Patent Application
20240133384
The disclosed technique relates to a blower and indoor equipment.
Indoor equipment of an air conditioner that is provided with a tangential fan is known. The tangential fan includes a plurality of impellers that are lined in an axial direction and a plurality of partition plates that separate the impellers. In a fan, a peripheral cross-section of the partition plate is formed into a triangular shape and accordingly it is possible to reduce a turbulence flow of air that strikes the partition plates and separation phenomenon and thus increase the air volume and reduce noise (Patent Literature 1).
Air that is blown from the impellers is blown out in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction and, because of the effect of a boundary layer that is formed near the partition plate, an airflow in a width corresponding to a width between adjacent partition plates that is reduced by the thickness of the boundary layer is blown out. The width of the airflow reduces and accordingly the air volume of the fan reduces.
The disclosed technique was made in view of the aspect and an object of the technique is to provide a fan that diffuses blown-out air in an axial direction and indoor equipment.
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a fan includes a multi wing fan, and a mechanism configured to rotate the multi wing fan around a rotation axis, wherein the multi wing fan includes a plurality of impellers that are lined in an axial direction that is parallel to the rotation axis, and a partition plate that is arranged along a plane that is perpendicular to the rotation axis, the partition plate includes a body part that separates two impellers among the plurality of impellers, and an outer circumferential part that surrounds an outer circumferential side of the body part that is perpendicular to the rotation axis, the outer circumferential part is formed such that the outer circumferential part gets thinner toward an outer circumferential edge of the partition plate, the outer circumferential edge of the partition plate is formed of a plurality of outer circumferential edge parts that are continuous in a circumferential direction, and a first position of a first outer circumferential edge part among the plurality of outer circumferential edge parts in the axial direction is different from a second position of a second outer circumferential edge part different from the first outer circumferential edge part among the plurality of outer circumferential edge parts in the axial direction.
The fan and the indoor equipment that are disclosed are able to inhibit the air volume from lowering.
A fan and indoor equipment according to an embodiment disclosed by the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings. The description below does not limit the technique of the disclosure. In the following description, the same components are denoted with the same reference numerals and thus redundant description will be omitted.
As illustrated in
The fan 1 includes a fan casing 7 and a tangential fan 8. The fan casing 7 is arranged in the housing 2 or is formed uniformly with the housing 2 and is fixed to the housing 2. In the fan casing 7, a blow path 11 and a blow-out port 12 are formed. An end of the blow path 11 is connected to an area between the fan 1 and the heat exchanger 3 in the air path 5. The blow-out port 12 is arranged at a lower end of the fan casing 7. The other end of the blow path 11 is connected to the blow-out port 12 and is connected to the outside of the housing 2 of the indoor equipment 10 via the blow-out port 12.
The tangential fan 8 is arranged in the blow path 11. The fan casing 7 includes a front-face-side tongue part 14 and a back-face-side tongue part 15. The front-face-side tongue part 14 is arranged on the front-face side of the housing 2. The back-face-side tongue part 15 is arranged on the side of the back face of the housing 2.
Each of the partition plates 32 is formed into an approximately disc-like shape. Each of the partition plates 32 is arranged perpendicularly to the axial direction 35. Each of the partition plates 32 is arranged between two of the impellers 31 and is fixed to the wings 41 of the two impellers.
The first end plate 33 is formed into an approximately disc-like shape. The first end plate 33 is arranged at an end of the tangential fan 8 along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction 35 and is fixed to the wings 41 of a first impeller 37 that is arranged at an end of the impellers 31. The second end plate 34 is formed into an approximately disc-like shape. The second end plate 34 is arranged at another end of the tangential fan 8 along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction 35 and is fixed to the wings 41 of a second impeller 38 that is arranged at the other end of the impellers 31.
The front-face-side tongue part 14 is formed into a band-like shape and is arranged at the side of a front face of the blow path 11 along a straight line that is parallel to the axial direction 35 and along an outer circumferential surface of the tangential fan 8. The back-face-side tongue part 15 is formed into a band-like shape and is arranged at the side of a back face of the blow path 11 along the axial direction 35 and along the outer circumferential surface of the tangential fan 8.
The fan 1 further includes a motor unit that is not illustrated in the drawing. The motor unit is a mechanism that causes the tangential fan 8 to rotate on the rotation axis 16 in the pre-determined rotational direction 40 as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The outer circumferential part 45 is formed of a plurality of outer circumferential parts 48-1 to 48-4 that are continuous in a circumferential direction with borders in between that are represented by the alternate long and short dash lines in
In this case, the lengths of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 are different from one another and the angles of a plurality of center angles θ1 to θ4 corresponding to the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 are different from one another. In other words, a center angle θ1 (first center angle) corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-1 is an angle between two straight lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-1, respectively, from a center point 50 at which the rotation axis 16 intersects with a plane surface along which the partition plate 42 is. A center angle θ2 (second center angle) corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-2 is an angle between two straight lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-2, respectively, from the center point 50. The angle of the center angle θ2 is different from the angle of the center angle θ1. A center angle θ3 (third center angle) corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-3 is an angle between two straight lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-3, respectively, from the center point 50. The angle of the center angle θ3 is different from the angle of the center angle θ1 and is different from the angle of the center angle θ2. A center angle θ4 (fourth center angle) corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-4 is an angle between two straight lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-4, respectively, from the center point 50. The angle of the center angle θ4 is different from the angle of the center angle θ1, is different from the angle of the center angle θ2, and is different from the center angle θ3.
Approximately as the outer circumferential part 48-1 is, the outer circumferential part 48-3 is formed such that the outer circumferential edge part 49-3 is sharp. The position (third position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-3 in the axial direction 35 is different from the position (first position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-1 in the axial direction 35 and is different from the position (second position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-2 in the axial direction 35. Approximately as the outer circumferential part 48-1 is, the outer circumferential part 48-4 is formed such that the outer circumferential edge part 49-4 is sharp. The position (fourth position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-4 in the axial direction 35 is different from the position (first position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-1 in the axial direction 35, is different from the position (second position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-2 in the axial direction 35, and is different from the position (third position) of the outer circumferential edge part 49-3 in the axial direction 35.
As for another partition plate different from the partition plate 42 among the partition plates 32, the outer circumferential part of the partition plate 42 is replaced with another outer circumferential edge part and other parts are formed similarly to those of the partition plate 42. The shape of the replaced outer circumferential part is different from the shape of the outer circumferential part of the partition plate 42 such that the center angles corresponding to the center angles θ1 to θ4 in the outer circumferential part are different from the center angles θ1 to 64 of the partition plate 42. As described above, the shapes of the partition plates 32 are different from one another such that the parts corresponding to the center angles θ1 to θ4 differ.
The air conditioner circulates a refrigerant through the indoor equipment 10 and the outdoor equipment. The outdoor equipment performs a heat exchange between the refrigerant and the external air. The fan 1 causes the tangential fan 8 to rotate on the rotation axis 16 in a rotation direction R. The tangential fan 8 rotates and accordingly the fan 1 supplies the air in the air-conditioned room from the intake 6 of the indoor equipment 10 to the air path 5. The heat exchanger 3 performs a heat exchange between the air that is supplied from the intake 6 to the air path 5 to adjust the temperature of the air that is supplied to the air path 5. The tangential fan 8 rotates and accordingly the fan 1 further blows out the air whose temperature is adjusted by the heat exchanger 3 from the blow-out port 12 to the air-conditioned room. The air conditioner is able to cool or warm the air-conditioned room by such operations.
When air whose temperature is adjusted by the heat exchanger 3 flows through the blow path 11, part of the air flowing through the blow path 11 strikes each of the outer circumferential edges 43 of the partition plates 32. The outer circumferential edges 43 are sharp and thus the fan 1 is able to attenuate the strike of the air at the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4, reduce a turbulence flow of the air flowing through the blow path 11 and separation phenomenon resulting from the strike of the air, and reduce a pressure loss caused when the air flows through the blow path 11. The pressure loss is reduced and accordingly the fan 1 is able to reduce power that is consumed when the motor unit not illustrated in the drawing causes the tangential fan 8 to rotate. Furthermore, a border layer in which the wind velocity is low compared to the main flow near the surface of the partition plates 32 is formed and, because the positions of the outer circumferential edges 43 of the partition plates 32 in the axial direction 35 are different, the fan 1 is able to increase the width of the main flow flowing between the wings 41 that are lined in the circumferential direction. By increasing the width of the main flow flowing between adjacent partition plates among the partition plates 32 in the axial direction 35, the indoor equipment 10 is able to reduce the pressure loss of the air passing through the fan 1. Furthermore, because the lengths of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 are different from one another, the fan 1 is able to reduce the sound pressure energy of pitches.
In a fan of a comparative example, the partition plates 32 of the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment are replaced with a plurality of other partition plates and other parts are the same as those of the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment. As for the replaced partition plates, a thickness of an outer circumferential part is constant and is equal to the thickness of the body part 44. In other words, the outer circumferential edges of the partition plates are not sharp and end faces along a cylindrical face on the rotation axis 16 serving as a center axis are formed at the outer circumferential edges.
The fan 1 of the embodiment includes the tangential fan 8 and the motor unit that causes the tangential fan 8 to rotate on the rotation axis 16. The tangential fan 8 includes the impellers 31 that are lined in the axial direction 35 that is parallel to the axial direction 35; and the partition plate 42 that is arranged along a plane that is perpendicular to the axial direction 35. The partition plate 42 includes the body part 44 that separates two impellers among the impellers 31; and the outer circumferential part 45 that surrounds an outer circumferential side of the body part 44 perpendicular to the rotation axis. The outer circumferential part 45 is formed such that the outer circumferential part 45 gets thinner toward the outer circumferential edge 43 of the partition plate 42, that is, the outer circumferential edge 43 is sharp. The outer circumferential edge 43 of the partition plate 42 is formed of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 that are continuous in the circumferential direction. A position of the outer circumferential edge part 49-1 among the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 in the axial direction 35 is different from a position of the outer circumferential edge part 49-2 different from the circumferential edge part 49-1 among the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 in the axial direction 35.
In this case, because the outer circumferential edge 43 of the partition plate 42 is sharp, the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to reduce the pressure loss caused when air is blown and reduce the amount of input. Furthermore, because the positions of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 in the axial direction 35 are different from one another, the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to increase the width of the main flow flowing between adjacent partition plates among the partition plates 32 in the axial direction 35. The blown air is distributed in the axial direction 35 and therefore the indoor equipment 10 provided with the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to send air whose temperature is adjusted to the air-conditioned room at a wide angle and cool or warm the air-conditioned room appropriately.
The angle of the center angle θ1 corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-1 of the fan 1 of the embodiment is different from the angle of the center angle θ2 corresponding to the outer circumferential edge part 49-2. The center angle θ1 is an angle between two straight lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-1, respectively, from the center point 50 at which the rotation axis 16 intersects with a plane along which the partition plate 42 is. The center angle θ2 is an angle between two lines that are extended to both ends of the outer circumferential edge part 49-2, respectively, from the center point 50. In this case, because the lengths of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 in the circumferential direction are different from one another, the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to increase the width of the main flow flowing between adjacent partition plates among the partition plates 32 in the axial direction 35.
The tangential fan 8 of the fan 1 of the embodiment further includes another partition plate that is arranged along another plane that is parallel to the plane along which the partition plate 42 is. As in the partition plate 42, the outer circumferential edge 43 is sharp, that is, the partition plate is formed such of the partition plate gets thinner toward the outer circumferential edge 43. As the outer circumferential edge 43 of the partition plate 42 is, the outer circumferential edge of the partition plate is formed of a plurality of outer circumferential edge parts whose positions in the axial direction 35 are different from one another. In this case, the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to further reduce the pressure loss of air that is blown compared to the fan provided with only one partition plate in which the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 are formed.
The shapes of the partition plates 32 of the fan 1 of the embodiment are different from one another such that the angles of the center angles θ1 to θ4 are different in each partition plate. In this case, the positions of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 do not synchronize between the partition plates 32. For this reason, the fan 1 of the embodiment is able to increase the width of the main flow flowing between adjacent partition plates among the partition plates 32 in the axial direction 35 compared to another fan in which the positions of the outer circumferential edge parts 49-1 to 49-4 in the axial direction 35 are synchronized.
In the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment, the center angles θ1 to θ4 are different in each of the partition plates 32; however, the shapes of the partition plates 32 may be uniform with one another. Even when the shapes of the partition plates 32 are uniform, the fan is able to reduce the pressure loss of air that is blown as the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment is.
In the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment, the partition plates 32 are formed such that the center angles θ1 to θ4 are different from one another; however, the partition plates 32 may be formed such that the center angles θ1 to θ4 are equal to one another. Even when the center angles θ1 to θ4 are equal to one another, the fan is able to reduce the pressure loss of air that is blown as the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment is.
In the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment, all the outer circumferential edges 43 of the partition plates 32 are sharp; however, the partition plate 42 whose outer circumferential edge 43 is not sharp may be contained in the partition plates. Even when partition plates whose outer circumferential edge 43 are not sharp are contained partly, the fan is able to reduce the pressure loss of air that is blown as the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment is.
The partition plates 32 of the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment are provided in the tangential fan 8 that takes air in from a radial direction and blows the air out in another radial direction; however, the partition plates 32 may be provided in a multi wing fan that is different from the tangential fan. A centrifugal fan that takes air in from the axial direction and blows the air out in the radial direction is exemplified as the tangential fan 8. Such a fan is also able to reduce the pressure loss of air that is blown as the fan 1 of the above-described embodiment is.
The fan 1 of the above-described embodiment is used for the indoor equipment 10 of the air conditioner; however, the fan 1 may be used for another apparatus different from the indoor equipment 10. An air curtain apparatus is exemplified as the apparatus.
The embodiment has been exemplified; however, the above-described content does not limit the embodiment. The above-described components include one that is assumable easily by those skilled in the art and one substantially the same, that is, within a range of equivalents. Furthermore, the above-described components can be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, at least one of various types of omission, replacement and change of the components may be performed within the scope of the embodiment.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-031769 | Mar 2021 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2022/008501 | 3/1/2022 | WO |
