Mounting assembly for an air barrier
A mounting assembly for an air barrier. The mounting assembly includes a housing with opposed ends and at least one beam receiving channel in at least one of the opposed ends. More than one fan is disposed in the housing. The fans are adapted to create an air barrier across an opening. Support beams are telescopically received in the beam receiving channels. The support beams are movable between a retracted position and an extended position. The support beams are selectively extendible to meet installation width requirements. A housing support, which may be a mounting bracket or a support rod, is adapted to be mounted to one of a wall or a ceiling and adapted to engage at least one support beam.
The present invention relates to a mounting assembly for an air barrier used with access openings.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONFans are used to circulate air across access openings to create air barriers. These air barriers prevent the incursion of cold in winter and heat in summer. They also prevent the entry of dust or insects. The air barrier enables the environment to be controlled, while leaving the access openings unobstructed.
The fans are positioned in housings, which are mounted above the access opening by housing supports. The housing supports can be mounting brackets which are adapted to secure the housing to a wall. The housing supports can also be rods which are used to suspend the housing from a ceiling. Most installations involve the use of an overhead door or overhead shutters. The mounting of the housing must not impede the operation of the overhead door or overhead shutters. In some installations, there is room to mount the mounting bracket along the edges of the access opening. In other installations, tracks for the overhead door or overhead shutters are positioned along the edge of the access opening and the mounting bracket must be spaced from the edges of the access opening. Due to these various factors, there is no “standard” set of installation dimensions. The installations, therefore, tend to be labour intensive, costly, custom installations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONWhat is required is a mounting assembly which is readily adaptable to installation requirements, so as to reduce the labour and cost of air barrier installation.
According to the present invention, there is provided a mounting assembly for an air barrier, which includes a housing having opposed ends and at least one beam receiving channel in at least one of the opposed ends. More than one fan is disposed in the housing which is adapted to create an air barrier across an opening. There is provided at least one support beam telescopically received in the at least one beam receiving channel, the at least one support beam being movable between a retracted position and an extended position, the at least one support beam being selectively extendible to meet installation width requirements. A housing support, which may be a mounting bracket or a support rod, is adapted to be mounted to one of a wall or a ceiling and adapted to engage at least one support beam.
More beneficial results may be obtained when there are two beam receiving channels in parallel spaced relation in is at least one of the opposed ends. Even more beneficial results may be obtained when there is at least one beam receiving channel in each of the opposed ends.
More beneficial results may be obtained when locking means are provided to lock the at least beam in a selected telescopic position relative to the at least one beam receiving channel. The locking means may be locking screws which extend through an aperture in the housing into the at least one beam receiving channel to engage the at least one support beam.
More beneficial results may be obtained when a mounting plate is secured transversely to a remote end the at least one support beam, the mounting plate being adapted to engage the housing support.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
The preferred embodiment, a mounting assembly for an air barrier generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring now to
Referring now to
Also shown in
Referring to
In the alternative, frame 48 of nozzle 46 can be pivotally mounted to mounting assembly 10 such that the nozzle 46 itself can be pivoted to direct flow of air curtain 23 as illustrated in
Operation:
The use of mounting assembly 10 will now be discussed with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11. Referring to
In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.
Claims
1. A mounting assembly for an air barrier, comprising:
- a housing having opposed ends and at least one beam receiving channel in at least one of the opposed ends;
- more than one fan disposed in the housing, the more than one fan being adapted to create an air barrier across an opening;
- at least one support beam telescopically received in the at least one beam receiving channel, the at least one support beam being movable between a retracted position and an extended position, the at least one support beam being selectively extendible to meet installation width requirements; and
- housing supports adapted to be mounted to one of a wall or a ceiling and adapted to engage at least one support beam.
2. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein there are two beam receiving channels in parallel spaced relation in at least one of the opposed ends.
3. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein there is at least one beam receiving channel in each of the opposed ends.
4. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein there are two beam receiving channels in parallel spaced relation in each of the opposed ends.
5. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein the housing supports are mounting brackets adapted to be mounted to a wall.
6. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein the housing supports are support rods adapted to suspend the housing from a ceiling.
7. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein locking means are provided to lock the at least one support beam in a selected telescopic position relative to the at least one beam receiving channel.
8. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein the locking means are locking screws which extend through an aperture in the housing into the at least one beam receiving channel to engage the at least one support beam.
9. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein a mounting plate is secured transversely to a remote end of the at least one support beam, the mounting plate being adapted to engage the housing support.
10. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein the more than one fan is provided with a pivoting nozzle.
11. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein the nozzle has longitudinal louvres.
12. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein the housing is acoustically insulated.
13. The mounting assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each fan has a nozzle comprising:
- a frame having a first end, a second end, a first side, a second side and a peripheral side wall defining an enclosure; and
- a plurality of louvres positioned within the enclosure and extending between the first end and the second end, each of the louvres having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end being pivotally mounted to the frame for pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal pivot axis, such that the louvres can be selectively angled to direct air flow toward either the first side or the second side.
14. A nozzle for a mounting assembly for an air barrier, comprising:
- a frame having a first end, a second end, a first side, a second side and a peripheral side wall defining an enclosure;
- a plurality of louvres positioned within the enclosure and extending between the first end and the second end, each of the louvres having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end being pivotally mounted to the frame for pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal pivot axis, such that the louvres can be selectively angled to direct air flow toward either the first side or the second side; and
- means for mounting the frame to a mounting assembly.
15. The nozzle as defined in claim 14, wherein the means for mounting the frame to the mounting assembly are openings provided at the first end and the second end, which are adapted to receive a fastener.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 2, 2005
Publication Date: Aug 4, 2005
Inventor: Michael Launer (Edmonton)
Application Number: 11/050,358