Dynamically Temperature and Shape Changing Fan with Native Air Purification and Room Sterilization

The present disclosure relates to the field of electrical and electronic appliances. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a fan(s) or fans that has dynamic variation in air attack angles and air fluid dynamics thereof based on real time changes in environmental parameters, room parameters, and user preferences to provide suction, mixing and circulation of UV and HEPA purified air within the fan's body with enhanced volume and distribution of air throw and circulation thereof through the fan's blades with assurance of complete ventilation and exhaustive air purification.

Fans including ceiling fans, wall fans, table fans, standing fans, et cetera, are well known in the art. With advancement in technologies and aim to provide comfort and pleasant experience to customers, traditional fans underwent many advancements. For Instance, conventional fans modify volume and area of airflow thereby through various exemplary methods known in the art. For example, increasing or decreasing rotation speed thereof, changing direction of rotation thereof between clockwise and anti-clockwise direction, or changing shape and size of blades thereof along with an angle of attachment thereof to a rotor housing.

Changes in rotational speed of the fan cause change in volume of air thrown thereby. When speed of the fan increases, the air throw also gets stronger thereby covering a slightly wider area of air throw. The increased air throw also results in a louder sound produced by the fan. When the speed of the fan is decreased, the air throw gets lesser thereby reducing the area of air throw. As speed of the fan reduces, noise generated by the fan also reduces. Therefore, noise generated by the fan is directly proportional to rotational speed of the fan.

Clockwise and anti-clockwise direction of rotation of the ceiling fan modifies throw direction of the ceiling fan. If a fan is rotating in an anticlockwise direction, then it throws the air downwards. This is done during warmer temperatures to bring down the room temperatures. If the fan is rotating in clockwise direction, it pulls the heavy colder air from the room's floor up towards the ceiling. During the colder months, air inside a room is prone to become stuffy, and in such times a fan rotating clockwise allows for the air to circulate and keep the room feeling fresh.

Apart from the aforementioned factors in the regular fans, one important factor is variation in angle of the fan blades. Such a variation also affects the air throw, volume and noise generated by the fan. The optimum angle of the fan blades for most efficient air throw lies between the range ofdegrees todegrees. By modifying such an angle range, volume and throw area of the fan may also be modified.

There have been many prior arts related to change in blades' angle of the fan. For instance, one prior art pertains to changing blade angles of the fan for better cooling efficiency. Angles of different blades may be adjusted at specific points only, using a knob that is placed on the fan itself. When the knob is turned around manually, the blade angles change. Such a manual effort has to be done when the fan is not operating and by reaching up to the fan making it totally impractical and labour intensive.

Another prior art also involves a manual change in the blade angles, by multiple different joineries placed around hub of the fan. The joineries are fixed at different angles. The blades need to be manually removed from one joinery and placed on the new one if one wants to change the angle of the blade. Such an effort again needs to be done when the fan is not operational, and has to be done manually while reaching up to the fan, thereby making it practically non usable.

Another prior art discloses shape of the fan blades which is configured such that when the blades interact with the air while rotating, different noises such as white noise, red noise and so on gets generated, thereby providing a pleasant sensory experience to the user while sleeping. The noise generated is modulated by the blade shape and when the noise is modulated, focus of such a prior art is not to change air throw of the blades. Shape of such blades is modulated by changing lengths of the blade from the hub of the fan, and also angle thereof.

Another prior art involves altering the blade angles to modulate the air throw of the fan. Such an adjustment depends upon user's judgement as discussed hereinabove, which is pretty subjective. Another similar prior art discloses automation in change of blade angle being done using a cam setup driven by motors inside the fan. However, such prior arts have multiple disadvantages associated therewith. The user is unable to decide and does not have the scientific and calculative capability to real time determine which blade angles of the fan may be the most suitable for optimum air throw as per the location of the user relative to the fan, the room size, room temperature, room shape, presence and working of other fans in the vicinity, et cetera. Even in doing so, the user has to do a lot of manual labour and mental calculations mostly at the height of the fan and rely on his senses while adjusting the blade angles, which might have variable impact based on the location of the user respective to the fan once the fan is turned back on. Also, if there are multiple users in the room, it becomes difficult to arrive at a unified opinion. Also, it is evident in the prior arts that the blade angles cannot be natively adjusted while the fan is rotating. In case the blades cannot be adjusted when the fan is running, and such an adjustment needs to be done when the fan is stationary, it would be difficult for the user to decide if the angle of the fan blade set is optimal or not. Thus, multiple trial and error efforts are needed in the persisting prior arts and this may irk the user to find the blade angle to get the desired result that too manually after switching off the fan while in hot temperatures, hence defeating the purpose of the existing prior arts.

In addition, the mentioned prior arts have size of the main motor hub which is very big as it has to accommodate the complex mechanism of turning the fan's blades. Consequently, the main motor hub becomes quite big, heavy and hefty for fitting into a small room with nominal ceiling heights. Such prior arts also have blade angle changing mechanism inspired from that of helicopters, which involves a tall cylindrical hub to control the blades' angle. Such a mechanism in the fans takes up a lot of space which in turn leaves comparatively less space for the motor. As the steeper blade angles require more powerful motors, the conventional mechanisms and designs become unfeasible and impractical. Moreover, the total size and length of the fan increases by a huge margin, thereby rendering such fans useless in apartments/houses/buildings with lesser ceiling heights. In case, there is an air purifier attached below the fan, the fan height increases astronomically, thereby rendering the entire system practically useless due to safety reasons. Such prior arts also lack compatibility to operate on different motors such as BLDC motors. BLDC motors can provide a huge advantage in terms of noise reduction, efficiency, and electricity consumption/cost saving, but the arrangement of the mechanical components in the current prior arts leave no room for the BLDC motors to be accommodated in the fan's hub.

Another prior art that revolves around the present disclosure is an air filter. Such a prior art includes a fan, which could be a radial fan, a co-axial fan, or any other type of fan, with its primary function being sucking air through a filter and throwing it out through an outlet vent. By running continuously for long hours, it is able to purify the air in a room and form a bubble of cleaner air around itself. However, as the air filter and fan are two different elements in such a prior art, efficient mixing of the air being circulated downward by the fans blades and the air being passed through the purifier is not achieved, thus the size of such an air bubble is determined by the size of the fan present in the air filter instead of the entire fans' blades which have a much bigger coverage area, and the air filter's efficiency and the volume of air it is able to pass through itself every minute is restricted to its size. Such air filters fail to uniformly circulate the purified air throughout the room as they operate as an addon attachment to the fan's mechanism instead of being an integrated system utilizing the fan's existing air throw and air attack angle change to ensure purified air circulation to every nook and corner of the room. Such air filters form a bubble of purified air instead of reducing AQI uniformly throughout the room. Also, as fans are mostly used in summers and air pollution spikes are observed in winters, such air purifiers don't bring any significant temperature difference in the room temperatures during the hot and cold months of the year. This makes the entire system very ineffective during peak pollution months of winters. Recent conventional arts involve unidirectional air throw, which has a significantly smaller air throw radius when compared to common ceiling fans.

There are many conventional arts which are able to increase or decrease the temperature of the room. For example, an air conditioner, a room cooler, et cetera. However, most of these inventions are able to, at best, provide a few features and lag behind in other areas. If a room cooler is able to provide cool air during summers, it remains non-operational during the winters. If an air conditioner is able to provide cool air in the summers, and hot air in the winters, along with air purification too, it will lag behind in its energy efficiency and the size of the area of air throw.

During the winter months, most of the fans remain switched off. Some which can rotate clockwise remain operational, however they function to keep the room fresh and ventilated, rather than change the room's temperature. And during summers, it's the air throw which makes the user feel less heat through body evaporation, rather than actually bringing the temperature of the room down. The temperature of the room is not changed significantly, though the user does not feel too hot due to the constant air throw.

Therefore, there exists a need to solve the aforementioned issues.

The principal objective of the present disclosure relates to a fan which dynamically and autonomously changes its shape and blade angles while in operation based on real time 2D or 3D scanning of the room thereof feeding this data into firmware logics of the fan thereby moderating the air attack angle and air flow dynamics based on real time inputs such as environmental parameters, room parameters, user location relative to the fan and other user preferences.

Another objective of the present disclosure relates to a unibody mechanism of the fan wherein the downward push of air generated by the blades of the fan is harnessed to pass the air being circulated through HEPA, Ionizer and UV filters present inside the body of the fan thereby ensuring uniform circulation of this UV and HEPA purified ionized air in an enhanced volume multiplier manner. This uniform air mixing effect is achieved through sealed air channels connecting the air purification unibody of the fan to air outlets in the blades of the fan. This mechanism ensures that the purified air being released from air outlets in the fan's blades is constantly and uniformly mixed with the air being cut and pushed downward by these blades externally. This mechanism provides distribution of air throw and circulation thereof with assurance of complete ventilation and exhaustive air purification throughout the room to its every corner without the purified air getting restricted to an air bubble. Due to the changing angles of the blades which ensure optimized circulation of external air, maximum circulation and reach of the air mixed with purified air is also achieved.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan with blades configured to have automatic change in angles of blades by scanning the room using inbuilt sensors and running the observed room parameters through custom air flow and fluid dynamics algorithms to ensure maximum coverage thereof even when the fan is in running state or stationary state or just powered on state.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan which is configured to automatically adjust angles of the blades thereof as per size of room in which the fan is running.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan which is able to change air throw of the fan without changing speed thereof.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan which provides an air channel for suction of polluted air and circulation of clean purified air to travel from top of the fan through the blades and into the room.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan which follows a simple mechanical approach to change the blade angles, rather than involving a complex arrangement of mechanical components, thereby enabling the fan to have BLDC motor installed in its hub, which in turn allows for it to be placed in rooms with low ceiling heights.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan with a variety of airflows such as natural breezy air flow, calm constant air flow to the user present in the room where the fan is running.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan that communicates with other similar fans placed in the vicinity and modify air flow thereof in synchronization with the other fans to provide the most efficient air throw throughout the room and create a multi climatic zone environments inside the room. Such a fan is able to identify whether the other fan is switched on or switched off, and its speed, and thereby able to modify its shape and features accordingly.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide the fan that circulates clean purified air throughout the room after treating the air with HEPA, activated charcoal filter, UV, prefilter, ionizer et cetera irrespective of whether the fan is running or stationary.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to disinfect an unoccupied room with the fan by sensing that there is nobody in the room before utilizing the inbuilt sanitization mechanisms which include UV, disinfectant micro spray across the air outlets through the blades, et cetera.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide a single click multi-filter cassette deployment and un-deployment of the air filtration unit without affecting or disturbing the installation of the fan.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide differential heating and cooling mechanisms inside the fan's body to provide hot or cold air throughout the room depending on the user's preference and the room's temperature. In the winters, the fan has a capability to achieve a temperate differential of about 5 to 6 degrees by throwing warm air and, in the summers, it is able to throw slightly cooled air, thereby bringing a change of 2 to 4 degrees in the room temperature in both the seasons. Therefore, the fan is able to change the room's temperature by a delta of 10 degrees.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the present disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to in its application to the details of processing and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosure is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practised and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology, terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The present invention relates to a smart fan system () and method () for dynamic air circulation, purification, and temperature modulation within a room. More particularly, the invention pertains to a fan () comprising intelligent computing capabilities, sensor-based control, and mechanical assemblies to optimize air fluid dynamics and climate conditions based on real-time environmental and user-specific parameters.

According to an embodiment, the fan () comprises a main hub (A) equipped with an LED display (), a BLDC motor, multiple sensors (A,B), electrical assemblies, and a compute unit () mounted perpendicularly to a main shaft (B). A plurality of detachable fan blades () are attached to the main hub (A), each coupled through a detachable shaft () and a joinery assembly () configured to allow angular shifting or speed variation of the fan blades (). The joinery assembly () operates based on user-defined parameters or automatically via sensor data to influence air attack and fluid dynamics.

The compute unit () includes a memory (A) and a plurality of subunits (B), including an input subunit (B) to receive data, an analysis subunit (B) to evaluate required blade dynamics, an actuating subunit (B) to implement the adjustments through alignment of shaft () with the joinery assembly (), and an air circulation subunit (B) for regulating the volume, temperature, and quality of air circulated.

The main hub (A) is optionally enclosed by a canopy () that includes an upper portion (A) housing an air filtration unit () and a lower portion (B) comprising a temperature modulating element. The canopy () communicates filtered air through channels () present within the fan blades ().

The sensor assembly comprises of environmental sensor array which includes a LIDAR sensor (A) for spatial mapping, an air quality index sensor, a temperature sensor, a thermal imaging sensor or an infrared (IR) occupancy sensor for occupancy detection, a Bluetooth sensor for detecting other fans, and a UVC light emitter (B) that activates when no occupants are detected.

Advanced adjustment mechanisms include a cam () having a T-shaped body (A) with multiple indentations (C) connected to the shaft (), and an electromagnetic cylindrical element () with a pin () that locks into the indentations (C). Electromagnets () may further control the cam () orientation, enabling dynamic blade angle control. The blades () may also include actuators such as pneumatic, hydraulic, or electromechanical types for precision alignment.

The joinery assembly () may include a bevel assembly () with a main bevel gear () driven by an auxiliary motor (), optionally supported by an epicyclic gear system. The system may also be connected via duct () to an external compressor unit () to support advanced heating or cooling modes.

The invention further encompasses a method () involving receiving input from sensors and users, analyzing the data in real time, dynamically adjusting blade angle or speed via the shaft () and joinery assembly (), and circulating filtered, temperature-modulated air for complete ventilation. UVC sanitation and fragrance emission may also be included based on occupancy and air quality feedback

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

As shown in, the present disclosure discloses a fan () that includes a main hub (A) perpendicularly aligned to a main shaft (B). The hub (A) houses a number of components including such as but not limited to electrical assemblies, multiple sensors, a BLDC motor, and a compute unit ().

The electrical assemblies are well known in the art such as wirings and circuits. Multiple sensors include such as but not limited to a LIDAR, IR, Camera or SONAR sensor (A), a temperature sensor, AQI sensor, a Bluetooth sensor, a thermal imaging sensor, a UVC light emitter (B), an infrared (IR) occupancy sensor among others. The LIDAR sensor (A) is configured to scan dimensions of the room i.e. size of the room. The LiDAR sensor (A) is placed on the face of the hub (A) or on the fan blades (). Powering on the fan () for the first time rotates the fan () slowly to let the LiDAR sensor (A) to collect the 3D data of the room, number of people in the room and their respective locations. Once the LiDAR sensor (A) finishes task of collecting the data, the collected data is sent to subunits (B) associated with the compute unit () for analysis. The compute unit () analyses the data for room dimensions, and based on preset algorithms for maximum efficiency, highest reach, maximum air throw and least noise production, angles of the fan blades () are dynamically changed without any manual input or manual labour while the fan is in motion and gains speed without any of the people present in the room having to work for it.

The temperature sensor senses temperature of the room i.e. environmental temperature if summer, winter, spring, autumn and further intraseasonal variation in the environmental temperatures. The AQI sensor senses quality of air. The Bluetooth sensor senses if there is another fan (one or multiple) in vicinity of the fan (). The thermal imaging sensor an infrared (IR) occupancy sensor senses number of living beings in the room. The LiDAR/SONAR/Camera or IR sensors sense if there is any wall in close vicinity of the fan () or paired fan(s) when the fan () is in running state or idle state. The UVC light emitter (B) is placed on face of the hub (A) or on the fan blades (). The UVC light emitter (B) is configured to sanitise the room when there are no occupants in the room. The ingressed air within the fan is UV sterilized using a separate UV light pipe (C) apart from the outer UVC light emitter (B) placed in the fan's hub facing downward.

In the present disclosure, the fan () involves mechanisms to cause either angular shift or speed variation or both of the fan blades () to impact air attack and air fluid dynamics of the fan () on the basis of either of user input parameters or data collected from the multiple sensors or both. Consequently, the fan () has the BLDC motor installed in the hub (A), which in turn allows thereto be placed in rooms with low ceiling heights. The BLDC motor is attached to the main shaft (B) such that threaded shaft thereof points downwards and parallel to that of the main shaft (B). There is a unique metal plate such that there are vertical protrusions facing downwards that guide air flow into the fan blades and providing assistance in angular change of the blades. Number of such protrusions depend upon the number of blades of the fan ().

The compute unit () is discussed hereinafter in conjunction with associated figures.

The hub (A) has a LED display () on the face thereof. The LED display () displays various status indicators that reflect status of the fan () in running and idle positions. The parameters may include such as but not limited to different power modes, current angular shift value of fan blades (), current speed value of the fan blades (), power at which internal components such as air purifier, temperature changing modules operate, room temperature, Air Quality Index (AQI), the filter life, connectivity status, et cetera. The information seen by the user at a turn of their head gives assurance to the user about the real time difference the fan () is making in daily life. The LED display does not rotate along with the fan's blades thereby giving the user a fixed display output.

The hub (A) has multiple fan blades () detachably attached there around radially. Each of the fan blades () includes a detachable shaft (), as shown in. There is a joinery assembly () detachably connected to the shaft (). The joinery assembly () is configured to cause angular shift of the fan blades () to impact air attack and air fluid dynamics of the fan () on the basis of either of user input parameters or data collected from the multiple sensors or both through various exemplary mechanisms as discussed in detail hereinafter with conjunction of associated figures.

The joinery assembly () pivot on the same axis as that of the fan blades (). The joinery assembly () pivot on either of the X, Y or Z axes in positive or negative coordinates, in accordance to the output received from the algorithms to optimise user's end selection. If the fan hangs from the ceiling on Y-axis, and the fan blade () extends out perpendicular to that of the hub (A) towards X-axis, the joinery assembly () is able to rotate in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions on the X-axis. The joinery assembly () pivot on one plane only. The amount of rotation executed by the fan blade () is decided by various subunits (B) associated with the compute unit ().

In an embodiment as shown inand exposed view in, there is a canopy () surrounding the main shaft (B) of the fan (). The canopy () is configured to house multi-layered air filtration unit () along with a UVC light pipe (C) and a temperature modulating element (). The filter cassette would have multiple layers of filters on it such as HEPA, Carbon Filter, and so on. In an embodiment, the air filtration unit () may be an inbuilt filter cartridge consisting of filtration layers such as prefilter, HEPA filter, activated carbon filter et cetera through which the impure polluted air passes, gets filtered, and exits through the fan's blades. The sucked in polluted air is also subjected to an ionizer and UV sterilization inside the hub (A) through a UVC light pipe, which is separate from a UV source being available outside the fan () for the room sanitisation, if there is nobody detected to be present in the room. This purified and sanitised air gets circulated throughout the room. The filtration cartridge is made of two cylindrical halves which snap onto each other, this allows for an easy and convenient replacement of the filter when it reaches the end of its life cycle, without the need to disassemble the fan. A simple pull to unsnap mechanism ensures a quick and easy filter replacement without any manual labour or extensive disassembly of the fan's canopy.

The canopy () is aligned such that the canopy () has two portions—an upper portion (A) and lower portion (B). The upper portion (A) encases the air filtration unit () while the lower portion (B) encases the temperature modulating element (). The temperature modulating element () includes such as but not limited to heating coil, heat discs, heating ring, Peltier plate, and/or combinations thereof, and so on. Temperature sensors and Thermal imaging sensor of the temperature modulating element () collect data such as the room temperature, environment temperature, number of occupants in the room, and sends thereto to the compute unit () in real time. Depending upon the pre-set user preferences or by learning the user behaviour via implementing AI/ML, the compute unit () sends out signals to the heating and cooling mechanisms present inside the main hub (A). When the temperature of the room is warm, and the user wants to lower it down, the user can switch on the cooling by inputting the commands via a remote control to the fan (). The temperature modulating element () gets activated. Such a cooling mechanism is placed in the path which the air takes from the fan's air purification inlets and out from the exit trims or outlets present on the fan's blades. When the air comes into contact with the surface of the temperature modulating element (), its temperature gets reduced. This cooler air gets circulated out into the room and results in a temperature drop of a few degrees Celsius. Similarly, if the room temperature is cold such as in winters, and the user wants a warmer temperature, they can change so by commanding the fan () via remote control. The compute unit () receives the signal from an electronic device and activates the temperature modulating element (). In case of exemplary Peltier coil, a reverse current passes there through and thereby creating a hot surface for the air to flow over. In case of a heating coil or any such heating mechanism, the current given is modulated such that the air getting circulated out doesn't get too warm. The air enters from the air purification inlets, flows over the heating element surface, and exits through the outlets on the fan's exit outlets or trims. The air escapes into the room thereby making it slightly warmer and more comfortable for the user, all the while giving out purified clean air for breathing.

The upper portion (A) has multiple openings () in the form of either slits or perforations through which surrounding air enters or egresses and gets processed through the air filtration unit () for filtration. The lower portion (B) includes multiple temperature modulating elements () affixed on walls thereof. The temperature modulating element () warms up or cools the filtered air depending upon the environmental temperature and the user selected parameters defined hereinafter. The temperature modulating elements (), for example Peltier plates are hexagonal or similar structural in shape so as to provide maximum surface area for contact for the purified air that exits from the air filtration unit () and move towards the lower portion (B). The hexagonal or similar shape such as triangular, square, and so on as aforementioned allows for the least number of Peltier plates to be used to provide the maximum surface area in the given volumetric space, thereby reducing cost, weight, and maintenance of overall fan () and associated components and units.

In the embodiment, the canopy () has a distinct one-touch coupling and decoupling mechanism to ensure easy maintenance at any given time. The canopy () may be opened and closed back using a simple one-click mechanism. In such a mechanism, the user holds the upper portion (A) of the canopy () firmly and pull thereto out. The user now is able to access the air filtration unit (). The user is able to replace the old air filtration unit () by new one followed by snapping back the upper portion (A) of the canopy () in place. Similarly, the user accesses the lower portion (B) through the one-click mechanism to keep a check on the temperature modulating element ().

In an embodiment as shown in, the fan blades () include a channel () for continuous circulation of air from the canopy () to egress the filtered air of required temperature through the fan blades (). The fan blades () further have openings therein underneath the channel () to egress the processed air. As shown in embodiments in, each of the fan blades () includes respective trims () that may include multiple indentations/openings in the form of either slits or perforations or any type of opening to egress the filtered warm or cold air after processing through the air filtration unit () and the temperature modulating unit (). The egressed air has been purified, heated or cooled by flowing through the fan's unibody, and exits the fan's enclosure through the trims () through the fan () present on each of the fan's blades ().