Vertical self-contained air conditioner

Abstract

An apparatus for cooling air that utilizes a reservoir that may be filled with low temperature substances or other cooled liquid or solid material. The reservoir is thoroughly insulated and contains a vertical air duct where the air duct utilizes a battery powered fan capable of drawing in warm air from outside of the base unit and cooling it by passing it over thermally conductive fins embedded within the duct in a turbulent fashion and expelling it back into the surrounding environment. The entire unit may be secured to the rear of a seat or chair to allow the person sitting to rest in comfort despite being surrounded by uncomfortable environment with a high ambient temperature.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to portable air conditioning units and specifically for use as attachments to the rear of chairs or seats. Specifically, the air conditioning unit cools the surrounding air by ingesting ambient air, and cooling it by fanning the air across a surface area of a thermally conductive material. The thermally conductive material is in direct contact with a cooled substance having a temperature that is much lower than the surrounding air. By doing so, that the surface area temperature approaches that of the liquid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Outdoors seating, whether in an open-air stadium, at a park, or on a patio is often subject to extreme temperatures during the summer months. It is desirable to be seated in air-conditioned comfort regardless of the temperature. One approach to address the problem would be to install a portable air conditioner on the rear of the seat capable of providing a personal cooling system.

The main problem with manufacturing a portable air conditioning unit is cost. Most air conditioning units are very expensive, bulky, contain elements that are potentially harmful to the environment, and often require an AC external power source to operate. An air conditioning unit that is small and efficient enough to operate on its own power source and be secured to a seat would be highly desirable. The present invention addresses each of those obstacles using a device that ingests ambient air into a thermally conductive path containing fins that are cooled by a reservoir containing substances cooled to a low temperature. It is desirable that ice is used, but any chilled substance would be permissible.

It is known in the prior art that the use of frozen liquids, namely ice, can be used to cool ambient air when the air is fanned across the surface area of the ice or other conducting surface areas that come in contact with the frozen liquids. When the ambient air contacts a low-temperature surface area, the air is instantly cooled several degrees. However, many of these prior art systems do not efficiently lower the temperature of the air as the present invention is capable of doing.

The present invention addresses the efficiency concerns by providing a portable air conditioning unit that cools the surrounding air near a seat for use in warm environments. The present invention makes use of a portable apparatus that includes a reservoir for cooled liquid or ice that surrounds an air duct. The air duct receives ambient air on one end and expels it into the general area at the top of the seat. The reservoir should be insulated as much as possible from the ambient air temperature.

The air duct contains a series of fins that are assembled so they are in contact with other thermally conducting fins outside of the air duct and exposed to the contents of the reservoir. This creates a heat exchange system designed to maximize the exposure of the air to the exposed surface area of the fins in the air duct. The only air that is cooled is the air that comes in direct contact with the fins in the air duct.

The entire external surface of the unit should be heavily insulated in order to prevent unwanted heat from coming into contact with the reservoir's contents. When the reservoir is filled with cold liquid or ice, the exposed surface area of the fins is cooled to the temperature of the reservoir's contents. The air duct is connected on one side by an air intake chamber and by an air exhaust chamber on the other. Warm air is drawn into the intake chamber from a battery-powered variable-speed motorized fan that creates a vacuum in the chamber. The fan then pushes the warm air through the air duct and is dehumidified and cooled when it contacts the exposed surface area of the fins that extrude either in a louvre or coil style relative to the surface of the air duct. The fins provide resistance and vary the direction of the air thereby creating turbulence. The temperature from within the reservoir is transferred down through the outer fins which indirectly come in contact with the fins inside the air duct. The turbulence greatly enhances the thermal conductive capacity of the system so that the heat transfer can occur at an efficient rate and maximizes the time that the temperature of the exposed surface of the reservoir remains cold. The turbulent air molecules bounce off of the adjacent surface areas of the inner fins as they move up the air duct. The cooled air is then propelled into an exhaust chamber where it is thrust into the external environment and may be used to generally cool a surrounding area of the seat.

Over a period of time while low temperature substances come in contact with the surface of the fins that are exposed to the interior of the reservoir or container, a narrow region next to the surface of the heat exchanger exists where the velocity of the fluid is zero and rapidly changes to a finite number as the distance from the surface increases. This is known as the boundary layer. The fluid's velocity is zero due to a variety of factors ranging from molecular attraction to surface tension to friction. When a boundary layer forms, it may prevent the surface area of the fins from efficient thermal conductivity between the inner reservoir to the surface area of the fins. This lack of conduction is due to the layer of insulation the boundary layer creates from the fluid directly adjacent to the exposed surface of the heat exchanger. The present invention helps reduce the negative affects of the boundary layer on the efficiency of the system.

Another feature of the apparatus is that the airflow may be directed by means of a nozzle, which is attached to the exhaust valve of the unit. It is also understood that to a person of reasonable skill in the art that the underlying claimed invention for a portable air conditioner can be utilized in other applications such as seating for automobiles, boats, RVs, trucks, or any similar application.

Discussion of the Prior Art

The use of air conditioners is known in the prior art. More specifically, air conditioners that cool the surrounding air that exchange heat while passing outside air over cooled surfaces is discussed in the prior art. Other similar portable air conditioning devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,427,476; 6,227,004; 6,119,477; 5,953,933; 5,062,281; 5,046,329; and 4,841,742 and 5,724,824.

While these devices aim to function as air conditioners, and while each invention disclosed in the respective patents may disclose a feature of the present invention, none of the above-listed patents disclose the combination of features in the present invention either individually or in combination with each other in such a way that it would have been obvious to do so at the time the present invention was conceived.

In addition, there is a need in the art for a device which can function as a portable air conditioner when secured to the rear of a seat that maximizes the time that ambient air may be cooled to a temperature much lower than the ambient air temperature. Furthermore, there is a need to acomplish these tasks utilizing a removable cooling source in combination with a directed application of the cooled air. A device of this type is disclosed by the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable air conditioner that utilizes a motorized fan to ingest outside air and cool it by passing the air over the surface area of thermally-conductive fins in an air duct before propelling the cooled-air back into the environment.

It is a further object of the present invention to minimize the temperature of cooled air by passing the air through a turbulent environment with an air duct.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of cooling outside air that efficiently ingests outside air, and cools it by passing the outside air in a turbulent manner over and through a cooled surface area within an air duct and expelling the cooled air into the environment.

It is a further object of the present invention to utilize a series of fins secured generally perpendicular to an air duct capable of transferring the temperature inside a reservoir to additional conducting fins inside the air duct.

It is a further object of the present invention to maximize the efficiency of heat exchange by minimizing the effects of the formation of a boundary layer on the thermally-conductive material.

It is a further object of the present invention to use the portable air conditioner in conjunction with a chair or seat such that the air conditioner can be switched on whenever a person is seated in the chair.

The description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings should not be construed as limiting the invention to the example shown and described, because those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains will be able to devise other forms thereof within the ambit of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the air conditioner apparatus attached to the rear portion of a chair;

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the air conditioner apparatus attached to the rear portion of a chair with a cross-sectional view of the air conditioner;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the air conditioning apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the exploded view of the air conditioning apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a top view showing the exploded view of the air conditioning apparatus.

FIG. 5A is a top view of the air duct unit showing the inner duct using coil style fins;

FIG. 5B is a top view of the air duct unit showing the inner duct using Louvre style fins;

FIG. 6 is an alternate embodiment of the air conditioning unit showing a solid wall separating a vertical series of fins in a rectangular shaped air duct.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the inner portion of the air conditioning unit demonstrating how the air flows through the unit from bottom to top.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the device showing while filled with a chilled substance.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

By way of one example of many to serve as background in understanding the present invention, FIG. 1 shows a portable air conditioner 200 secured to the rear of a chair 200. The air conditioner 200 is secured to the rear of a chair 210. When an individual sits in the chair 210, the air conditioner 200 ingests ambient air 390 into the air conditioner 200, cools it, and expels it from nozzle 205 in the general vicinity of the person seated in the chair 210. Fig. 1A shows a cross section of the air conditioner 200 where the ambient air flow 390 is drawn into the air conditioner 200 by means of an electric powered fan 217 within the lower portion of the air conditioner 200.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show an exploded view of the air conditioner 200. An air duct 350 is shown. The air duct 350 is generally in the shape of an elongated cylinder. However, the air duct 350 is not limited to cylinders and can be formed in any suitable shape that allows air to flow from a lower portion to an upper portion of the air conditioner 200. The air duct 350 includes a tubular wall 380 that spans the entire length of the air duct 350. The wall 380 is generally hollow to allow air to flow from the lower end to the upper end of the wall 380. The wall 380 is surrounded by a series of fins 360 formed perpendicular to the wall 380 such that the fins 360 penetrate the wall 380 and make direct contact with a series of inner fins 370. The inner fins 370 shown in FIG. 2 are in a Louvre arrangement such that the inner fins 370 are all parallel to each other. The inner fins 370 are secured to the inner portion of the wall 380 along the entire length of the air duct 350. An airflow intake valve 390 is secured to the lower end of the air duct 350 directly to the wall 380 so that the entire circumference of the wall 380 is surrounded by the valve 390.

A reservoir 305 consists of three parts: a rear bin 320, a front bin 330, and a cap 300. These three parts when connected together form the reservoir 305 that will hold frozen liquid as shown in FIG. 8. The front ice bin 330 includes a hole 332 for receiving the valve 390. The cap 300 is secured to the top of the two bins 320 and 330 so that an expulsion valve 310 is located directly over the circumference of the wall 380 on the top portion of the duct 350. Air that is ingested into the duct 350 through the valve 340 travels up the duct 350 while coming into direct contact with the surface area of the inner fins 370 and then is expelled through the expulsion valve 310 as shown at 400. As also shown in FIG. 1A, an aromatic cartridge 206 can be secured within the nozzle 205 to provide a pleasant scent to the surrounding area. A switch may be used to direct the air through either an aromatic pathway in the nozzle 205 or an alternate pathway to prevent the scent from being added to the airflow 390.

FIG. 4 shows a top exploded view of the reservoir 305. The inner fins 370 are shown in an alternate coiled arrangement. The outer fins 360 come into contact with the inner fins 370 on the outer ring of the coil. The coil then wraps around to a center point at 372. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the ambient air 390 is ingested into the valve 340 and then travels from the lower end of the duct 350 along the surface area of the coiled fins 370 and is then expelled through the top portion of the coils at 400. FIGS. 5A and 5B show the alternate arrangement of the inner fins 370.

As shown in FIG. 8, the air conditioner works using the reservoir 305 as a container for storing a liquid or solid whose temperature is substantially colder than the air temperature outside of the air conditioner 200 such as ice. The reservoir 305 is highly insulated on all sides. It is a primary goal for the outer fins 360 to obtain, and subsequently retain, the same temperature of the liquid or solid inside of the reservoir 305 for as long as possible, and to remain in constant contact with the inner fins 370 thereby cooling the inner fins 370 to the temperature of the contents 375 inside the reservoir 220. The surface area of the inner fins 370 is used to cool any air that comes into contact with the surface area.

As shown in FIG. 7, air flow 390 from outside of the air conditioner 200 is drawn into the air intake valve 340 by means of a high-speed electric motor 217 that may be powered by a battery or an AC/DC power source. The motor 217 turns a rotating fan 218 in a manner that creates the airflow 390 that pulls in warmer air from outside of the air conditioner 200. It is desirable to minimize the volume of the air intake valve 340 while maximizing the amount of airflow 390. The airflow 390 follows the general direction from the air intake valve 340 through the fan 218 and into the cylindrical wall 380. It is desirable to maximize the volume of the cylindrical wall 380 while creating turbulence in the air through the use of the inner fins 370. The inner fins 370 are in direct contact with the outer fins 360 and create an environment such that the air molecules would maximize the time that they come in contact with the conductive surface area of the inner fins 370 thereby allowing the temperature of the airflow 390 to be minimized so that it may approach the temperature of the contents 375 inside of the reservoir 305. Because the inner fins 370 are in direct contact with the outer fins 360 located in the reservoir 305, the outer fins 360 are able to continually cool the surface area of the inner fins 370 for as long as the temperature of the contents 375 remains in the reservoir 305 and maintains a temperature lower than the ambient air flow 390.

The outer fins 360 and inner fins 370 are comprised of an efficient thermally conductive material such as aluminum or copper. It is understood that the outer fins 360 are not required to be positioned exactly perpendicular to the wall 380. As stated above, because the inner fins 370 are directly connected to the outer fins 360 and the outer fins 360 are located within the reservoir 305, the temperature of the surface areas of all fins 360 and 370 will drop to the temperature of the outer and inner fins 360 and 370 to the temperature of the contents 375 of the reservoir 305. As the airflow 390 passes between the inner fins 370, the airflow 390 will have a maximum amount of cooled surface area in which it will come in contact thereby minimizing the temperature of the airflow 390. The airflow 390 will also change directions between each of the inner fins 370 thereby creating air turbulence. This would be true whether the Louvre or Coiled arrangement is used as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

In an alternate embodiment as shown in FIG. 6, instead of utilizing a tube shaped air duct 350, the reservoir 305 consists of a rectangular wall 385 located substantially near the front portion of the rear bin 320. The wall 385 creates a rectangular-shaped air duct 367. The air intake valve 340 is located at the lower portion of the rear bin 320. The front bin 330 is completely insulated and unlike the previous embodiment, contains no air inlet. The rear bin 320 further consists of a series of outer fins 365 all arranged and secured perpendicular to the wall 385. The outer fins 365 penetrate the wall 385 and create inner fins 366 within the rectangular-shaped air duct 367. As described above, some type of frozen material is placed in the reservoir 305. The frozen material 375 as shown in FIG. 8 comes into direct contact with the outer fins 365. Because the outer and inner fins 365 and 366 are made of a thermally conductive material such as aluminum or copper, the temperature of the inner fins 366 will eventually become approximately the same as the contents of the reservoir 305. When the airflow 395 is ingested into the valve 340, the motorized fan 218 pulls the ambient air into the rectangular-shaped air duct. The airflow 395 then comes into direct contact with the surface area of the inner fins 366 and becomes cooled substantially below the ambient air temperature. The airflow 405 then enters the cap 300 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and is expelled out of the upper valve 310 into the nozzle 205 and into the surrounding area.

While the inventive apparatus, as well as a method of cooling ambient air as described and claimed herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the detail of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims.

Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to one or more particular preferred embodiments, persons possessing ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains will appreciate that various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A portable air conditioner for cooling an air temperature outside of the portable air conditioner comprising:

a. A reservoir; i. said reservoir further comprising a sealed container for storing low temperature matter, said reservoir further comprising a lower opening and an upper opening;

b. A motorized airflow generator;

c. An air duct; said air duct further comprising: i. an air intake valve; ii. an exhaust valve; iii. a central chamber; 1. said central chamber further comprising: a. atop; b. a bottom; c. an outer surface; d. one or more outer fins, said outer fins being coupled generally perpendicular to said outer surface of said central chamber such that said outer fins access the inside of said central chamber; e. one or more inner fins further comprising one or more surface areas wherein said inner fins are in direct contact with said outer fins; 2. said air intake valve coupled to the bottom of said central chamber;

d. said motorized airflow generator coupled to said air intake valve;

e. said upper opening coupled to said exhaust valve of said air duct;

f. said air intake valve fitted within said lower opening of said reservoir;

g. said exhaust valve secured to the top of the central chamber;

h. said motorized airflow generator such that when said airflow generator receives power from a power source, the airflow generator generates an airflow that originates from outside of said portable air conditioner and flows into said air intake valve;

i. said airflow having a temperature and continuing in motion such that said airflow may come in contact with the surface area of said inner fins in such a way that said airflow deflects off of said surface area in multiple directions such that if said surface area has a temperature that is less than the temperature of the airflow then the surface area reduces the temperature of said airflow;

j. said airflow continuing in motion such that said airflow enters said exhaust valve and is expelled outside of said portable air conditioner.

2. The portable air conditioner of claim 1 further comprising:

a. An aroma cartridge;

b. A directional air dispenser further comprising a first and second airway; i. Said directional air dispenser is coupled to said exhaust chamber such that said airflow may enter into said dispenser from said exhaust chamber; ii. Said aroma cartridge coupled to said second airway such that when said airflow enters into said dispenser from said exhaust chamber, said airflow may be expelled from either said first or second airway; iii. Said aroma cartridge further comprising a scented insert such that when said airflow enters said second airway, said airflow contacts said scented insert and becomes fragrant as said airflow is expelled from said second airway.

3. The portable air conditioner of claim 2 wherein said aroma cartridge further comprises a variable airflow outlet control such that said control varies the airflow through said second airway ranging from an open position to a closed position.

4. The portable air conditioner of claim 1 wherein said portable air conditioner is secured to the rear of a chair such that when said airflow is expelled from said exhaust valve, the temperature of the ambient air near the chair is reduced.