RECTANGULAR DUCT
Longitudinal rectangular ducting 20 for use in HVAC systems is composed of a longitudinal top wall 22 of a desired length and constructed from thin gauge material, for example, from coil stock. The ducting 20 includes a mirror image bottom wall 24 which can be constructed similarly or identically to the top wall 22. The ducting 20 further includes side walls 26 and 28 vertically spanning the outer edge portions of the top and bottom walls 22 and 24. The top, bottom and side walls all having longitudinal edge portions. The longitudinal side edge portions of the first and second wall members deformed to define a standing pocket seam for receiving the side edge portions of the third and/or fourth longitudinal members therein.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/839,386, filed Apr. 26, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUNDThe present invention pertains to square and rectangular heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) ducting and methods for making such ducting. Square and rectangular ducting are widely used in HVAC systems. Such ducting can be located between floor or ceiling joists, whereas ducting of other cross-sectional shapes, such as round, may not fit in such locations and still be sufficiently large enough to handle the HVAC load required.
Referring to
Typically, lengths of square and rectangular ducting produced in this manner are relatively limited in length due to the size of the brake press or other machinery used to form the corners of the ducting, and also limited by the length of the sheet metal stock available.
Because square and rectangular cross-section HVAC ducting is typically of relatively short lengths, it is necessary to connect ducting sections end-to-end to achieve a desired overall length. In this regard, as shown in
It will be appreciated that the prior art ducting structure shown in
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
and
Referring to
To discuss the foregoing in more detail, the initially formed standing pocket seams 30 extend outwardly, for example, upwardly, from the exterior of the top wall 22 and outwardly (for example, downwardly) from the bottom wall 24, see
In addition to or in lieu of crimping or otherwise closing the standing pocket seams 30 so as to extend upwardly and downwardly from the top and bottom walls 22 and 24, the standing pocket seams, with the side wall edges 34 and 36 therein, may be turned or rolled over to overlap the exterior of the side walls 26 or 28 (See
Ducting 20 can be attached end to end by use of various types of connectors, including flanged connectors as described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,104, specifically incorporated by reference herein. Alternatively, standard seam connectors may be utilized to interconnect adjacent ducting 20, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,101,969, specifically incorporated herein.
A band 40 can be used to tightly encircle the exterior of the ducting 20 at one or more locations intermediate the ends of the ducting. The band 40 serves to assist in the ducting retaining its shape without the outward bulging of the walls 22, 24, 26 or 28. As will be appreciated, the band 40 could be composed of strap material used to encircle the ducting 20 with the ends of the strap material fastened together by a threaded connectors or other standard means. Wire, wire rope, cabling, or other similar material may also be used to form the band 40. The ends of the wire type material may be securely twisted or otherwise attached together using standard portable or other equipment.
It will be appreciated that for rectangular ducting, the sides of the ducting that have a greater span, whether across the top and bottom of the ducting or along the height of the ducting, can be composed of a material of a thicker gauge than that of the other shorter sides of the ducting thereby to “even out” the resistance of the ducting to deformation, for example, outward bulging due to the air pressure within the ducting. This is made possible because the top and bottom walls begin as individual wall members in the form of lengths of coil material, and the side walls 26 and 28 also begin as individual wall members in the form of lengths of coil material.
Although not shown, thermal or acoustical insulation material may be applied to the inside surfaces of the top, bottom and side walls 22, 24, 26 and 28 prior to assembly of the walls to form the ducting 20. Such insulation material may be adhered to the inside surfaces of the top, bottom and side walls. Alternatively, or in addition, the insulation may be mechanically fastened to the top, bottom and side walls by screws or bolts engaged with enlarged washers that press against the insulation material facing the interior of the duct 20 so as to more widely distribute the load of the mechanical fastener on the insulation material.
Next,
Next, the standing pocket seams 30 are formed in the top and bottom walls 22 and 24. Such pocket seams, as described below, can be formed by various roll-forming techniques, as well as by draw forming or bending techniques. Also, the nominal cross section of the pocket seam can be of various configurations, such as in the form of a right triangle, a V-shape, a U-shape, or other shape that defines an open mouth 32 for receiving the edges of the side walls, and a closed “bottom” 33 for bearing against the edges of the side wall.
As shown in
Referring to
The standing pocket seams 30 can be formed by numerous techniques. For example, as shown in
Another method for forming the standing pocket seams 30 is illustrated in
Once the standing pocket seams 30 are formed and the edges of side walls 26 and 28 disposed within the standing pocket seams, the standing pocket seams can be crimped or closed by numerous techniques. For example, the pocket seam can be closed by passing the standing pocket seams side-by-side with the side wall edges engaged therein, through a series of pinching roller sets 90A-90E consisting of rollers that are positioned progressively closer to each other. The roller sets are powered to rotate so as to urge or force the standing pocket seams 30 there through while progressively closing or pinching the pocket seams so as to capture the edges of the side walls 26 and 28 within the standing pocket seams.
Other techniques also can be utilized to close or pinch the pocket seams, for instance by using a punch to press against the standing pocket seam.
Once the standing pocket seam 104 has been closed, the pocket seam, with the edge portion 104 of the opposite duct structure 102 therein, may be turned laterally over to overlap the exterior side walls of the duct 102, as shown in
As will be appreciated, the ducting 100 can be produced using techniques the same or similar to that used to produce ducting 20. However, only one standing pocket seam is required per duct section 102. Once the pocket seam 104 has been formed in section 102, the section 102 can be bent to form corner 106 in a standard manner resulting in a side wall and in the top or bottom wall of the ducting 100. Further, the pocket seam 104, within adjacent edge portion of the opposite duct section 102 therein, can be closed using a set of pinching rollers, such as pinching roller set 84 shown in
It will be appreciated that the ducting 100 shown in
While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. Longitudinal HVAC ducting of rectangular or square interior cross section, comprising:
- first and second longitudinal wall members in spaced parallel relationship to each other, the first and second wall members having longitudinal side edge portions extending there along;
- third and fourth longitudinal wall members in spaced parallel relationship to each other and disposed transversely to the first and second wall members, the third and fourth wall members having side edge portions engaged with the side edge portions of the first and second wall members to cooperatively form HVAC ducting of a rectangular or square interior cross-section shape; and
- the longitudinal side edge portions of the first and second wall members deformed to define a standing pocket seam for receiving the side edge portions of the third and/or fourth longitudinal members therein, the standing pocket seams extending outwardly of the rectangular or square cross-sectional interior ducting shape defined by the first, second, third, and fourth wall members.
2. The longitudinal HVAC ducting of claim 1, wherein the standing pocket seams comprises the side edge portions of the first and second wall members doubled over on itself.
3. The longitudinal HVAC ducting of claim 2, wherein:
- the first and second wall members have outer surfaces; and
- the standing pocket seams extend outwardly of the exterior surfaces of the first and second wall members.
4. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 3, wherein the standing pocket seams of the first and second wall members extend transversely to the outer surfaces of the first and second wall members.
5. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 4, wherein:
- the standing pocket seams define a height extending from the outer surfaces of the first and second wall members; and
- the standing pocket seams are deformed in a direction laterally to the height of the standing pocket seams.
6. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 3, wherein:
- the standing pocket seams define a height extending from the outer surfaces of the first and second wall members; and
- the standing pocket seams, with the edge portions of the third and fourth wall members disposed therein, are deformed in a direction laterally to the height of the standing pocket seams.
7. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 6, wherein the standing pocket seams are deformed laterally to overlie the exterior of the first and second wall members.
8. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 6, wherein the standing pocket seams are deformed to overlie the exterior of the third and fourth wall members.
9. A method of forming longitudinal HVAC ducting of a square or rectangular interior cross section, comprising:
- forming standing pocket seams along the side edges of first lengths of thin gauge metallic material, the standing pocket seams defining pocket openings leading into the standing seam pockets, and a closed standing seam pocket base;
- engaging the edges of second lengths of thin gauge metallic material into the standing seam pockets of a pair of the first lengths of metallic material through the pocket openings, the first pair of lengths of metallic material in opposing spaced relationship to each other and oriented so that the pocket openings can receive the edges of the second lengths of metallic material; and
- closing the openings of the standing pocket seams against the edges of the second lengths of metallic materials engaged within the standing seam pockets to trap the edges of the second lengths of metallic material within the standing steam pockets and thereby form longitudinal HVAC ducting in square or rectangular interior cross-sectional shape.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising forming the standing pocket seams by doubling over on itself the side edge portions of the first lengths of thin gauge metallic material.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein forming the standing pocket seams to extend outwardly from the exterior surfaces of the first lengths of thin gauge metallic material.
12. The method of claim 11, comprising forming the standing pocket seams to extend transversely outwardly from the outer surfaces of the first lengths of thin gauge metallic material.
13. The method of claim 9, further comprising deforming the pocket seams, with the edges of the second lengths of metallic material engaged therein, laterally to overlie either the first lengths of thin gauge metallic material or the second lengths of thin gauge metallic material.
14. Longitudinal HVAC ducting of rectangular or square cross section, comprising first and second longitudinal wall structures, each wall structure comprising:
- first and second integral wall sections disposed transversely to each other from a corner to define edge portions extending along the margins of the first and second wall sections distal from the corner; and
- a standing pocket seam formed along the edge portion of one of the first and second wall sections,
- wherein the two wall structures are positioned so that the edge portion of one of the first and second wall sections of each wall structure engages within the standing pocket seam formed in the other of the first and second wall structures, whereby the engaged first and second wall structures cooperatively define HVAC ducting of rectangular or square cross section.
15. The longitudinal HVAC ducting of claim 14, wherein the standing pocket seams comprises the edge portions of the first or second wall sections doubled over on itself.
16. The longitudinal HVAC ducting of claim 15, wherein:
- the first and second wall structures have outer surfaces; and
- the standing pocket seams extend outwardly from the outer surfaces of the first and second wall structures.
17. The longitudinal HVAC ducting of claim 16, wherein the standing pocket seams of the first and second wall structures extend transversely to the outer surfaces of the first and second wall structures.
18. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 17, wherein:
- the standing pocket seams define a height extending from the outer surfaces of the first and second wall structures; and
- the standing pocket seams are deformed in a direction laterally to the height of the standing pocket seams.
19. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 14, wherein:
- the standing pocket seams define a height extending from the outer surfaces of the first and second wall structures; and
- the standing pocket seams with the edge portions of the first and second wall section of the corresponding first and second wall structure disposed therein, are deformed in a direction laterally to the height of the standing pocket seams.
20. The longitudinal HVAC ducting according to claim 19, wherein the standing pocket seams are deformed laterally to overlie the exterior of either the first or second wall structures.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 27, 2020
Publication Date: Nov 5, 2020
Inventor: Jeffrey Allen Hermanson (Algona, WA)
Application Number: 16/859,371