A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL OF IN-DOOR VENTILATION

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for control of in-door ventilation in a building having a series of rooms separated by walls. The system includes: at least one air treatment device arranged to treat the air; a plurality of fan units, including a fan and at least one sensor; and a central computing device adapted to collect data from the sensors and control the fans. Each wall is provided with an opening, the fan units are disposed in the openings to provide an air flow transporting air from the first room through the series of rooms to the last room and then back to the first room, and the air treatment device is disposed to treat the air.

Claims

1-20. (canceled)

21. A system (1) for control of in-door ventilation in a building (2) having a series of subsequent rooms (3) separated by walls, and a first room and a last room in the series of rooms are separated by one of the walls, whereby the system comprises: at least one air treatment device (4b) arranged to treat the air in the building, a plurality of fan units (5), wherein each fan unit includes a fan (6) and at least one sensor (7) for sensing at least one property of the air in the building, and a central computing device (20) adapted to collect data from the sensors and to control the fans (6) based on the collected data, whereby each of the walls is provided with at least one opening, the fan units (5) are disposed in the openings in the walls to provide an air flow between subsequent rooms through the openings, whereby the fans are arranged such that the air is transported from the first room through the series of rooms to the last room and then back to the first room, and the air treatment device is disposed so that at least a part of the transported air is treated by the air treatment device, wherein the at least one air treatment device (4b) comprises a plurality of filtering devices (4b) and each of the fan units (5) is provided with one of said filtering device (4b), wherein each fan unit (5) comprises a tube shaped housing (9) and the fan (6) and the at least one sensor (7) are positioned inside the housing, and the system removes particles in a size between 1 pm and 1 mm, and no holes in walls to an outside of the building need to be drilled.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the at least one sensor is positioned on a side of the fan facing away from a side where air enters the fan unit.

23. The system (1) according to claim 21, wherein each wall that separates the rooms contains one fan unit (5).

24. The system according to claim 21, wherein the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the speed of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

25. The system according to claim 21, wherein said fan (6) is bidirectional and the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the direction of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

26. The system according to claim 21, wherein the at least one property of air is selected from the group comprising temperature, moisture, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, smoke, soot, dust, seeds, plant spores, bacteria, fungi, mold, dust mite, smog and water.

27. The system according to claim 21, wherein the at least one sensor (7) is adapted for sensing at least one property related to the quality of the air passing through the fan (6).

28. The system according to claim 21, wherein at least one fan unit (5) further comprises a motion sensor (10).

29. The system according to claim 21, wherein each fan unit (5) comprises a radio unit (22) adapted to communicate with the central computing device (20).

30. The system according to claim 21, wherein the fan (6) and/or the at least one sensor (7) in each fan unit (5) can be turned on or off manually.

31. A system (1) for control of in-door ventilation in a building (2) having a series of subsequent rooms (3) separated by walls, and a first room and a last room in the series of rooms are separated by one of the walls, whereby the system comprises: at least one air treatment device (4) arranged to treat the air in the building, a plurality of fan units (5), wherein each fan unit includes a fan (6), and a central computing device (20) adapted to control the fans (6), whereby each of the walls is provided with at least one opening, the fan units (5) are disposed in the openings in the walls to provide an air flow between subsequent rooms through the openings, whereby the fans are arranged such that the air is transported from the first room through the series of rooms to the last room and then back to the first room, and the air treatment device is disposed so that at least a part of the transported air is treated by the air treatment device, wherein the at least one air treatment device (4b) comprises a plurality of filtering devices (4b) and each of the fan units (5) is provided with one of said filtering device (4b), wherein each fan unit (5) comprises a tube shaped housing (9) and the fan (6) and the at least one sensor (7) are positioned inside the housing, and the system removes particles in a size between 1 pm and 1 mm, and no holes in walls to an outside of the building need to be drilled.

32. A system (1) for control of in-door ventilation in a building (2) having a series of subsequent rooms (3) separated by walls, and a first room and a last room in the series of rooms are separated by one of the walls, whereby the system comprises: at least one air treatment device (4) arranged to treat the air in the building, and a plurality of fan units (5), wherein each fan unit includes a fan (6), whereby each of the walls is provided with at least one opening, the fan units (5) are disposed in the openings in the walls to provide an air flow between subsequent rooms through the openings, whereby the fans are arranged such that the air is transported from the first room through the series of rooms to the last room and then back to the first room, and the air treatment device is disposed so that at least a part of the transported air is treated by the air treatment device, wherein the at least one air treatment device (4b) comprises a plurality of filtering devices (4b) and each of the fan units (5) is provided with one of said filtering device (4b), wherein each fan unit (5) comprises a tube shaped housing (9) and the fan (6) and the at least one sensor (7) are positioned inside the housing, and the system removes particles in a size between 1 pm and 1 mm, and no holes in walls to an outside of the building need to be drilled.

33. The system according to claim 31, wherein the fan (6) in each fan unit (5) can be turned on or off manually.

34. A method for treating in-door air in a building (2) having a series of subsequent rooms (3) separated by walls, and a first room and a last room in the series of rooms are separated by one of the walls, wherein the method comprises the steps of: providing an air flow through the building from the first room through a series of subsequent rooms to the last room and back to the first room by means of fans disposed in at least one opening per wall, treating the transported air to improve the quality of the air by filtering air using a filtering device (4b) comprises a plurality of filtering devices (4b) and each of the fan units (5) is provided with one of said filtering device (4b), wherein each fan unit (5) comprises a tube shaped housing (9) and the fan (6) and the at least one sensor (7) are positioned inside the housing, and the system removes particles in a size between 1 pm and 1 mm, sensing at least one property related to the quality of the air in the openings in the walls, collecting data from the at least one sensor disposed in the opening, and controlling the air flow based on data collected by a central computing device (20), and no holes in walls to an outside of the building need to be drilled.

35. The system (1) according to claim 22, wherein each wall that separates the rooms contains one fan unit (5).

36. The system according to claim 22, wherein the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the speed of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

37. The system according to claim 23, wherein the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the speed of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

38. The system according to claim 22, wherein said fan (6) is bidirectional and the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the direction of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

39. The system according to claim 23, wherein said fan (6) is bidirectional and the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the direction of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

40. The system according to claim 24, wherein said fan (6) is bidirectional and the central computing device (20) is adapted to control the direction of the fan (6) based on the collected data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] The invention will now be explained more closely by the description of different embodiments of the invention and with reference to the appended figures.

[0054] FIG. 1 shows a system according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0055] FIG. 2 shows a schematic overview of the connections between the fan unit and a central computing device.

[0056] FIG. 3. shows a building in which experiment 1 has been conducted.

[0057] FIG. 4 shows a graph from results obtained in experiment 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0058] FIG. 1 shows a system 1 for control of in-door ventilation in a building 2. The building may be any building having one or more floors. The building may be an apartment having one floor. The building has a plurality of rooms 3a-3e. As shown in FIG. 1, the building may have a series of rooms, whereby the rooms are separated by walls. The term “room” encompasses any enclosure in the building, such as hallway, kitchen, closest, and the like. The system comprises at least one air treatment device (4).

[0059] The air treatment device may be an air handling unit 4a arranged in one of the rooms 3. An air handling unit may be defined as an apparatus capable of treating air by sucking in air at one end, treating the air, e.g. using filters, and blowing out or dissipating the air at a second end of the apparatus. The air handling unit 4a may be an air purifier 4a. Normally, the air handling unit has a capacity to treat a certain maximum volume of air. The number of air handling units in the building can be adapted to the capacity of the air handling unit and/or to the quality or pollution of the air to be handled or purified. Examples of air handling units or air purifiers that can be used in the system 1 of the invention are manufactured by BlueAir, Honeywell, Whirlpool and Alen.

[0060] The air treatment device may be a filtering device or filter 4b. The filter is arranged in a fan unit 5 as shown in FIG. 2. One or more fan units may comprise one or more filters.

[0061] Preferably, each fan unit comprises one filter 4b. Suitable filters are filters capable of filtering particles at a size between 1 pm to 10 mm, or 1 nm to 2500 μm, or 100 nm to 5000 μm.

[0062] The system comprises a plurality of fan units 5. The units are arranged between the rooms 3 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The fan units are positioned in openings in walls that separate the rooms 3. The fan units 5 can be positioned in such a way that an air flow, (indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1) is created inside the building. From a first room 3a, the air is pushed by the fans and/or the air handling unit to a second room and from there to a third and then to any subsequent room to a last room. From the last room in the series of rooms, the air is pushed back to the first room. The first and the last room are thus separated by a wall and connected through a fan unit present in said wall. In one embodiment, each wall has one opening. In another embodiment, each wall has one or more openings, such as one, two, three or four openings, whereby the walls comprising more than one opening separate more than one adjacent room. As shown in FIG. 3, room 3b comprises three openings, one between room 3a and room 3b, one between room 3b and room 3c and one between room 3b and room 3d. One of the walls in room 3b thus comprises two openings that connect room 3b to two different rooms, namely room 3c and room 3d. Each opening comprises a fan unit.

[0063] The flow of air passes the at least one air treatment device, where the air is being treated, handled, purified or cleaned. The terms “handle, handling, handled”, “clean, cleaning, cleaned”, “purify, purifying, purified”, “treat”, “treating”, “treated” means removal of properties in air. The terms “treated air”, “clean air”, “handled air” or “purified air” means air comprising an air property (e.g. a level of pollution) below a predetermined level. The term “air with low quality” means air comprising an air quality at or above a predetermined level.

[0064] As shown in FIG. 2, each fan unit 5 includes a fan 6 and at least one sensor 7 for sensing at least one property related to the quality of the air in the building 2. The fan unit may comprise a tube shaped housing 9, whereby the fan 6 and the at least one sensor 7 are positioned inside the housing. The filter 4b may be positioned in the housing or on the front or back side of the housing. An at least partially air-permeable lock 11 may be used on one or both ends of the housing. One or more fans may be mono-directional or bi-directional. The sensor may be positioned on a side of the fan, where air has passed the fan. The sensors may be protected by a cover in order to protect the sensor from dust and moisture. One or more sensors, and one or more different sensors measuring one or more properties of air may be comprised in the housing of a fan unit 5. Further sensors may be present in the building outside the fan unit.

[0065] The fan unit may comprise a motion sensor 10 as shown in FIG. 2. Such a motion sensor may be connected to lighting in the room, such that light is turned ON upon sensing motion in the room and the light is turned OFF after a period without motion in the room. Likewise, the motion sensor may be connected to a sound or alarm device that makes a sound upon sensing motion in the room. The motion sensor may as well send a notice or alarm to the user of a smartphone, tablet and/or computer 26 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0066] The system may be handled manually or automatically. For manual handling a potentiometer could be used. The fan unit may comprise ON/OFF buttons for manual handling of the units. The sensors may also comprise ON/OFF buttons for manual handling of the sensors.

[0067] The operation of the system may be analogue, partially analogue or digital.

[0068] The rotation of the fan 6 is electronically controlled. The electrical power may be provided by an electrical cable connected to the electricity network of the building or a battery. The power and rotation speed of the fan is controlled by a central computing device or server 20. The server 20 also controls the direction of the fan 6.

[0069] The computing device 20 is also connected to the sensors 7 in the fan unit so that data from the sensors can be communicated to the computing device 20. This can for example be done using a radio unit 22. The radio units may support GHz or sub-GHz wireless communication and may be configured to use protocols like ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, WoLAN, Z-wave, EnOcean, Thread, Echonet and Wi-SUN. As shown in FIG. 2, the server 20 may also be connected to and control the air handling unit 4a. The connection between the server 20, the air handling unit 4a, the fans 6 and the sensors 7 may be wired or wireless. Antennas 23 may be used for this connection. Modern systems may rely on standards-based multi-protocol heterogeneous networking, such as that specified in the IEEE 1905.1 standard and verified by the nVoy auditing mark. These accommodates typically use only IP-based networking but can make use of any existing wiring, and also integrate powerline networking over AC circuits, power over Ethernet low power DC circuits, low-bandwidth wireless network, such as ZigBee and Z-wave, high-bandwidth wireless networks, such as LTE and IEEE 802.11n and IEEE 802.11ac.

[0070] A router 24 may be used for wireless communication between the different parts of the system. The system 1 may comprise a computing device 26, such as a smartphone, a tablet and a computer, providing an interface with a user and comprising a display unit, such as a screen, and an input means, such as a keyboard. As shown in FIG. 2, the computing device 26 enables a user of the system to get information from the system and to control the system. An Application on a computing device 26 may be used for establishing a secure connection for the user to the server 20. The server 20 comprises a processing unit 27 for collecting and processing data from the sensors and a memory unit 28. The radio unit 22 as present in the fan unit 5 may also comprise a processor to collect and process data from the sensor or receive commands from the server 20. The radio unit 22 as present in the fan unit 5 may also comprise a memory unit 28 (not shown). Preferably, the system operates continuously.

[0071] The invention also relates to a method for treating, handling or purifying in-door air in a building having a plurality of rooms. The method for treating air in the building 2 may comprise the steps outlined below.

[0072] Step 1. Providing an air flow through the series of subsequent rooms using the fan units disposed in opening in the walls that separate the rooms, such that air is transported from a first room through the series of rooms to a last room and then back to the first room.

[0073] Step 2. Treating the air that is being transported through the building in order to improve the quality of one or more properties in the in-door air. The at least one air treatment device, such as the air handling unit, the air purifier or the filtering devices may be used for this purpose.

[0074] Step 3. Sensing a property of the air in order to determine the quality of the air. Predetermined levels of a property may be used for this purpose.

[0075] Step 4. Collecting data from the sensors. The radio units 22 and the server 20 may be used for this purpose. The collected data will indicate the measured value of an air property.

[0076] Step 5. Controlling the air flow based on the collected date. For example, if the measured value is above the predetermined value of the air property, a signal will be received by the server 20 and a commando will be sent by the server to the radio unit to change the speed and/or direction of the fan 6.

[0077] Examples of air properties that may be measured by the sensors are temperature and moisture, or gases, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, smoke, or other gases, or particles, such as dust, seeds, plant spores, bacteria, viruses, fungi, mold, dust mite, smog, soot, water, and the like.

[0078] Atmospheric particles or other particles may be defined as particulate matter (PM) or particulates having a size of e.g. 2.5 micrometer (μm) (PM2.5). Official pollution reports in polluted area may include results of measured PM2.5 and PM10.

[0079] The system 1 of the invention is preferably capable of removing particles that endanger the health of the people present in the building. The system preferably removed particles in a size between 1 pm and 1 mm, or between 5 nm and 100 μm.

[0080] In one embodiment, the air treatment device 4 is adapted to remove small particles (having a size below 100 μm. The filters 4b are used to remove larger particles (having a size above 99 μm from the air.

Experiment 1

[0081] An experiment was performed to test the system 1 according to the invention. The building, as shown in FIG. 3, comprises five rooms 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e and four fans. The air purifier is positioned in room 3a. The doors between the rooms were open during the experiment.

[0082] In the building, a thick fog of particles was distributed equally over all the rooms at a density of about 9000 μg/m.sup.3. The particle PM2.5 concentration was measured in room 3b using a particle sensor 7a.

[0083] Three different tests were performed.

[0084] Test 1. No fans on and no air purifier on.

[0085] Test 2. No fans on, but the air purifier on.

[0086] Test 3. Fans (without filters) on and air purifier on.

[0087] The results of the tests are shown in the graph of FIG. 4. The y-axis shows the particle PM2.5 concentration measured by the sensor 7a in room 3b. The x-axis shows the time in minutes.

[0088] Comparing the result of Test 2, data 2 to the result of Test 1, data 1, shows a 15 minute improvement for the removal of the air particles. Comparing the result of Test 3, data 3 to the result of Test 1, data 1, shows a 30 minute improvement for the removal of the air particles. Thus, the results clearly show that the air was cleaned quickest when both the fans and the air purifier were used (data 3 from Test 3). The differences between the results of Test 2 and Test 1 versus the differences between the results of Test 3 and Test 1 show a 100% improvement in treatment of air when both the air purifier and the fans are used.

[0089] From these results it follows that results, from an experiment in which filters would be used in the some or all the fan units, with or without simultaneous use of the air purifier, are expected to be the same or even better compared to the results obtained from Test 3. A possible pressure drop due to the position of the filters in the air flow passage way can easily be compensated by changing the speed of the fans.

[0090] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed but may be varied and modified within the scope of the following claims. For example, the housing of the fan units may have another shape, or some sensors may be positioned outside the housing in a different part of the rooms. Further, the air handling unit may be an apparatus that has more than one air quality changing function, e.g. heater/cooler, humidifier/dehumidifier, filtering the air and purifier.