This application is a U.S. national stage application of PCT/JP2016/072482 filed on Aug. 1, 2016, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus including a pipe hole-opening groove section for forming a pipe passage.
A conventional indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus includes cutout plates each for pulling out a pipe for connection with an outdoor unit. The cutout plates are formed in lower right and left corners of a housing defining an outer shape of the indoor unit. Each cutout plate includes a groove-like cutout line along which the cutout plate is cut off from the housing. The cutout line is formed on an outer surface that is a design surface of the indoor unit. The point to pull out a pipe varies depending on an installation location of the indoor unit, and thus one of the cutout plates selected depending on the installation location is cut off. However, other cutout lines of the cutout plates left uncut are still present on the outer surface although the other cutout lines are no longer functionally necessary. The design of the indoor unit is thus degraded.
In view of the above, Patent Literature 1 discloses an indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus including a pipe hole-opening groove section that is arc-shaped to match the shape of a pipe and only formed on an inner surface of a housing of the indoor unit.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-349894
The indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1 allows a pipe hole-opening groove section unused for pipe connection to be hidden inside the housing, which is invisible from the outside, and the exterior design of the indoor unit can thus be improved. However, the indoor unit disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has a drawback in that cutting off this pipe hole-opening groove section along its edge with a cutting tool such as nippers is not work-efficient because an arced portion, in particular, of the pipe hole-opening groove section is difficult to cut. Moreover, it is difficult to beautifully cut off the pipe hole-opening groove section along its edge, and uncut burrs are so obtrusive as to degrade the design.
The prevent invention has been made to solve the above problems and aims to provide an indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus that allows not only to improve the exterior design of the indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus, but also to reduce the workload of cutting off a pipe hole-opening groove section while allowing the pipe hole-opening groove section to be beautifully cut.
An indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention is connected to an outdoor unit with a pipe and includes a pipe hole-opening groove section that is in the form of grid-like grooves on an inner surface of a housing that defines an outer shape of the indoor unit.
In an indoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention, a pipe hole-opening groove section that is in the form of grid-like grooves is formed on an inner surface of a housing defining an outer shape of the indoor unit, and a design surface (outer surface) of the housing is thus allowed to be flat without grooves. Also, a pipe hole-opening groove section unused for pipe connection is invisible from the outside, and the exterior design of the indoor unit is thus improved. Further, the grid-like grooves can be finely cut off with a cutting tool cell by cell in the grid, and the workload of cutting off the pipe hole-opening groove section is thus reduced. The pipe hole-opening groove section is thus also allowed to be beautifully cut, further improving the design.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference signs, and explanations of these components may be omitted or simplified as appropriate. The shape, size, locations, and other property of the components illustrated in the drawings may be changed as appropriate within the scope of the present invention.
For example, the housing 1 is made of a rear case 2 and a front case 3 attached to the rear case 2, having a substantially cuboid box-like shape. The front case 3 includes an air outlet 30 provided with a wind direction adjuster 31 for adjusting a wind direction. Rotation of the air-sending fan causes indoor air to be suctioned into the indoor unit 100, and the suctioned air exchanges heat at the heat exchanger in the indoor unit 100. The air-conditioned air having exchanged heat is blown into the room from the air outlet 30.
The rear case 2 is provided with a lower right surface panel 4 and a right-end bottom panel 5 that are removable. The lower right surface panel 4 and the right-end bottom panel 5 form a part of the lower right corner of the housing 1. Also, the rear case 2 is provided with a lower left surface panel 6 and a left-end bottom panel 7 that are removable. The lower left surface panel 6 and the left-end bottom panel 7 form a part of the lower left corner of the housing 1. The lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, and the left-end bottom panel 7 may be provided to the front case 3.
At each end of the lower right surface panel 4 and the right-end bottom panel 5, a mounting part 8a is provided for mounting on the rear case 2. In other words, the L-shaped cover 8 is mounted on the rear case 2 with the mounting parts 8a engaged with engaging parts, which are unillustrated, of the rear case 2. The L-shaped cover 8 is provided with a reinforcing rib 8b on one side surface of the L-shaped cover 8.
At each end of the lower left surface panel 6 and the left-end bottom panel 7, a mounting part 9a is provided for mounting on the rear case 2. In other words, the L-shaped cover 9 is mounted on the rear case 2 with the mounting parts 9a engaged with engaging parts, which are unillustrated, of the rear case 2. The L-shaped cover 9 is provided with a reinforcing rib 9b on one side surface of the L-shaped cover 9.
As shown in
The pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is made of a groove-like outer frame 13 and grid-like grooves 12 cut within the outer frame 13. The grid-like grooves 12 have a thickness thinner than the other parts of the panel, and can be easily cut with a cutting tool. As shown in
As shown in
A brief explanation will be given of a procedure to form the pipe passage 11 by cutting off the pipe hole-opening groove section 10.
On the other hand, the indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus of Embodiment 1 includes the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 formed as the grid-like grooves 12 on the inner surface of the housing 1 defining the outer shape of the indoor unit. The design surface (outer surface) of the housing 1 is thus allowed to be flat without grooves. Also, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 that is unused for pipe connection is invisible from the outside, and the exterior design of the indoor unit is thus improved. Further, the grid-like grooves 12 can be finely cut off with a cutting tool cell by cell in the grid, and the workload of cutting off the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is thus reduced.
Further, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is formed in at least one of the lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, and the left-end bottom panel 7. An operator is thus allowed to remove from the rear case 2 a panel that is required for forming the pipe passage 11 and to do the cutting work at hand, reducing the workload of the cutting work.
Further, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is made of the grid-like grooves 12 that are cut within the groove-like outer frame 13. The pipe passage 11 is thus allowed to be beautifully formed along the outer frame 13, further improving the design.
The indoor unit of the air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment 2 will be explained with reference to
The indoor unit 100 of the air-conditioning apparatus of Embodiment 2 is the same as the indoor unit of the above Embodiment 1 in that the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is formed on the inner surface of each of the lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, and the left-end bottom panel 7. The pipe hole-opening groove section 10 of the indoor unit 100 of Embodiment 2 includes a groove-like first outer frame 14, a groove-like second outer frame 15, and a groove-like third outer frame 16 each having a different size. The first outer frame 14, the second outer frame 15, and the third outer frame 16 are spaced from each other in such a manner that a larger one of the outer frames encloses a smaller one of the outer frames in turn. The grid-like grooves 12 are cut within each of areas surrounded by the first outer frame 14, the second outer frame 15, and the third outer frame 16. That is, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 shown in
Thus, the indoor unit 100 of the air-conditioning apparatus of Embodiment 2 is allowed to form the pipe passage 11 of an appropriate size by selecting one of the outer frames 14 to 16 depending on the outer diameter of the pipe. In other words, the indoor unit 100 of the air-conditioning apparatus of Embodiment 2 does not require forming the pipe passage 11 that is unnecessarily larger than the outer diameter of the pipe, and both the design effect and the quality of the cutting work are thus improved. Of course, the grid-like grooves 12 can be finely cut off with a cutting tool cell by cell in the grid, and the workload of cutting off the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is thus reduced. The grid-like grooves 12 can also be beautifully cut along the outer frame 13, which leads to improved design.
The indoor unit 100 of the air-conditioning apparatus of Embodiment 2 includes the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 formed as the grid-like grooves 12 on the inner surface of the housing 1 defining the outer shape of the indoor unit 100. The design surface (outer surface) of the housing 1 is thus allowed to be flat without grooves. Also, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 that is unused for pipe connection is invisible from the outside, and the exterior design of the indoor unit s thus improved.
The present invention has been explained with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, although the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is formed on each inner surface of the lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, and the left-end bottom panel 7 in Embodiments 1 and 2, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 may be formed in at least one of the lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, and the left-end bottom panel 7. Further, the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is only required to be formed on the inner surface of the housing 1, and thus the pipe hole-opening groove section 10 is not limited to that formed in the lower right surface panel 4, the right-end bottom panel 5, the lower left surface panel 6, or the left-end bottom panel 7. In other words, various modifications, applications and usages made by those skilled in the art as necessary are included in the gist (technical scope) of the present invention.
1 housing 2 rear case 3 front case 4 lower right surface panel
5 right-end bottom panel 6 lower left surface panel 7 left-end bottom panel 8, 9 L-shaped cover 8a, 9a mounting part 8b, 9b rib 10 pipe hole-opening groove section 11 pipe passage 12 grid-like groove 13 outer frame 14 first outer frame 15 second outer frame 16 third outer frame
30 air outlet 31 wind direction adjuster 80 L-shaped cover 81 first cutout plate 81a first cutout line 82 second cutout plate 82a second cutout line 100 indoor unit
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2016/072482 | 8/1/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2018/025302 | 2/8/2018 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20160109162 | Suzuki | Apr 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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201507995 | Jun 2010 | CN |
H03-050385 | May 1991 | JP |
H11-051419 | Feb 1999 | JP |
2002-349894 | Dec 2002 | JP |
2012-052762 | Mar 2012 | JP |
Entry |
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International Search Report of the International Searching Authority dated Aug. 30, 2016 for the corresponding international application No. PCT/JP2016/072482 (and English translation). |
Office Action dated Apr. 3, 2020 issued in corresponding CN patent application No. 201680087033.1 ( and English translation). |
Extended European Search Report dated Jul. 16, 2019 issued in corresponding EP patent application No. 16911563.1. |
Office Action dated Nov. 18, 2020 issued in corresponding CN patent application No. 201680087033.1 ( and English translation). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20190195529 A1 | Jun 2019 | US |