Patent Grant
10767874
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-209324 filed with the Japan Patent Office on Oct. 10, 2014, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a ceiling-embedded air conditioner. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a ceiling-embedded air conditioner that suppresses swirling airflows generated on the back surface of a bell-mouth by rotation of a turbo fan.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ceiling-embedded air conditioner has a casing body including a heat exchanger and a blower (turbo fan). The casing body is embedded in a space formed between a ceiling slab and a ceiling panel. A flat square decorative panel is attached to the lower surface of the casing body. The decorative panel has an air inlet and an air outlet.
In the configuration described in JP-A-2012-2165, the casing body is a cuboid in shape. The turbo fan is disposed at the center of the casing body. The heat exchanger is disposed to surround the outer periphery of the turbo fan. A bell-mouth is provided between the air inlet and the turbo fan. The bell-mouth guides the air, which is taken into the casing body from the air inlet, to the inside of the turbo fan.
The turbo fan has a main plate, a shroud, and a plurality of blades. The main plate has a hub, to which a rotation shaft is fixed, at the center. The shroud is disposed to be opposite to the direction of axis of the rotation shaft relative to the main plate. The plurality of blades is disposed between the main plate and the shroud. The shroud has an opening at the center through which the bell-mouth is partially inserted into the turbo fan.
The bell-mouth has a base portion and a suction guide portion. The base portion is formed in a square shape corresponding to the shape of the air inlet. The suction guide portion is formed in a trumpet shape from the center of the base portion toward the inside of the turbo fan. As the turbo fan is driven, the air is sucked from the air inlet through the bell-mouth to the inside of the turbo fan (refer to JP-A-2012-2165, FIG. 2).
The air blown from the turbo fan is directed to the surrounding heat exchanger, and is heat-exchanged with a refrigerant through the spaces between heat-radiation fins in the heat exchanger. After that, the air is blown from the air outlet into the room through a blowing path. The blowing range of the turbo fan in the axial direction depends on the axial height of the outlet. In general, the axial height of the outlet is set to be lower than the height of the heat exchanger. This causes unevenness in wind speed distribution at the portion of the heat exchanger opposed to the outlet and the portion of the heat exchanger separated from the outlet. The unevenness results in unbalanced heat exchange.
As another problem, there is high blowing resistance at the back surface side of the blowing path opposite to the suction guide portion side of the bell-mouth. Accordingly, part of the air leaks from the gap formed between the bell-mouth and the turbo fan into the inside of the turbo fan (recirculation). Therefore, the air not passing through the heat exchanger is retained on the back surface side of the bell-mouth. As the turbo fan rotates, the retained air swirls along the back surface of the bell-mouth opposite to the air suction surface on the air inlet side. That is, swirling airflows are generated. The generation of the swirling airflows leads to reduction in the amount of wind flowing into the heat exchanger. This results in an unsmooth flow of air with lower heat-exchange efficiency.
According to the technique described in JP-A-2007-100548, radial ribs are provided on the back surface of the shroud to suppress loss of air blow. Accordingly, the air approaching the gap formed between the bell-mouth and the shroud is forcibly pushed back to the outside in radial direction.
However, the method described in JP-A-2007-100548 does not solve the swirling airflow problem and thus is less effective in preventing reduction in heat-exchange efficiency. In addition, providing the ribs may increase wind noise and vibration.
A ceiling-embedded air conditioner includes: a ceiling-embedded casing body that has an air suction path at the center of a lower surface and has an air blowoff path around the air suction path; a turbo fan that is disposed inside the casing body; a heat exchanger that is disposed inside the casing body on an outer peripheral side of the turbo fan; a bell-mouth that guides air sucked from the air suction path toward the inside of the turbo fan; and a rectifier that is provided on a back surface side of the bell-mouth at the air suction path side opposite to an air suction surface of the bell-mouth, the rectifier suppressing swirling airflows generated by part of air blown from the turbo fan swirling along the back surface of the bell-mouth in the same direction as a rotation direction of the turbo fan.
In the following detailed description, for purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a ceiling-embedded air conditioner as described below. That is, the ceiling-embedded air conditioner prevents the retention of the air and realizes higher heat-exchange efficiency by suppressing occurrence of swirling airflows in the space between the turbo fan and the heat exchanger.
A ceiling-embedded air conditioner (the air conditioner) according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a ceiling-embedded casing body that has an air suction path at the center of a lower surface and has an air blowoff path around the air suction path; a turbo fan that is disposed inside the casing body; a heat exchanger that is disposed inside the casing body on an outer peripheral side of the turbo fan; a bell-mouth that guides air sucked from the air suction path toward the inside of the turbo fan; and a rectifier that is provided on a back surface side of the bell-mouth at the air suction path side opposite to an air suction surface of the bell-mouth, the rectifier suppressing swirling airflows generated by part of air blown from the turbo fan swirling along the back surface of the bell-mouth in the same direction as a rotation direction of the turbo fan.
As a preferable embodiment, the rectifier is erected on the back surface of the bell-mouth.
As a more preferable embodiment, the rectifier has a first rectifying side vertically erected on the back surface of the bell-mouth as a base end and a second rectifying side horizontally extended from the leading end of the first rectifying side. The first rectifying side is formed in parallel to a ventilation surface of the heat exchanger.
Further, the rectifier is preferably formed integrally with the bell-mouth and is also provided as a reinforcement plate for reinforcing strength of the bell-mouth.
As another preferable embodiment, the air conditioner further includes a drain pan that is provided inside the casing body to receive dew condensation water generated by the heat exchanger. The rectifier is erected on the drain pan.
In addition, the heat exchanger preferably has first to fourth heat exchange portions. The rectifier is preferably disposed to be opposed to the first to fourth heat exchange portions with predetermined spacing therebetween and is positioned such that a distance between the ventilation surface of each of the heat exchange portions and an end surface of the rectifier opposed to the ventilation surface is the shortest.
According to the air conditioner, the rectifiers are provided on the back surface of the bell-mouth. By contacting swirling airflows on the rectifiers, the swirling airflows can be forcibly pushed out toward the heat exchanger on the outside of the bell-mouth. This suppresses the occurrence of swirling airflows in the space between the turbo fan and the heat exchanger and prevents the retention of the air. That is, pushing out the swirling airflows toward the heat exchanger increases the heat-exchange efficiency.
Next, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this.
As illustrated in
The bottom surface 20 of the casing body 2 is opened to the inside of the room. An air suction path 23 that is square in cross section is formed at the center of the bottom surface 20. An air blowoff path 24 is formed on the bottom surface 20 of the casing body 2 to surround the four sides of the air suction path 23.
A decorative panel 3 is screwed to the bottom surface 20 of the casing body 2. The decorative panel 3 is made of a synthetic resin and has a flat regular square shape. A square air inlet 31 is provided at the center of the decorative panel 3. The air inlet 31 communicates with the air suction path 23 of the casing body 2. Rectangular air outlets 32 are disposed around the air inlet 31 at four places along the respective sides of the air inlet 31. The air outlets 32 communicate with the air blowoff path 24 at the back surface side (ceiling surface side).
A suction grill 4 is provided to cover the air inlet 31. The suction grill 4 is a synthetic resin molded component. The suction grill 4 is formed in a flat regular square shape to cover the bottom surface 20 of the casing body 2.
In this embodiment, the air outlets 32 are respectively covered with electrically opening and closing wind direction plates 321. During air-conditioning operation, the wind direction plates 321 are opened by a rotation member not illustrated provided on the back surface side of the decorative panel 3 to make the air outlets 32 appear.
The casing body 2 stores a turbo fan 5 as a blowing fan and a heat exchanger 6 therein. A bell-mouth 7 is disposed in the air suction path 23 ranging from the air inlet 31 to the turbo fan 5. The bell-mouth 7 guides the air taken in from the air inlet 31 to the turbo fan 5.
As illustrated in
The turbo fan 5 is disposed at almost the center of inside of the casing body 2. The turbo fan 5 is hung and held by the drive motor (fan motor) 51 mounted on the top plate 21. Accordingly, as the turbo fan 5 is driven to rotate, the bell-mouth 7 is under negative pressure at the air inlet 31 side (lower side in
As illustrated in
In this embodiment, the heat exchanger 6 includes an elongated square plate-like body with four bent portions. The heat exchanger 6 has a heat-radiation fin group 61 including a large number of strip-shaped heat-radiation fins. The large number of heat-radiation fins is disposed at predetermined spacing therebetween. In the heat exchanger 6, a large number of heat-transfer tubes 62 are inserted into the heat-radiation fin group 61 in parallel to one another.
As illustrated in
The third bent portion 6g and the fourth bent portion 6h are positioned between the third heat exchange portion 6c and the fourth heat exchange portion 6d. The third bent portion 6g and the fourth bent portion 6h are bent such that, when the third bent portion 6g and the fourth bent portion 6h are combined with each other, the angle formed by the third heat exchange portion 6c and the fourth heat exchange portion 6d is a right angle to provide an installation space for a drain pump (not illustrated). The fourth bent portion 6h may not be provided between the third heat exchange portion 6c and the fourth heat exchange portion 6d. In this case, the third bent portion 6g, which is disposed between the third heat exchange portion 6c and the fourth heat exchange portion 6d, may be bent such that the angle formed by the third heat exchange portion 6c and the fourth heat exchange portion 6d is a right angle.
The end portions of the heat-transfer tubes 62 are drawn from both end portions 63 and 64 of the heat exchanger 6. A U-shaped tube (not illustrated) is coupled to the one end portion 63. At the other end portion 64, gas-side tubes are united into one collective tube and coupled to a gas-side pipe G, and liquid-side tubes are united into one collective tube and coupled to a liquid-side pipe L.
In this embodiment, the heat exchanger 6 is formed in a square shape in a plane view of
As described above, the heat exchanger 6 is bent at the first to fourth bent portions 6e to 6h. Accordingly, the heat exchanger 6 is bent in a square shape in a plane view. In addition, the heat exchanger 6 has the end portions 63 and 64 disposed at a predetermined spacing therebetween.
In this embodiment, as illustrated in
The heat exchanger 6 is connected to a reversible refrigeration cycle circuit not illustrated that allows cooling operation and heating operation. The heat exchanger 6 serves as an evaporator to cool the air during cooling operation. Meanwhile, the heat exchanger 6 serves as a condenser to heat the air during heating operation.
Drain pans 8 are provided at the lower end side of the heat exchanger 6 to receive dew condensation water generated by the heat exchanger 6. The drain pans 8 are provided inside the casing body 2 and are provided with gutters 81. The gutters 81 store the lower end side of the heat exchanger 6. The dew condensation water dropped from the heat exchanger 6 is received at the gutters 81 and drawn up by a drain pump not illustrated.
The bell-mouth 7 is composed of a synthetic resin molded component. The bell-mouth 7 includes a base portion 71 and a suction guide portion 72 as illustrated in
The base portion 71 is a concave formed in a square shape corresponding to the shape of the air inlet 31. A storage concave portion 73, in which the electrical equipment box 9 described later is to be disposed, is formed in a part of the base portion 71. The storage concave portion 73 has a corner positioned above the corner A of the casing body 2 (refer to
The suction guide portion 72 is formed in a trumpet shape (funnel shape) to be gradually smaller in outer diameter with increasing proximity to the center of the rotation shaft 511 of the turbo fan 5. The suction guide portion 72 has a round edge 721 at the upper end side. The edge 721 is inserted into the opening 531 of the turbo fan 5.
The back surface 7B of the bell-mouth 7 (plane side in
The rectifiers 74 are formed in a plate shape. Each of the rectifiers 74 has a first rectifying side 741 and a second rectifying side 742. The first rectifying side 741 is vertically extended from the back surface of the bell-mouth 7 (base portion 71) in the vicinity of a boundary portion 711 between the base portion 71 and the suction guide portion 72. That is, the rectifier 74 is erected on the back surface 7B of the bell-mouth 7. The second rectifying side 742 is horizontally extended from the upper end of the first rectifying side 741 to the edge 721 of the suction guide portion 72. In this example, the rectifiers 74 are provided at four positions by 90 degrees.
The first rectifying side 741 of the rectifier 74 is a side vertical to the base portion 71 as described above. As illustrated in
Of the rectifiers 74, a rectifier 74a disposed on the back surface side of the storage concave portion 73 is formed on the storage concave portion 73. Accordingly, the base portion of the rectifier 74a (portion in contact with the storage concave portion 73) is shifted toward the round edge 721 according to the shape of the storage concave portion 73. Therefore, the first rectifying side 741 of the rectifier 74a is shorter than the first rectifying sides 741 of the other rectifiers 74. Meanwhile, the second rectifying sides 742 of the rectifiers 74 are flush with one another.
According to this, as illustrated in
The rectifiers 74 are formed integrally with the bell-mouth 7 to serve also as reinforcement plates for reinforcing the strength of the bell-mouth 7. That is, the rectifiers 74 improve the strength of the bell-mouth 7. This suppresses thermal deformation of the bell-mouth 7 at the time of molding, and increases the dimensional accuracy of the bell-mouth 7. Therefore, the gap between the bell-mouth 7 and 53 can be further narrowed. As a result, the recirculation of the air from the gap to the turbo fan 5 is decreased to further enhance the efficiency of heat exchange.
In this embodiment, the rectifiers 74 are formed integrally with the back surface of the bell-mouth 7. Note that the rectifiers 74 may be merely disposed in the ceiling-embedded air conditioner 1 to block swirling airflows along the back surface of the bell-mouth 7. Accordingly, the positions of the rectifiers 74 may not be limited to the bell-mouth 7.
Specifically, as illustrated in
The second rectifiers 82 are aligned in height to the second rectifying sides 742 of the first rectifiers 74. The second rectifiers 82 are disposed in abutment with the first rectifying sides 741 of the first rectifiers 74. Accordingly, each of the first rectifiers 74 and each of the second rectifiers 82 serve as one large rectifier. Swirling airflows contacting the first rectifiers 74 move to the vicinity of the heat exchanger 6 from the first rectifiers 74 through the second rectifiers 82. This further enhances the efficiency of heat exchange.
In the embodiment illustrated in
As illustrated in
The box body 91 has a first storage portion 91a and a second storage portion 91b. The box body 91 is formed in an L shape such that the first storage portion 91a and the second storage portion 91b are orthogonal to each other. A temperature-humidity sensor 93 is erected on the side wall of the first storage portion 91a opposed to the suction guide portion 72.
The lid portion 92 is formed in an L shape adapted to the opening of the box body 91. The lid portion 92 includes a first lid portion 92a covering the first storage portion 91a and a second lid portion 92b covering the second storage portion 91b. The lid portion 92 is horizontally formed along the open surface of the box body 91. A tapered surface 94 is formed at a corner of the lid portion 92 opposed to the suction guide portion 72. The height of the tapered surface 94 is gradually lower from the upstream to downstream sides of the blowing direction.
Accordingly, the air flowing along the surface of the electrical equipment box 9 can be smoothly guided to the bell-mouth 7 through the tapered surface 94. This reduces ventilation resistance and suppresses decrease in heat exchange efficiency.
As described above, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the rectifiers are provided on the back surface of the bell-mouth. By contacting swirling airflows on the rectifiers, it is possible to suppress swirling airflows generated in the space between the turbo fan 5 and the heat exchanger 6 and prevent the retention of the air. That is, the efficiency of heat exchange can be enhanced by pushing swirling airflows out toward the heat exchanger.
The expressions herein indicating shapes or states such as regular square, rectangular, square, circular, vertical, parallel, right angle, 90 degrees, the same, orthogonal, and horizontal, signify not only strict shapes or states but also approximate shapes or states shifted from the strict shapes or states, without deviating from the scope in which the operations and effects of these shapes or states can be achieved.
The foregoing detailed description has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the subject matter described herein to the precise form disclosed. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims appended hereto.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-209324 | Oct 2014 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6470699 | Okuda | Oct 2002 | B1 |
| 6481237 | Kim | Nov 2002 | B2 |
| 7066712 | Kim | Jun 2006 | B2 |
| 10473356 | Kato | Nov 2019 | B2 |
| 20060010901 | Iwata | Jan 2006 | A1 |
| 20080035317 | Choi | Feb 2008 | A1 |
| 20090007580 | Sakashita | Jan 2009 | A1 |
| 20090255654 | Zheng et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20120195752 | Lopez Partida | Aug 2012 | A1 |
| 20120230816 | Boufflert | Sep 2012 | A1 |
| 20120308370 | Nagae | Dec 2012 | A1 |
| 20140231051 | Cho | Aug 2014 | A1 |
| 20150253032 | Kono | Sep 2015 | A1 |
| 20160076789 | Kojima | Mar 2016 | A1 |
| 20170299201 | Obara | Oct 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-100548 | Apr 2007 | JP |
| 2012-002165 | Jan 2012 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160102871 A1 | Apr 2016 | US |
