be understood by those skilled in the art, a living hinge is a thin section of material using which the flaps of the modular structure 102a-102d are formed. Additionally, as seen, the first extreme flap 103a of each of the modular structures 102a-102d comprises a plurality of locking tabs 103f configured at its one end extending outward while the flap 103a is hingedly connected to the flap 103b at its other end. Further, the second extreme flap 103e of each of the modular structures 102a-102d comprises a plurality of locking tab retainers 103g configured at its outer surface for receiving the plurality of locking tabs 103f of the extreme flap 103a of the same modular structure or other modular structures that interconnect to form the outer sleeve 102 of the apparatus 100.

[0034] Further, as seen in FIGS. 3, 4, 6, and 7, the intermediate flaps 103b-103d include at least one hook member 103h configured on a top end T of the intermediate flaps 103b-103d. In the given embodiment, although only one hook member 103 is shown configured on the top end T of the flaps 103b-103d, it should be understood that more than one such hook member may exist instead of just one as shown in the accompanying figures. Additionally, the intermediate flaps 103b-103d may further include a set of support members 103i (two or more than two) configured on a bottom end B of the intermediate flaps 103b-103d. During the assembly of the modular structures 102a-102d to form the outer sleeve 102, the hook member 103h would hook/engage onto an edge formation 103j formed at the bottom end B of the flaps 103b-103d. In an embodiment, the edge formation 103j is configured at the back/rear side of each of the modular structures 102a-102d. Specifically, the edge formation 103j is present at all sides or selected sides of the flaps 103a-103e. The edge formation 103j includes a predefined width to allow the hook member 103h to engage thereto. As seen, the edge formation 103j may run all along the length L of the modular structure or along the lengths L1-L5 of each of the flaps 103a-103e (FIG. 4). The set of supports members 103i of each of the intermediate flaps 103b-103d would support the engagement of one modular structure with the other modular structures (engagement due to hook member 103h with the edge formation 103j) when multiple modular structures are engaged along the Y axis to form outer sleeve 102 of desired height.

[0035] In an embodiment, the outer sleeve 102 may have a uniform diameter D1 throughout its height ‘h’ with a top opening 102e and a bottom opening 102f. The outer sleeve 102 may be made of other shapes too such as a cuboidal shape. The outer sleeve 102 may be made of plastic, an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material, or any other suitable material that may not degrade while coming in contact with the soil.

[0036] The modular structures 102a-102d (specifically each of the flaps 103a-103e) forming the outer sleeve 102 include a plurality of openings 104. The openings 102c may be uniformly or non-uniformly distributed over the body of the flaps 103a-103e forming the modular structures 102a-102d. The openings 104 may be circularly shaped (as shown in FIGS. 1-7) or square-shaped (as shown in FIG. 8). In an embodiment, the openings 104 may be formed in ½-inch diameter or ⅝-inch diameter. However, it should be understood, the openings 104 may also be differently sized. Although the embodiments presented herein show the openings 104 in the circular form or square form, it should be understood that the openings 104 may be configured in any other shapes such as polygonal, oval, elongated rectangular shape and so on and even different combinations of shapes for the openings 104 may be used.

[0037] According to some embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the interior of the outer sleeve 102 may be covered by a wire mesh 106. The wire mesh 106 may be attached to the interior of the outer sleeve 102 using screws, other suitable fasteners, or adhesives. The wire mesh 106 may be about ¼×¼″ or of some other suitable dimension. The purpose of the wire mesh 106 is to allow the soil gases such as radon to be drawn into the sleeve 102 and prevent soil or other debris from entering the inside the sleeve 102. The soil gases (indicated by arrows in FIG. 1) entering the interior of the sleeve 102 through the openings 104 is then exhausted out of the soil gases prone building or similar sites via a suction pipe 109 using an operating inline fan (not seen) connected to the suction pipe 109.

[0038] The outer sleeve's 102 top opening 102e is covered by a lid 105. In an embodiment, the lid 105 may be fixedly configured on the outer sleeve 102 to cover the top opening 102e. In a preferred embodiment, the lid 105 may be removably configured on the outer sleeve 102 to cover the top opening 102e. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 7, the hook members 103h configured on the top end T of the intermediate flaps 103b-103d of the modular structures 102a-102d engage within a plurality of hook retaining slots 105b formed on the lid 105. As seen in FIG. 5, the lid 105 also includes upward extending wall 105 surrounding a top surface 105a of the lid 105. The lid 105 further comprises one or more pipe flanges 107a, 107b as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. The pipe flanges 107a, and 107b may be made of standard dimensions based on the suction pipe 109 used throughout the industry. In an exemplary embodiment, the pipe flange 107a may be 3″ in diameter whereas the pipe flange 107b may be 4″ in diameter. In the embodiment shown herein, the lid 106 is shown to include two pipe flanges 107a, 107b of different dimensions (3″ or 4″) to facilitate the user to connect the suction pipe 109 to either of one for mitigating the soil gas therethrough once the inline fan is operational. However, it should be understood that the lid 105 may embody just one pipe flange 107a or 107b or pipe flange of any other dimensions. The pipe flanges 107a, 107b may be integrally formed on the top surface 105a of the lid 105, or the pipe flanges 107a, 107b may be removably attached on the lid 106. The suction pipe 109 is suitably sized to fit the pipe flanges 107a, 107b at one end. The other end of the suction pipe 109 usually has an operating inline fan (not seen) that would suck the soil gases out of the suction pipe 109.

[0039] According to an embodiment, an opening (not seen) of each of the pipe flanges 107a, 107b is initially sealed using a breakable seal 107c. The breakable seal 107c is formed as an integral part of the top surface 105a of the lid 105. In another embodiment, the apparatus 100 may include a cap (not seen) suitably sized to cover opening of the pipe flanges 107a, 107b instead of having the breakable seal 107c that you need to cut/break before connecting suction pipe 109 to the flanges 107a or 107b for drawing radon or other harmful gases out of the soil.

[0040] During the process of radon or other soil gas mitigation from a building (for example) having a basement area. The basement area usually comprises foundation walls and a basement slab. If the building is in an area where radon or soil gases are present, radon (or other soil gases) from the soil under and surrounding building may infiltrate into basement area and may subsequently accumulate to dangerous levels in the building, especially in the basement area. As a first step, after the detection of the presence of radon or other soil gases, a core cutting in the basement area of building or a specific site location is done using known processes. The slab core is typically made 5-6″ in diameter. The material/soil present below the slab is then excavated through the core to form a hollow pit. The apparatus 100 in disassembled form or in the modular form is inserted into the hollow pit or crawlspace and then assembled thereinside such that the bottom opening 102f of the apparatus 100 comes in contact with the base of the hollow pit and the apparatus 100 is fully immersed into the pit. The entire apparatus 100 is buried under the ground including the top as seen in FIG. 1. There would be at least 6″ of soil on top of the device 100. The breakable seal 107c covering the pipe flange 107a or 107b that needs to be used is broken. The other flange's breakable seal 107c is left unbroken. The flange 107a or 107b for which the breakable seal 107c is broken is connected to the suction pipe 109 at one end. The other end of the suction pipe 109 is then passed through the building and left outside the building. The other end of the suction pipe 109 also include an operational inline fan (not seen) which when operated allows for maximum negative pressure to be exerted on the surrounding soil to entrain various soil gases such as radon gas that would then pass out of the building through the suction pipe 109. When the inline fan is operated the solid gases tend to get drawn towards the outer sleeve 102 of the device 100 and enter into the outer sleeve 102 through the openings 104. Any undesired debris and soil particles are prevented to get into the sleeve 102 due to the low-profile bare openings 104 or the wire mesh 106 that acts as a barrier for these debris and soil particles.

[0041] It should be understood that the various components of the various embodiments of the apparatus 100 or 200 or 300 of the present invention are similar and interchangeable. It is obvious to the one skilled in the art that the various components of the 100 or 200 or 300 of one embodiment of the present invention could be considered for other embodiments with little or no variation. Further, the apparatus 100 and associated components thereof such as outer sleeve 102 formed using the modular structures 102a-102d, wire mesh b, lid 105, pipe flanges 107a,107b, etc. may be made using various materials and in many different dimensions. The material and dimensional variations of the apparatus 100 and associated components thereof should not be considered to be a limiting factor for the purpose of this disclosure.

[0042] It should be understood according to the preceding description of the present invention that the same is susceptible to changes, modifications, and adaptations and that the said changes, modifications and adaptations fall within scope of the appended claims.