Bath Exhaust Fan Housing With Joist-Mount Flaps and Removable Motor Plate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bathroom ventilation fans are difficult to install on non-centered joists in ceilings, require numerous parts and additional labor for assembly and wiring, leading to increased costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
Design of exhaust fans with flaps/ears on single-piece box-shaped housings featuring vertically mounted motors and blowers, allowing direct mounting to joists and minimizing components for easier installation, including a removable mounting plate with a pre-attached motor and blower wheel, and two-piece deflectors to direct airflow and reduce noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional bath fan housings are designed without external flaps/ears, then the housing structure remains simple, but the fans cannot be easily mounted to off-center joists in ceilings
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into a main body and separate external flaps/ears that can be attached or removed. This allows the mounting features to be added only when needed for off-center joist installation, maintaining housing simplicity for standard applications while providing adaptability when required.
Solution Approach 2:
The external flaps/ears serve multiple functions: they provide mounting surfaces for both centered and off-center joist installations, and can be positioned at various angles to accommodate different ceiling configurations. This universal mounting capability resolves the contradiction between simplicity and adaptability.
2Ease of operation
If bath fans are designed with numerous parts for assembly, then functionality can be enhanced, but manufacturing costs and installation labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The motor, blower wheel, and mounting plate are pre-assembled as a single integrated unit at the factory. This merging of components eliminates the need for on-site assembly of these parts, reducing installation labor while maintaining all necessary functions. The integrated unit is designed to be dropped into the housing as one piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor and blower wheel are pre-assembled and pre-positioned on the mounting plate before delivery to the job site. This preliminary assembly action ensures that all components are correctly aligned and secured, eliminating the need for complex on-site assembly operations and reducing installation time and labor costs.
3Ease of operation
If wiring connections are made inside the housing during installation, then the fan can be properly connected to power, but installation labor costs and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical wiring connections are extracted from the interior of the housing and brought out to the exterior through accessible openings or conduits. This allows wiring to be connected outside the housing, eliminating the need for time-consuming interior wiring operations and simplifying the installation process.
Solution Approach 2:
Wire access conduits or external wiring channels serve as intermediaries between the power source and the motor. These conduits provide a pre-established pathway for electrical connections, eliminating the need to fish wires through the housing interior and significantly reducing installation time and complexity.
4Reliability
If multiple components are used in bath fan design, then functionality and performance can be improved, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The motor, blower wheel, and mounting plate are merged into a single pre-assembled unit that is manufactured and tested as one integrated component. This merging reduces the total number of separate parts that need to be manufactured, inventoried, and assembled, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining reliable fan performance through factory-quality assembly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates easier and faster installation by allowing direct mounting to joists, reducing labor and material costs, while maintaining effective airflow performance with 50 or 60 CFM capabilities and minimizing noise.
Implementation Method 1
a motor for running the blower wheel
Implementation Method 2
a blower wheel inside of the housing... that provide 50 (fifty) CFM (cubic feet of air per minute) of airflow
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus, systems and methods of 50/60 CFM exhaust and ventilation fans for bathrooms with flaps/ears that allow the housings to mount directly to joists and/or other structural members inside of a ceiling or inside of a wall. The housing can include a mounting plate having a motor with attached impeller thereon, wherein the mounting plate with motor and attached impeller can be removed as a single unit from the housing for accessing and inspecting interior wire connections during inspection and for ease in replacing parts such as burned out motors overtime.