EMERGENCY VEHICLE VENTILATION SYSTEM

1 . A service vehicle comprising:

a vented compartment presenting an enclosed interior space and including a compartment wall,

said wall presenting an interior surface that at least partly encloses the interior space,

said wall presenting an exterior surface exposed to ambient air and an exterior vent opening that intersects the exterior surface; and

a powered fan fluidly communicating with ambient through the vent opening to transmit air between the interior space and ambient,

said powered fan mounted within the wall and positioned between the interior and exterior surfaces so that the wall at least partly contains the powered fan.

2 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 1 ; and

a vent assembly including an exterior vent cover and the powered fan,

said exterior vent cover being mounted on the wall in engagement with the exterior surface to span the vent opening.

3 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 2 ,

said exterior vent cover and said powered fan being attached to one another, said vent assembly being selectively removable from the wall, with the vent opening being sized to receive the powered fan and allow removal of the powered fan from the wall during vent assembly removal.

4 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 1 ,

said powered fan comprising a powered axial fan.

5 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 4 ,

said powered axial fan comprising a pancake fan.

6 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 4 ,

said powered axial fan being sized to move air at a volumetric flow rate ranging from about 300 cubic feet per minute to about 500 cubic feet per minute.

7 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 4 ,

said powered axial fan including an axial fan housing and an axial fan impeller, said axial fan housing presenting an axially extending passage, said axial fan impeller being rotatably mounted in the axial fan housing and at least partly received by the passage to move air along the length of the passage.

8 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 7 ; and

a vent assembly including an exterior vent cover and the powered fan, said exterior vent cover attached to the axial fan housing and spanning a transverse dimension of the axial passage.

9 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 7 ,

said axial fan impeller presenting a fan diameter dimension ranging from about five inches to about ten inches.

10 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 4 ,

said powered fan configured to transmit air from the interior space to ambient.

11 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 1 ,

said powered fan located between the interior and exterior surfaces and thereby positioned within the wall.

12 . A service vehicle comprising:

a vented compartment presenting an enclosed interior space and including a compartment wall,

said wall presenting an exterior surface exposed to ambient air and an exterior vent opening that intersects the exterior surface; and

a vent assembly including a powered fan and an exterior vent cover attached to one another, with the powered fan fluidly communicating with the exterior vent opening,

said exterior vent cover being mounted on the wall in engagement with the exterior surface to span the vent opening,

said vent assembly being selectively removable from the wall, with the vent opening being sized to receive the powered fan and allow removal of the powered fan from the wall during vent assembly removal.

13 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 12 ,

said powered fan comprising a powered axial fan.

14 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 13 ,

said axial fan comprising a pancake fan.

15 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 13 ,

said powered axial fan including an axial fan housing and an axial fan impeller, said axial fan housing presenting an axially extending passage, said axial fan impeller being rotatably mounted in the axial fan housing and at least partly received by the passage to move air along the length of the passage.

16 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 15 ; and

a vent assembly including an exterior vent cover and the powered fan, said exterior vent cover attached to the axial fan housing and spanning a transverse dimension of the axial passage.

17 . The service vehicle as claimed in claim 15 ; and

an exterior vent cover attached to the axial fan housing and spanning a transverse dimension of the axial passage.

18 . A process of installing a powered vent assembly, said process comprising the steps of:

a) inserting a powered fan at least partly into a wall of a vented vehicle compartment through an exterior vent opening in an exterior surface of the wall; and

b) covering the exterior vent opening with an exterior vent cover.

19 . The process as claimed in claim 18 ,

wherein the exterior cover is coupled to the powered fan during said inserting of step a).

20 . The process as claimed in claim 18 ,

further comprising

i) removing the exterior vent cover from the wall of the vented compartment, thereby exposing the exterior vent opening, and

ii) simultaneously with or subsequent to step i), removing the powered fan from the wall through the exterior vent opening.

21 . The process as claimed in claim 20 ,

wherein steps i) and ii) are carried out simultaneously, with the powered fan being coupled to the vent cover.

22 . The process as claimed in claim 21 ,

further comprising, subsequent to step b), decoupling the powered fan from the vent cover.

23 . The process as claimed in claim 20 ,

further comprising, subsequent to steps i) and ii), inserting a replacement fan into the wall through the exterior vent opening and covering the exterior vent opening with the exterior vent cover.

24 . The process as claimed in claim 23 ,

further comprising decoupling the powered fan from the exterior vent cover and coupling the replacement fan to the exterior vent cover.