Abstrict A raised ring encircling a duct at an output port of a desiccant
dehumidifier housing prevents its flexible hose from blowing off
the duct even when clamped, as dried air blowing pressures through
the duct increase.
Claims I claim:
1. In dehumidifying apparatus drawing moisturized air from a building
through a heated desiccant within a housing, and by blowing dried
air back, the improvement comprising, a substantially circular duct
at an output port of said housing, a raised ring encircling said
duct, a flexible hose overlying said ring and said duct to return
said dried air into the building, and mechanical means for securing
said hose about said duct forwardly of said raised ring.
2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said raised ring is of construction
to deter movement of said mechanical means off said duct as dried
air blowing pressure increases.
3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said mechanical means includes
a worm gear clamp.
4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said flexible hose is of
thermoplastic composition.
5. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said raised ring is a permanent
part of said duct.
6. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said duct is fabricated of
sheet metal.
7. The improvement of claim 6 wherein said raised ring is welded
to said duct.
8. The improvement of claim 7 wherein said raised ring is constructed
of aluminum.
Description CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS None
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0001] Research and development of this invention and Application
have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under
any Federal program.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
[0002] Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] 1. Field of the Invention
[0004] This invention relates to the restoration industry, in general,
and to the drying-out of water damaged buildings, in particular.
[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0006] As is known and understood, mobile desiccant dehumidifiers
have begun to be employed more and more in recent years to dry water
damaged buildings to reduce health problems caused by the incipient
mold which develops. As is also known, silica gel is oftentimes
employed as the desiccant in a wheel through which the moistened
air is pulled from the walls, the flooring, the concrete, etc. into
the dehumidifying chamber. As the silica gel, or other desiccant
employed, absorbs the moisture, however, it becomes necessary to
additionally heat the desiccant to liberate the moisture it collects;
this, then, serves to optimize the operation in a continuous cycle--allowing
the desiccant to continually absorb the moisture in the building
and blowing dried air back in. Where large-scale desiccant equipment
is employed, the heat energy required is often provided by electric
heating or propane heating--but, in accordance with the teachings
of my U.S. Pat. No. (Ser. No. 10/190035) firing the heat exchanger
with diesel fuel offers many advantages.
[0007] As my patent describes, such desiccant dehumidifying apparatus
draws moisturized air from a building through a heated desiccant
within an enclosed housing and then blows dried air back into the
building. Flexible hoses are oftentimes employed in this process,
clamped about ducts at the input and output ports of the housing
by such worm gear type clamps as tightened by screwdriver rotation
in known manner. Because the drying of heavily water damaged buildings
is usually an expensive procedure, it is not unusual for the dehumidifying
apparatus to be operating day and night. But, it has often been
noted that the flexible hose pumping the dried air back into the
building blows off the duct, particularly as the blowing pressure
increases. Not only is this an embarrassment to the service contractor,
but it is counter-productive to the drying process, especially if
the hose blows off when no one is around to reconnect it, and the
dehumidifying effectively stops.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Continuing analysis of this problem led to an understanding
that the fault followed from the manner by which the duct was fabricated.
That is, the typical bead type ridge creased into the edge of the
sheet metal duct when fabricated in the shop did not prevent the
hose clamp from migrating over it and off the duct as the dried
air blowing pressure increased to a threshold amount. This conventional
duct ridge bead just wasn't enough, and the clamp and hose were
blown off.
[0009] As will become clear from the following description, the
substantially circular sheet metal duct at the output port of the
housing is thus supplemented according to the invention by a raised
ring encircling the duct, and of a construction to deter movement
off the duct of the mechanical securing clamp which tightens the
hose about the duct forwardly of the ring. In accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the invention, this raised ring is made
a permanent part of the duct, as by being welded to the sheet metal
duct. The raised ring in this context may be constructed of aluminum,
with the securing clamp being of appropriate type to maintain a
thermoplastic type flexible hose in position. This raised ring encircling
the duct at the output port of the desiccant dehumidifier apparatus
provides the very significant advantage of preventing its flexible
hose from being blown off the duct even when clamped, as the dried
air blowing pressures increase.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] These and other features of the present invention will be
more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description,
taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram helpful in an understanding of
the apparatus and method for dehumidifying moisturized air present
within a building from a point external thereto; and
[0012] FIGS. 2-3 are illustrations helpful in an understanding
of the hose connector according to a preferred construction of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] Referring to FIG. 1 the desiccant reactivation apparatus
with which the present invention operates follows from the use of
an enclosure 10 having a heat exchanger 12 and its method of operation
both follow from the use of an enclosure 10 having a heat exchanger
12 and a desiccant 14. Reference numeral 20 identifies a building
in which moisturized air is present and which is to dehumidified,
with the enclosure 10 having a bottom surface 16 which may rest
upon a trailer or truck bed adjacent the building 20 once driven
to the work site. Alternatively, the enclosure 10 could be off-loaded
from the trailer or truck bed onto the ground itself. Reference
numeral 18 indicates a diesel fuel burner according to the invention
in my afore-cited patent, having an exhaust gas stack 22. As will
be understood, the diesel fuel burner 18 heats the exchanger 12
from the inside out--although any other type of burner to heat the
exchanger 12 may be employed.
[0014] A first, or processed air, blower 26 draws the moisturized
air from within the building through ductwork 72 and the desiccant
14 in a first direction (shown by the arrows 60), which traps the
moisture therein before discharging the dried air out the enclosure
10 as shown by the arrows 61-62. A second, or reactivation, blower
24 draws ambient air from the surrounds via ductwork 70 into the
enclosure 10 over and about the diesel fired heat exchanger 12
and through the desiccant 14 in a second direction, as illustrated
by the arrows 50; the moisture liberated, heated air through the
desiccant 14 is discharged outside the enclosure 10 as shown by
the arrows 51-52. The heat exchanger 10 thus dehumidifies the desiccant
14 of the moisture collected from the wet building air in reactivating
the desiccant 14 for continuing use. At the same time, the dried
air from the enclosure 10 is blown or pumped along the arrows 51-52
back into the building 20. Typically, this is accomplished by a
flexible hose shown as 80 coupled about a duct 82 at an output port
84 of the enclosure 10.
[0015] In accordance with the teachings of the present invention,
as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 raised ring 90 is utilized to encircle
the duct 82 and made a permanent part of it as by welding at 92
when the duct 82 is fabricated of sheet metal and the raised ring
90 is constructed of aluminum. The flexible hose 80 which previously
coupled about the duct 82 continues to overlie the duct 82 but
additionally now overlies the raised ring 90 as well, and to be
mechanically secured about the duct 82 forwardly of the ring, as
at 94. Such mechanical means may continue to be a worm gear type
of screw tightenable in understood manner--but one which is now
deterred and prevented from blowing back off the duct 82 by the
construction of the raised ring which acts as a block or stop. With
the flexible hose 80 of a thermoplastic composition, and with almost
any type of hose clamp being employable, the raised ring 90 merely
needs to be constructed of a raised height, width and composition
sufficient to withstand the rearward movement (if any) of the clamp
brought about by the dried air blowing back through the output port
84 of the heat exchanger 10.
[0016] While there have been described what are considered to be
preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily
appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be
made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For
at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims
appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.
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