Laboratory Ventilation Assembly for Separated Supply and Return Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laboratory ceiling constructions for research laboratories, such as those in chemistry or physics research, face challenges in efficiently managing the routing of supply and exhaust air lines, leading to crisscross and complex line configurations that complicate spatial changes and increase energy requirements for air exchange.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an air guiding panel system with angled edges and a curved air-guiding surface, integrated into a laboratory design with a central supply air channel and an exhaust air channel, deflects heated air away from the supply air channel and directs it towards the exhaust air channel, creating a separated airflow path that reduces energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If supply lines are fastened directly to the building ceiling with dowels, then the ceiling construction is simple, but the spatial changes to existing laboratory arrangement can be undertaken retrospectively only with great effort
Solution Approach 1:
The ceiling construction is segmented into a grid of individual ceiling modules, each containing its own fastening system. This allows individual modules to be removed, relocated, or reconfigured without affecting the entire ceiling structure, enabling easy spatial rearrangement while maintaining construction simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The ceiling construction incorporates movable and reconfigurable elements, allowing the ceiling modules to be dynamically repositioned. The fastening system enables quick assembly and disassembly, transforming the ceiling from a static structure to a dynamic one that can adapt to changing laboratory layouts.
2Ease of operation
If media lines are routed in a criss-cross manner in multiple planes, then the lines can reach all workbenches, but the route becomes complex and difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The media lines are routed through the vertical dimension by incorporating channels and conduits within the ceiling modules. This allows lines to be organized in a structured three-dimensional path rather than chaotic criss-cross routing, reducing complexity while maintaining accessibility to all workbenches.
Solution Approach 2:
Ceiling modules act as intermediary structures that house and organize media lines. These modules provide dedicated pathways and connection points, serving as mediators between the central distribution system and individual workbenches, thereby simplifying the overall line configuration.
3Area of stationary object
If supply air and exhaust air channels are arranged close together, then the ventilation assembly is compact, but the energy requirement for air exchange increases due to air mixing
Solution Approach 1:
The exhaust air pathway is extracted and separated from the supply air pathway by routing exhaust air through dedicated channels in the ceiling modules. This physical separation prevents mixing between supply and exhaust air streams, reducing energy loss while maintaining a compact overall assembly footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The ventilation system utilizes pneumatic principles to create separate airflow pathways through the ceiling modules. By designing distinct air channels with appropriate pressure differentials, the system maintains compact dimensions while preventing air mixing through pressure-controlled flow separation.
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
This design significantly reduces the energy required for air exchange in laboratories by effectively separating supply and exhaust airflows, improving airflow efficiency, and allowing for easier rearrangement of laboratory setups without the need for complex reconfiguration of air lines.
Implementation Method 1
heated air...rises through a gap that extends along the rear longitudinal edges of the workbenches
Implementation Method 2
supply air heated in the region of the workbenches reaches the region of the ceiling of the room, in the vertical direction
Implementation Method 3
angled panel edges at the ends thereof remote from the supply air channel...deflect the air, which is heated under the workbenches...away from the central supply air channel
Data Source
AI summary
A laboratory assembly, and method of operation, having workbenches with a rear longitudinal edge and a ventilation assembly disposed above the workbenches. The ventilation assembly has a central supply-air channel and a return-air channel disposed above the central supply-air channel, said channels being held above the workbenches on a frame composed of profiled supports. Air-guiding panels are disposed laterally to the central supply-air channel. The air-guiding panels have panel edges curved in the upward direction; the air which is heated under the workbenches by laboratory devices and/or IT devices and which rises through a gap provided along the rear longitudinal edges of the workbenches is deflected by said panel edges away from the central supply-air channel in the upward direction into the spatial region above the air-guiding panels.