Ventilating system for garages and similar enclosed spaces

Abstract

The system embodying the invention is employed to cool the interior of a normally closed area such as a garage or storage area, and / or to remove any noxious fumes or undesirable odors from inside the garage by moving outside air into the garage and providing means for that inside air and the fumes or odors in it, if any, to be removed to the outside ambient atmosphere. The system includes one or more fans installed in the upper section of the garage door, and the garage door is opened or closed by moving it in any well-known manner either by rolling it's hinged panels upward to a horizontal position from its normally-closed vertical position, or, when it is a solid door, tilting the entire garage door so that it is substantially horizontal instead of vertical and is located above the garage floor a sufficient distance to drive vehicles that will fit into the garage though the door opening. Those fans have a power cord that extends from a power supply position generally near the garage door opener that is secured to the garage ceiling and powers the garage door from its closed position to its open position, and vice versa, and that power cord is also secured to the garage door in the vicinity of the fan or fans used to move air into and out of the garage when the garage door is closed. The power cord is spring-urged to minimize its relatively free section between the power source and the place where it is secured to the garage door in the vicinity of the fan or fans where it provides power to the fan motor or motors when desired and appropriate. In the preferred embodiment the power cord is wound on a reel that is spring loaded to urge the reel in the rotational direction to wind the part of the power cord that is between the reel and the fan motor or motors, keeping the relatively free section of the power cord in tension so that it does not form any dangerous hanging loops when the garage door is moving from its open position to its closed position. There are also lesser desirable alternatives to apply a spring-loading to the power cord to keep it sufficient tension that it does not form such loops when the garage door is being opened.

Description

[0001]Priority of filing date is hereby claimed based on the U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 981,941, filed on Oct. 23, 2007, by the same inventor as the inventor named in this patent application, and entitled, “Vent-A-Garage.”BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The following U.S. patents are of sufficient interest to include them in the background of the invention herein disclosed and claimed. None of them disclose the invention herein claimed. However, they show various developments in the field of garage ventilation over many years, and are listed in numerical order, with at least the last name of the first-named inventor when there are two or more co-inventors listed, and the issue date of that patent:1,959,918--Hochbaum.Issued May 22, 19342,084,807-Hueglin.Issued Jun. 22, 19374,175,418-Steffin and BollwittIssued Nov. 27, 19795,215,498-Wong and McGibbonIssued Jun. 1, 19935,626,288-HuberIssued May 6, 19975,846,127-KileIssued Dec. 8, 19985,947,814-Czeck et alIssued Se...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The invention is a system for moving ambient outside air into a garage or similar storage area, hereafter being referred to as a garage in the generic storage area sense, to remove air that is within the garage. It has at least one electrically driven fan installed in an upper part of a garage door, control means for said at least one fan, a power cord operatively extending from the at least one fan to a fixed source of power. There is a force-exerting spring means exerting a continuous tension force on the power cord from the location of the fixed source of power to keep the power cord sufficiently taut by exertion of said tension force so that the power cord has substantially no slack. Eliminating substantially all of the slack in the power cord, its does not form any intermediate loop or loops as the garage door is being opened, or is being closed, keeping the power cord safe from accidental harm a well as keeping it from becoming a hazard while the garage door is open or closed.

[0018]Another feature is the provision of sensors that sense the temperature within the garage and the ambient air temperature outside of the garage, and controlling the activation of the exhaust fan motor so that the fan is not energized when the garage temperature is very near to, or definitely greater than, the ambient air temperature outside of the garage, so that the garage interior is not unintentionally heated to an even higher temperature by warmer ambient air outside of the garage. Once these sensors have comparative readings showing that the air in the garage is warmer than the ambient air temperature outside of the garage, they may no longer prevent the actuation of the exhaust fan motor.

[0019]There are other features found in the system as the system is installed and used, to better cool the interior of the garage and at the same time remove noxious fumes that are in the garage, instead of having very little or no release of hotter air in the garage and no substantial removal of any of the noxious fumes that may be present in a closed garage or other storage area. There may, at times the presence of certain noxious fumes that become such a potential danger that they have to be removed as safely as possible. Sensors can be provided for the more dangerous ones of such noxious or dangerous fumes as carbon monoxide, gasoline and other fuel and oil fumes, as well as more natural smells and fumes, such as those from garbage that has been stored inside the garage, or the possibility of a dead animal in the garage creating a very undesirable stench. Such sensors can cause the fans be actuated whether or not the outside air is at a higher temperature than the temperature is in the garage, or they may be either manually actuated or manually overridden when it becomes apparent that it is more desirable to circulate outside atmospheric air into and through the garage, even though it is warmer than the air in the garage at the time. It is to be understood that, when the garage door is open, it is more fully exposed to the outside air and the circulation of the outside air into the garage and the pushing inside air out, with any fumes or odors it may have, is not needed. However, if one wants to circulate the air in the garage even when the door is open, the fans can still run, and will then push or pull the air at the top of the garage downwardly or upwardly so that the air movements can help the fumes, etc., be more easily blown out by outside wind drafts, so that the problematic inside air is still evacuated to a great extent.

Problems solved by technology

When it is hanging down below the garage door opener mechanism area, it is also a source of possible accidents and / or injuries that can occur when the garage door is being opened.

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