Ventilation device releasably mountable to a ceiling or wall

Abstract

A mechanism for mounting a ventilation device to the ceiling or wall of a building or enclosure.

Description

The present invention relates to mechanism for mounting a ventilation device to a support structure such as for example a ceiling or wall of a building or enclosure.

Ventilation devices are known which comprise a frame means (e.g. a housing) and ventilation components mounted to said frame (e.g. within a housing) configured so as to define air paths (e.g. internal air paths) for the exchange of sensible and/or latent heat between exhaust air (e.g. warm and/or moist air) taken from inside a building or enclosure and exterior fresh air (e.g. cool and/or dry air) which is drawn into the building or enclosure; see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,771,707 and 6,209,622.

It would be advantageous to have a ventilation device which could be releasably mounted to a ceiling or wall. This capability would facilitate installation of such device as well as its removal for repair or replacement.

Thus the present invention provides a ventilation device comprising a frame means (e.g. a housing) and ventilation components mounted to said frame (e.g. within a housing) configured so as to define air paths (e.g. internal air paths) for the exchange of sensible and/or latent heat between exhaust air (e.g. warm and/or moist air) taken from inside a building or enclosure and exterior fresh air (e.g. cool and/or dry air) which is drawn into the building or enclosure, characterized in that said ventilation device comprises a first portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to the frame, said first portion being configured to be able to releasably engage in snap-lock fashion a second portion of said snap-lock means.

In accordance with the present invention the second portion of the releasable snap-lock means may be mounted to a support structure such as for example a member selected from the group consisting of a ceiling structure and a wall structure.

In another aspect the present invention provides a support assembly comprising a second portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to a support member configured to mount said second portion to a support structure, said second portion being configured to be able to releasably engage in snap-lock fashion a first portion of said snap-lock means.

In a further aspect the present invention provides a ventilation assembly comprising a support assembly mounted to a support structure and a ventilation device releasably mounted to said support assembly, wherein said ventilation device comprises a frame means (e.g. a housing) and ventilation components mounted to said frame (e.g. within a housing) configured so as to define air paths (e.g. internal air paths) for the exchange of sensible and/or latent heat between exhaust air (e.g. warm and/or moist air) taken from inside a building or enclosure and exterior fresh air (e.g. cool and/or dry air) which is drawn into the building or enclosure, wherein said ventilation device further comprises a first portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to the frame, wherein said support assembly comprises a support member mounted to said support structure and a second portion of said releasable snap-lock means mounted to the support member, and wherein said first portion and said second portion are configured to be releasably engaged in snap-lock.

In accordance with the present invention, the first and second portions of a releasable snap-lock means may take the form of a male or female portion; in other words if the first portion is a male portion its respective second portion takes on the aspect of a female portion (and vice-versa). A releasable snap-lock means may, for example, comprise one or more pairs of first and second portions.

An advantageous aspect with respect to the exploitation of a releasable snap-lock means, is that a ventilation device may not only be easily initially mounted to a support structure but its removal from the support structure and reinstallation may be facilitated.

In drawings which illustrate an example embodiment of the present invention:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective side view of a ventilation device comprising a frame means (e.g. a housing) and ventilation components mounted to said frame;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic front of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective side view of female portions of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to support member, as well as male portions of the releasable snap-lock means for mounting to a frame of a ventilation device;

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective exploded side view of a ventilation device and the releasable snap-lock means for mounting to a wall structure (e.g. wall stud(s))

FIG. 7 is a side view of a male portion as shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective side view from below of the male portion shown in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 the ventilation device 1 comprises a housing 2 as well as a number of inlet and outlet means, namely fresh air inlet means 4, exhaust or stale air inlet means 6, exhaust or stale air outlet means 8 and fresh air outlet means 10. The housing has mounted therein ventilation components which define respective fresh air and exhaust air paths which provide air communication between the above mentioned fresh and exhaust air inlets and outlets (internal air paths not shown). The internal components also provide for any desired or necessary exchange of heat and or moisture between fresh and exhaust air. The internal components may of course take on any desired or known configuration keeping in mind their function.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 7 and 8, these figures illustrates an example embodiment of first and second portions of a releasable snap-lock means, namely a female portion 12 and a male portion 14. As shown in FIG. 5 the female portions 12 are fixed in any suitable or desired manner to a support member 16 (e.g. by welding, screws, nut/bolts, etc.). The support member 16 may in turn be fixed in any suitable fashion to a support structure such as for example a ceiling or wall structure (e.g. by nails, screws, bolts, etc.). An advantageous aspect of the use of female portions 12 fixed to support member 16 is that the support member 16 may be more easily leveled against a wall structure, for example, than if attempts were made to fix the female portions 12 individually directly to a wall structure (e.g. to wall studs).

As may be appreciated from FIGS. 7 and 8, the male portions 14 comprise clasp elements 18 and 20 which are interconnected by a resilient intermediate member 22 (i.e. a biasing member for biasing the clasp elements into engagement with the female portion); a male member 14 may for example be made of a metal material. The clasp element 20 is also provided with a finger grip element 24 which may be pulled on by the fingers or urged on by a levering tool (e.g. screw driver shaft) to release the grip of the male member from a corresponding female portion 12. The structure of the male portions 14 is a known snap-lock type structure.

The female portions 12 as well as the support member may also be of a metal material.

Referring to FIG. 6, this figure shows in exploded view how the male portions 14 may be fixed (e.g. by welding, screws, nut/bolts, etc.) to the housing 2 of the ventilation device shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. As may be appreciated from FIG. 6 the male portions 14 are each to be fixed to the housing 2 adjacent to opposite corner edges on the same side face of the housing 2; for the example embodiment shown, the male portions 14 are in particular, to be mounted adjacent to respective top corner areas. The female portions 12 (not shown) are attached to the support member 16 as described above.

A first step in mounting the ventilation device 1 (male portions 14 attached thereto as mentioned above) to the stud member 24a requires that the support member 16 be leveled and fixed to the stud member 24a; if desired or necessary the support member 16 may be fixed to a pair of stud members.

In operation to fix the ventilation device 1 to the female portions, the claps elements 18 of the male portions are angled forwardly and disposed so that the clasp elements 18 rest on respective female portions 12 and then the ventilation device 1 is swiveled downwardly to force the claps element 20 to slip over the lower portion of the female portions 12 in (releasable) snap-lock action.

In order to dismount the ventilation device 1, the clasp elements 20 are pulled free of engagement with the female portions 12 by urging the grip elements 24 away from the support member 16; this may be accomplished by use of fingers or by the use of a shaft of a screw driver or similar tool disposed between the grip elements 24 and the support member 16 and pulling on the shaft to subject the grip elements to a levering force.

As a further alternative herein the grip elements 24 may be provided with side tab extension members configured such that the extension members may project sufficiently sideways, in relation to a respective side wall of the ventilation device 1, so as to be exposed to view and manipulation.

Claims

1. A ventilation device comprising a frame means and ventilation components mounted to said frame configured so as to define air paths for the exchange of sensible and/or latent heat between exhaust air taken from inside a building or enclosure and exterior fresh air which is drawn into the building or enclosure, characterized in that said device comprises a first portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to the frame, said first portion being configured to be able to releasably engage in snap-lock fashion a second portion of said snap-lock means.

2. A support assembly comprising comprising a second portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to a support member configured to mount said second portion to a support structure, said second portion being configured to be able to releasably engage in snap-lock fashion a first portion of said snap-lock means.

3. A ventilation assembly comprising a support assembly mounted to a support structure and a ventilation device releasably mounted to said support assembly,

wherein said ventilation device comprises a frame means and ventilation components mounted to said frame configured so as to define air paths for the exchange of sensible and/or latent heat between exhaust air taken from inside a building or enclosure and exterior fresh air which is drawn into the building or enclosure,

wherein said ventilation device further comprises a first portion of a releasable snap-lock means mounted to the frame,

wherein said support assembly comprises a support member mounted to said support structure and a second portion of said releasable snap-lock means mounted to the support member, and

wherein said first portion and said second portion are configured to be releasably engaged in snap-lock fashion.