AIRFLOW DEFLECTOR APPARATUS

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to air deflectors and more particularly pertains to a new air deflector for directing air flowing from an air vent.

(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

The prior art relates to air deflectors which direct air flowing from an air vent. Such air deflectors often comprise hood-like shapes which extend over the air vent to cause an air stream to turn substantially from its original path toward one resultant direction. Other air deflectors comprise internal baffles mounted inside ducts. A resultant direction of an air stream flowing from the air vent may be selected by setting angles of such internal baffles. However, such air deflectors of the prior art are not particularly suited to be adaptable to selectively mount to various air vent diffusers. An air flow deflector which clips interchangeably to selected fins of an air vent diffuser would be advantageous in facilitating a user to block airflow to selected areas and could be used with a variety of different air vent diffusers. Such an apparatus would also be beneficial in allowing the user to easily modify an existing air vent diffuser with a device that uses few moving parts.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a panel with a first face and a second face positioned opposite each other and a perimeter edge between the first face and the second face. The panel has a thickness between the first face and the second face which is sized and configured to fit in a slot defined by adjacent fins of a plurality of fins of an air vent diffuser. A connector is coupled to the panel and is configured to attach the panel to the air vent diffuser when the panel is positioned extending into the slot.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an airflow deflector apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an exploded in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a detail view of a connector of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Window 8 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 detail view of an adjustment member of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Window 9 in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 9 thereof, a new air deflector embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 9, the airflow deflector apparatus 10 generally comprises a panel 12 with a first face 14 and a second face 16 positioned opposite each other. The panel 12 has a perimeter edge 18 between the first face 14 and the second face 16. A thickness between the first face 14 and the second face 16 is sized such that the panel 12 fits in a slot 34 defined by adjacent fins 32 of a plurality of fins 32 of an air vent diffuser 30. The first face 14 and the second face 16 are planar and oriented parallel to each other. But the panel 12 may be curved in other embodiments, the first face 14 and the second face 16 may form a nonzero angle between each other, or the panel 12 may be otherwise shaped to suitably redirect airflow exiting an air vent through the air vent diffuser 30. The panel 12 has a length between a pair of end portions 20 of the perimeter edge 18 such that the panel 12 may extend along an entirety of the slot 34 when the panel 12 is inserted into the slot 34. The panel 12 has a rectangular shape and has rounded corners 24 which facilitate grasping the panel 12 without scratching a user's hands.

A connector 26 is coupled to the panel 12 and is configured to attach the panel 12 to the air vent diffuser 30 when the panel 12 is positioned extends into the slot 34. The connector 26 is positioned on the first face 14 adjacent to one of a pair of lateral portions 22 of the perimeter edge 18 of the panel 12. The connector 26 comprises a clip 28 which is configured to receive one of the plurality of fins 32 of the air vent diffuser 30. The clip 28 has a U-shape and is formed to clamp or frictionally engage a selected fin 32, but the clip 28 may have other shapes suitable for attaching the clip 28 to any of the fins 32 in other embodiments. The clip 28 defines notches 40 on an interior surface 36 of the U-shape adjacent to a distal end 38 of the U-shape with respect to the panel. The notches 40 frictionally enhance the clip 28 to more effectively grip the air vent diffuser 30. Other textures and various frictionally enhanced materials (e.g., rubber, silicone, etc.) may also be used to enhance the grip on the air vent diffuser 30.

An adjustment member 44 couples the connector 26 to the panel 12 and facilitates the connector 26 to pivot with respect to the panel 12 around an axis which extends through the first face 14. The adjustment member 44 has a cylindrical shape and defines a plurality of grooves 48 in a perimeter surface 46 thereof. The connector 26 has teeth 42 which mesh with the grooves 48 of the adjustment member 44. The teeth 42 secure the connector 26 with respect to the adjustment member 44 unless urged by a sufficient torque. In this manner, the connector 26 is adjustable to snap into any of the positions wherein the teeth 42 of the connector 26 align with the grooves 48 of the adjustment member 44. Similar arrangements using detents, clamps, or other selective securement means also may be used in other embodiments.

In use, the panel 12 is attached to the air vent diffuser 30 by attaching the clip 28 to a selected fin 32 of the plurality of fins 32 of the air vent diffuser 30. The panel 12 may be positioned to extend across an entirety of the slot 34, or the connector 26 may be pivoted with respect to the panel 12 to adjust an angle of the panel 12 with respect to the slot 34, thereby modifying the panel's 12 position to direct airflow from the air vent as desired. The panel 12 may be secured with respect to the connector 26 via friction, detents, or other suitable means in order to maintain a selected angle of the panel 12 with respect to the connector 26.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the airflow deflector apparatus 10 may be adapted for use with an air vent diffuser 30 that has a plurality of fins 32 which are oriented parallel to each other and extend across an aperture defined by the air vent diffuser 30. The fins 32 of such air vent diffusers 30 are typically oriented to diffuse airflow exiting an air vent outwardly from a central axis of the airflow, and often one half of these fins 32 direct airflow a first direction while another half of the fins 32 direct airflow in an opposite direction. But in some cases, the fins 32 may simply form a grating which prevents objects from entering the air vent. In either situation, the panel 12 of the airflow deflector apparatus 10 may be positioned to at least partially block air from flowing toward areas where it is undesirable to have an air current. The airflow deflector apparatus 10 may also be used with air vent diffusers 30 with other arrangements and shapes of fins 32, and the panel 12 of the airflow deflector apparatus 10 may be adapted to conform substantially to the arrangement and shape of the fins 32 of another such air vent diffuser 30.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.