CEILING AIR DEFLECTOR INSERT AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY
A square deflector insert for a drop ceiling made of four identical sides that can be simply field assembled and installed. In contrast to previous single-piece inserts, the new inserts provide much more compact packaging for shipping but can be assembled quickly just before installation. Although described in terms of a square deflector the invention is applicable to other polygonal shapes.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/909,845 filed on Sep. 27, 2007, which is a National Phase of International Application No. PCT/US2006/011717 filed Mar. 31, 2006, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/666,960 filed Mar. 31, 2005, which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe field of the invention pertains to ceiling air deflectors used primarily for forced air heating and ventilating systems in commercial structures, such as large retail stores. In particular, the invention pertains to air deflectors that fit in a modular manner into square or rectangular grid suspended ceilings.
A particular example of such an air deflector is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,518 wherein an air deflector is positioned in a standard 2-foot by 2-foot grid suspended ceiling. This patent is directed to an add-on air deflector insert to solve a problem that has arisen from the air deflectors.
Eventually, the air flow from air deflectors deposits dirt, soot and other particulates on the ceiling (usually white) around the air deflector. The result is an unsightly dirty area about the air deflector that is difficult to clean and usually must be re-painted. The air deflector insert of the above patent comprises a single-piece square fin that extends downwardly from the grid and surrounds the air deflector. The square fin deflects air moving from the air deflector away from the ceiling immediately surrounding the air deflector, thereby diminishing the accumulation of particulates on the ceiling over time.
With a view to further improving the deflector insert, the applicant has developed the following improvements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe air deflector insert of the above patent is a single integral frame which requires considerable bulk to package and ship for its actual weight. In contrast, by manufacturing four separate identical component pieces, the package size can be greatly reduced, or six or more inserts can be packaged in the same size package as a single-piece insert. Disclosed below are examples of corner connections applicable to the four separate identical pieces that permit the air deflector insert to be assembled in less than a minute, on-site, just before installation.
Illustrated in
At one end of each side piece 10 to 16 are attachment means 20, such as the rectangular socket 22 extending perpendicularly from the side 24 as shown in
At the other end of each side piece 10 to 16 are complementary attachment means 32 such as the tongue 34 extending from the side 24 as shown to the right in
The tongue 34 is split by slots 42 forming an upper tongue 44, lower tongue 46 and middle tongue 48. The upper tongue 44 is sized vertically with its cusp 40 to match the upper opening 26 in the socket 22. Likewise, the lower tongue 46 with its cusp 40 is sized vertically to match the lower opening 28 in the socket 22. Upon insertion of the tongue 34 of one side piece into the socket 22 of another side piece properly, the cusps match the openings 26 and 28 and the attachment snaps together to permanently latch the side pieces together.
If one of the side pieces is mis-oriented relative to the other side piece, both tongues 44 and 46 will be misaligned to the upper and lower openings 26 and 28 and not properly snap together.
In
Claims
1. An air deflector insert comprising four plastic side members, each side member having a downwardly extending air deflecting portion and a unitary horizontally extending flange portion adapted to at least partially support the side member, each side member having at one end a socket and at its other end a complementary tongue configured for snap-fit connection in the socket of another side member, whereby the four sides can be joined at four corners by snapping the tongues into the sockets.
2. The air deflector of claim 1, wherein the tongue comprises a plurality of tongues separated by slots and at least one tongue of the plurality of tongues includes a cusp, and the socket has at least one opening within the socket sized to receive the cusp upon assembly.
3. The air deflector of claim 2, including a plurality of cusps on tongues and a plurality of complementary openings.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 30, 2014
Publication Date: Feb 26, 2015
Inventors: John W. Barfield (Ann Arbor, MI), Jingqiu Mei (Northville, MI)
Application Number: 14/528,357