The present invention relates to an air conditioner of which the body is installed in a space behind a ceiling and which performs cooling, heating, dehumidification, air cleaning, and humidification.
For example, in an air conditioner set forth in Patent Document 1, a ceiling surface suction port for sucking indoor air in a room into a space behind the ceiling, is provided in a position apart from the air conditioner body in the ceiling, and a body suction port is provided in a side wall of the body. A filter is arranged on the body suction port, and behind the body suction port, a heat exchanger is arranged so as to be opposed thereto. A blower is arranged in a space surrounded by an airflow guide plate and a ceiling panel. In the ceiling panel mounted under the body, a ceiling panel blowoff port is provided alone.
By such arrangements, since the ceiling surface suction port into which air in the room is sucked is spaced apart from the ceiling panel blowoff port, the short cycle phenomenon that a part of flow from the blowoff port is directly sucked into the suction port, is prevented from occurring, thereby allowing the indoor temperature to be uniformized. Furthermore, since the space behind the ceiling can be used as a flow path for sucked air, there is no need for a duct, so that it is possible to reduce costs of facilities and construction costs, and to decrease a flow path resistance. Moreover, if, as a blower, a centripetal fan is used instead of a centrifugal fan, the fan can be placed in a space surrounded by the heat exchanger, thereby allowing the airflow guide plate to be omitted.
The conventional air conditioner is configured as described above. However, when a centrifugal fan in which the outer diameter of a main plate and that of a side plate is substantially the same is used for a blower, the direction of blowoff air from the centrifugal fan is a horizontal direction perpendicular to an axis, so that, when the centrifugal fan is installed within the air conditioner body, blowoff flow on the side-plate side and that on the main plate side interfere with each other to thereby enhance a draft resistance and increase noises. As a result, it is necessary for the fan to be installed so as to protrude downward from the air conditioner body. It is required, therefore, that the ceiling panel is installed in a state of protruding from the ceiling surface, which makes the size reduction of the apparatus difficult.
If suction distance between a body top plate and the suction port of the centrifugal fan is too small, the draft resistance is increased, and due to the difference in flow speed between the vicinity of the baffle plate and the body top plate side, drifts occur, so that suction flow is disturbed increasing noises. On the other hand, if the above-described suction distance is too large, the body height becomes undesirably large.
In the case where the body and the ceiling panel are separate ones before installing, since the centrifugal fan is arranged in a state of protruding from the body, the centrifugal fan suffers damage during transportation. In addition, in order to prevent the damage thereto, a large amount of packing materials are needed around the fan protruding from the body, which is unfavorable to environment.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems as described above, and the object of the present invention is to obtain an air conditioner that is high in product reliability and handling properties during transportation, and low in noise, that gives no feeling of oppression to residents, and that can be packed with a small amount of packing materials, compared with conventional air conditioners.
The air conditioner according to the present invention comprises:
a body that, in use, is situated in a ceiling of a room to be air-conditioned, the body including a ceiling panel having a body blowoff port for supplying air from the inside of the body, a side wall installed in an upright position along the outer periphery of the ceiling panel and having at least one body suction port formed therein, and a top plate provided so as to cover a surface opposed to the ceiling panel with respect to the side wall;
a heat exchanger provided in the vicinity of the body suction port inside the body;
a fan motor fixed to the top plate, the fan motor having a rotation shaft;
a fan that is fixed onto the rotation shaft of the fan motor, sucks the air sucked via the body suction port and the heat exchanger, and guides the air from a rotation center toward an outside in an obliquely downward direction to blow off the air into the room; and
a airflow guide plate that isolates an air flow on the suction side of the fan from an air flow on the blowoff side thereof, and that guides a blowoff flow of the fan to the blowoff port of the ceiling panel, the airflow guide plate including a bell mouth and an airflow guide part formed into a truncated cone shape.
The air conditioner according to this invention contributes to effects that are high in product reliability and transportability during transportation, and low in noise, that gives no feeling of oppression to residents, and that can be packed with a small amount of packing materials, compared with conventional air conditioners.
Hereinafter, an air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
As illustrated in
As shown in
A fan motor 7 is provided to the body top plate 1c, and the rotational shaft of the fan motor 7 is securely inserted into a boss 12a of the centrifugal fan 8. The centrifugal fan 8 is installed in a space surrounded by the airflow guide plate 6 and the body panel 4. Furthermore, there is provided a drain pan 5, which is molded of a foam material and capable of heat insulation, for temporarily storing condensed water produced in the heat exchanger 3 at the time when the heat exchanger 3 is cooled to perform a cooling operation.
a plurality of blades 13 installed in an upright position on the main plate 12 in substantially parallel to a rotation axis 0; and a ring-shaped side plate 11 having airflow guide wall provided so as to surround the boss part with a predetermined distance therebetween. As shown in
Here, the side plate outer diameter φDs, the main plate outer diameter φDm, and the blade rear edge part main-plate side outer diameter φDb2m of the centrifugal fan 8 have the following relationship among them:
side plate outer diameter φDs<main plate outer diameter φDm=blade rear edge part main-plate side outer diameter φDb2s.
Furthermore, the relationship: the main plate outer diameter φDm<fan suction port diameter φDs1 is satisfied, and the outer diameter φDb2 of the blade 3 and the inner diameter φDb1 thereof are configured to become larger from the main plate 12 side toward the side plate 11 side, in the rotation axis direction.
Moreover, the blade rear-edge part 13b is positioned on the inside of the fan from a blade outlet representative line A, which is a straight line connecting the connection point between the blade rear-edge part and the main plate 12, i.e., a blade rear-edge part main-plate side connection point 13bm, and the connection point between the blade rearedge part and the side plate, i.e., a blade rear-edge part side-plate side junction 13bs, and the blade rear-edge part 13b has a shape such that the distance from a rotation axis 0 becomes larger from the main plate toward the side plate.
As show in
Regarding diameters on planes perpendicular to the rotation axis, at the blade rear-edge part main-plate side connection point 13bm, and a blade front-edge part sideplate side connection point 13as, with the rotation axis as their center, let the blade rear-edge part main-plate side diameter be φDb2m, and let the blade leading-edge part sideplate side diameter be φDas1. Then, the relationship: φDb2m<φDas1 holds, resulting in a blade shape in which the diameter become gradually larger from the main plate 12 toward the side plate 11. Also, when a fan suction port diameter, which is a diameter of the side plate front end part 11d with the rotation axis as its center, is denoted by φDs1, the relationship: φDas1<φDs1 holds.
On a surface of the blade, a blade dividing line B is provided that shows a diameter becoming gradually larger from the main plate 12 through the blade rear-edge-part main plate side connection point 13bm and the blade front-edgeside plate side junction 13as toward the side plate 11 in the rotation axis direction, at least within a range meeting the condition: the blade rear-edge part main-plate side diameter φDb2m<the blade front-edge part side-plate side diameter φDas1.
As illustrated in
As shown in
Furthermore, as described above, the blade shape is configured so that the step 13c existing along the blade dividing line B becomes larger in the distance from the rotation axis 0, from the section taken along the c-c line toward the section taken along the a-a line.
In the side plate 11, a side plate suction part 11a having a straight pipe shape and the airflow guide wall 11b for guiding suction flow to the blade 13 at its connection part with the blade 13, are connected, and this connection part 11c has a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis.
In such an air conditioner, upon turning-on the fan motor 7, the centrifugal fan 8 is rotationally driven, so that air in the room 9 is sucked from the ceiling suction port 10 to the space behind the ceiling 9b and passes through the body side-plate side suction port 1a and the body top plate-side suction port 1d; dust, smell and the like have been removed from the room 9 and the space 9b behind the ceiling by the dust removal filter 2, to thereby make air cleaning; and then, the air is subjected to cooling, heating, or dehumidification by the heat exchanger 3, and sucked into the centrifugal fan 8. Thereafter, the flow blown off from the centrifugal fan 8 is subjected to forced air-direction control to move the flow toward obliquely downward direction by the airflow guide plate 6, and the air is blown off from the blowoff port 4a of the body panel 4 provided at a lower part of the body 1, whereby the room 9 is air-conditioned.
The bell mouth 6a of the airflow guide plate 6 and the body top plate 1c are provide so as to be spaced apart by a predetermined distance (E) from each other. If this distance is too small, the flow accelerates between the bell mouth 6a and the body top plate 1c, and drift resistance increases, so that it is necessary to increase the fan revolution number in order to blow a required amount of air. As a consequence, the relative speed with respect to the blades increases, resulting in increased noises. Hence, there exists an applicable range for the distance E between the bell mouth 6a and the body top plate 1c.
The air conditioner 1 of the present invention can have the body suction port 1d in the body top plate 1c, in addition to the body suction port 1a in the body side-wall 1b on the upstream side of the heat exchanger 3, and can have the filter 2 so as to completely cover the top plate side suction port 1d, and side-plate side suction port 1a. By such arrangements, the suction port area and the dust removal filter area can be increased, thereby allowing a reduction in draft resistance and noises. Further, a time interval between filter cleaning operations can be elongated, and hence the number of cleaning operations can be reduced, whereby an air conditioner with low noise and maintenance saving property can be achieved.
The conventional air conditioner is configured in this way. Since the direction of blowoff air from the centrifugal fan is a horizontal direction perpendicular to an axis, when a centrifugal fan is installed within the air conditioner body, blowoff flow on the side-plate side and that on the main plate side interfere with each other to thereby enhance a draft resistance and increase noises. As a result, the fan has to be installed to protrude downward from the air conditioner body. It is required, therefore, that the ceiling panel is disposed in a state of protruding from the ceiling surface, which makes the size-reduction of the apparatus difficult, and gives feeling of oppression to people in the room provided with the air conditioner.
However, in the centrifugal fan of this embodiment, a fan blowoff flow is blown off in an oblique direction. In the case where the fan blowoff flow is blown off in the radial direction of the fan as in conventional centrifugal fans, a ceiling panel blowoff port has a horizontal blow configuration, and therefore, below the ceiling panel, the air-conditioned air cannot be blown. In contrast, in the present invention, high comfortability can be obtained everywhere. Also, air is blown off from the ceiling panel in an oblique direction by the airflow guide plate, thereby suppressing the increase in blowoff draft resistance.
Furthermore, since there is no need to arrange the blowoff port of the fan to protrude downward from the body as in the case of the conventional centrifugal fans, the main plate 12, which is the bottom surface of the centrifugal fan 8, and the end of the blowoff port 6b of the airflow guide plate 6 can be disposed at higher places than the ceiling. This facilities size reduction, and does not give feeling of oppression to people in the room provided with the air conditioner.
When air is blown off from the inner peripheral side of the blade 13 toward the outer peripheral side thereof at the step 13c formed by the wall-thickness difference between the inner peripheral side blade part 13e and the outer peripheral side blade part 13d, vortexes G1 are generated and a negative pressure occurs, as shown in
(a) In the mold moving stage, toward a mold 14a, another mold 14b moves and comes into close contact with the mold 14a. To the mold 14a, an injection nozzle 32 for injecting a thermoplastic resin such as ABS, AS, PP, or PS is fixed. (b) In the resin injection stage, the above described resin is injected from the injection nozzle 32 into a gap formed between the molds 14a and 14b being in a close contact with each other. The resin flows in from the main plate 12 to the boss 12a, and from the main plate 12 through the blade 13 to the side plate 11. Then, (c) in the resin cooling stage, the mold is cooled and the centrifugal fan 1 is formed. Thereafter, (d) in the mold release stage, the mold 14b leaves the mold 14a. At this time, at closely contacting part between the molds 14a and 14b, positioned on the blade of the air conditioner body 1, the blade dividing line B, that is, the step 13c is formed. (e) In the molded component taking-out stage, the air conditioner body 1 as a molded component is taken out from the mold 14a, thus completing the molding.
As described above, by forming the step 13c, during molding, the mold 14b can move in the side plate (11) direction of the rotation axis, on the inner peripheral side from the level difference 13c, and also, on the outer peripheral side, by moving the mold 14a to the main plate (12) side direction of the rotation axis the work can be released, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
Moreover, at this time, since the vortexes G2 arise in the side-plate recess part and a negative pressure occurs, the flow having flowed-in from the side plate suction part 11a can flow along the airflow guide wall 11b preventing flow separation, so that even more noise reduction can be achieved.
When the air conditioner body and ceiling panel are separately transported, in the case where the conventional centrifugal fan is installed to protrude from the air conditioner body, there is possibility that the fan may suffer breakdown under shocks applied thereto at the time when the body is stacked up. Therefore, robust packing materials for covering the fan's portion protruding from the body are required. In contrast, in the present invention, since the centrifugal fan is accommodated within the body, simple packing is only needed, thereby allowing reduction in packing materials. Also, a fan breakdown can be less likely to occur, and transportation quality can also be enhanced.
Moreover, since there is no need for increase in installation height in a space behind the ceiling, and the ceiling panel can be substantially flush with the room side surface of the ceiling, that is, the fan does not protrude toward the room side unlike the conventional case, so that people in the room do not suffer feeling of oppression.
The airflow guide plate is integrally formed of the airflow guide part being formed into a truncated cone shape in a gradually enlarging manner so as to isolate the fan suction airflow path from the blowoff airflow path and to guide a fan blowoff flow to the outside of the machine, and of the bell mouth. Therefore, the fan suction flow is rectified, as well as the increase in draft resistance of the fan blowoff flow is suppressed, thereby preventing increase in noises. In addition, since the airflow guide wall and the bell mouth are integrated in one unit, work efficiency is high during assembly or disassembly for recycling, because of a low number of components.
As a consequence, a reduction in packing materials can be achieved by virtue of breakdown prevention during transportation of the centrifugal fan. This enhances transportation quality, and facilitates assembly/disassembly as well as improves recycling workability. Furthermore, since the blades, the main plate, and the side plate can be molded into one unit, the molding method is simplified, and molding failure is less prone to occur, thereby enhancing reliability. As a result, the amount of scrap materials due to rearrangement or the like can be suppressed, which is friendly to the environment. Moreover, residents do not suffer stresses due to feelings of oppression, and there are no temperature variations, leading to high comfortability. Thus, an air conditioner having low noise and high maintenance-saving properties can be obtained.
Hereinafter, an air conditioner according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
There is provided a fan blowoff airflow guide plate 6 that is integrally formed combination of an airflow guide part 6c and a bell mouth 6a, the airflow guide part 6c being formed into a truncated cone shape in a gradually enlarging manner so as to isolate a fan suction air path·Ma of a centrifugal fan 8 from a blowoff air path Mb thereof. The tilt angle y of the airflow guide part 6c of the fan blowoff airflow plate 6 is configured so that the angle y1 in the longer direction of the body 1 is larger than the angle y2 in the shorter direction thereof, and an airflow plate blowoff port 6b is formed into an ellipse shape, as shown in
By forming the fan blowoff airflow plate 6 in this manner, even when the air conditioner body is formed into a vertically long shape because of limitations of an installation space such as an elongate room, a blowoff flow of the centrifugal fan reaches the body longitudinal direction, and is uniformly blown off from the ceiling panel blowoff port, so that unevenness temperature in the room can be suppressed, thereby allowing an enhancement of comfortability.
Hereinafter, an air conditioner according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
Furthermore, the airflow guide plate 6 that is integrally formed of the airflow guide part 6c, which is formed into a truncated cone shape in a gradually enlarging manner so as to isolated a fan suction air path Ma from a blowoff air path Mb and to guide a fan blowoff flow to the outside of the machine, and the bell mouth 6a, and the centrifugal fan are small relatively to a ceiling panel central opening 4c at the time when the central panel 4b is removed. Therefore, the airflow guide plate 6 and the centrifugal fan 8 can be removed from the body panel central opening 4c.
A side wall 5a of a drain pan 5 has a tilt shape along the tilt shape airflow guide part 6c of the fan blowoff airflow guide plate 6. Here, in the air conditioner 1 of the third embodiment, there are provided a plurality of columns of the heat exchangers 3. The upper end parts of the heat exchangers 3 are flush with each other, and that the lower end parts thereof are arranged in a staircase pattern along the tilted side wall of the drain pan. As a result, even though the column direction width increases by forming the plurality of columns of heat exchangers, the body size does not increase, and can be still kept compact.
By forming the ceiling-embedded air conditioner in this manner, since the blowoff port of the ceiling panel is opened in a substantially square shape, the centrifugal fan is invisible from people directly below the ceiling panel 4, leading to a favorable design. Also, since air is blown, off all around, unevenness of temperature in the room are suppressed to thereby enhance comfortability. Even if the opening shape is changed to a substantially circle shape, similar effects can be obtained.
Since the outer frame of the ceiling panel is fixed to the body to thereby constitute a bottom surface of the body, and the central part of the ceiling panel is capable of being removed, even at the time when the centrifugal fan is cleaned or the fan motor goes out of order, work can be performed without removing the airflow guide plate, thus improving work efficiency of cleaning, repair, or the like.
Moreover, since the central part of the ceiling panel is made an electrical component box for accommodating electrical components such as a substrate and the like, even if wiring or a substrate of electrical components goes out of order, work can be performed without removing components within the body, thus improving work efficiency of repair.
Also, since there is no electrical component in air paths, neither reduction in air paths on the suction side
and the blowoff side, nor increase in draft resistance occur, thereby allowing low noise to be kept.
Furthermore, the airflow guide plate that is integrally formed of the air guide part which is formed into a truncated cone shape in a gradually enlarging manner so as to isolated the fan suction air path from the fan blowoff air path and to guide a fan blowoff flow to the outside of the machine and the bell mouth, and the centrifugal fan are small relatively to the ceiling panel central opening at the time when the ceiling panel central part is removed, and the airflow guide plate and the centrifugal fan can be removed from the ceiling panel opening part. Therefore, when attempting to clean the inside of the body, there is no need for removal of the ceiling panel, thereby facilitating cleaning.
As a result, a ceiling-embedded air conditioner with low noise and high maintenance saving properties can be obtained.
As shown in
As shown in
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120325442 A1 | Dec 2012 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12529278 | US | |
Child | 13552938 | US |