Patent Application
20250109864
This application claims priority to Chinese Application No. 202322672420.1 filed on Sep. 28, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) apparatuses, and specifically relates to an indoor unit of an HVAC apparatus, and an HVAC apparatus.
This section only provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily the prior art.
In order to cope with the problem of increasing environmental destruction caused by the use of refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP) values, governments around the world have further improved their requirements for environmentally friendly refrigerants used in the air conditioning industry. Currently, the refrigerants used in most air conditioning products are gradually replaced by refrigerants with lower GWP values, such as R32, R290, R454B, etc.
During the daily operation of freon-based air conditioning products, the refrigerant in the air conditioning system necessarily circulates back and forth between an outdoor air conditioner unit and an indoor air conditioner unit for heat exchange and transfer, which also means that if a pipeline in the indoor air conditioner unit is damaged, there will be a problem of refrigerant leakage into the residential room. However, most current environmentally friendly refrigerants are combustible refrigerants. Once the refrigerant leakage gradually accumulates and reaches a combustible concentration, the refrigerant can be ignited, which will threaten the safety of personnel and houses.
An object of the present disclosure is to at least solve the technical problem that existing air conditioning products cannot effectively detect refrigerant leakage, and this object is achieved through the following solutions.
A first aspect of the present disclosure provides an indoor unit of an HVAC apparatus, which includes: a cabinet, which includes a shell, the shell including a bottom plate and a top plate and being formed with an accommodation chamber, the bottom plate forming a bottom surface of the accommodation chamber, and the top plate forming a top surface of the accommodation chamber; a heat exchange assembly, which is arranged inside the accommodation chamber; and a refrigerant detection device, which is arranged inside the accommodation chamber and is configured to detect refrigerant that leaks from the heat exchange assembly; in which a distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate is smaller than or equal to ½ of a distance D between the bottom plate and the top plate.
According to the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus of the present disclosure, the heat exchange assembly is prone to refrigerant leakage. By arranging the refrigerant detection device near the bottom plate of the shell of the cabinet and making the distance DI between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate smaller than or equal to ½ of the distance D between the bottom plate and the top plate, it can be ensured that the distance between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate is small enough, so that when refrigerant leakage occurs in the heat exchange assembly, since the density of the refrigerant is larger than that of air, the refrigerant will first diffuse and deposit in the downward direction as well as in left and right directions, and then continuously accumulate on the bottom plate. Therefore, near the bottom plate of the accommodation chamber of the cabinet, the concentration of refrigerant will be higher. By arranging the refrigerant detection device such that the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate is smaller than or equal to ½ of the distance D between the bottom plate and the top plate, the detection accuracy of the refrigerant detection device can be improved and the time required for detection can be shortened.
In addition, the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus according to the present disclosure may also have the following additional technical features.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate is smaller than or equal to 50 mm.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device and the bottom plate is larger than or equal to 15 mm and smaller than or equal to 25 mm.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the shell includes an air outlet and an air inlet, which are spaced apart and are respectively communicated with the accommodation chamber; the heat exchange assembly includes a heat exchanger, which is arranged inside the accommodation chamber and located between the air outlet and the air inlet, and the refrigerant detection device is arranged adjacent to the heat exchanger.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the refrigerant detection device is arranged between the heat exchanger and the air outlet, and/or the heat exchanger has at least two heat exchange tubes connected to each other, the at least two heat exchange tubes have a welding connection part and/or an elbow part therebetween, and the refrigerant detection device is arranged at a position near the welding connection part and/or the elbow part.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a minimum distance D2 between the refrigerant detection device and the heat exchanger is smaller than or equal to 50 mm.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus further includes a connection bracket which is installed in the accommodation chamber, and the refrigerant detection device is installed at the connection bracket.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the shell includes side plates, which intersect with the bottom plate and are connected to the bottom plate, and the connection bracket is fixedly connected to the side plates.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the connection bracket includes a first installation plate and a second installation plate that intersect with each other; the first installation plate is fixedly connected to the refrigerant detection device, and the second installation plate is fixedly connected to the side plates.
A second aspect of the present disclosure also proposes an HVAC apparatus, which includes the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus according to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
The HVAC apparatus according to the second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure includes the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus according to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore also has the advantageous effects of the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus.
Described above is only an overview of the technical solutions of the present application. In order to enable a clearer understanding of the technical means of the present application so that the present application can be implemented according to the content of the description, and in order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present application become more obvious and easier to understand, specific embodiments of the present application are listed below.
Upon reading the detailed description of embodiments below, various other advantages and benefits will become clear to those skilled in the art. The accompanying drawings are only used for the purpose of illustrating some embodiments, and should not be considered as a limitation to the present disclosure. Moreover, throughout the drawings, the same reference signs are used to denote the same components. In the drawings:
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.
It should be understood that the terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing specific exemplary embodiments, and are not intended to be limitative. Unless clearly indicated otherwise in the context, singular forms “a,” “an,” and “said” as used herein may also mean that plural forms are included. Terms “include,” “comprise,” “contain” and “have” are inclusive, and therefore indicate the existence of the stated features, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not exclude the existence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or combinations thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein should not be interpreted as requiring them to be executed in the specific order described or illustrated, unless the order of execution is clearly indicated. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be used.
Although terms “first,” “second,” “third” and the like may be used herein to describe multiple elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may only be used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Unless clearly indicated in the context, terms such as “first,” “second” and other numerical terms do not imply an order or sequence when they are used herein. Therefore, the first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below may be referred to as a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the exemplary embodiments.
For ease of description, spatial relative terms may be used herein to describe the relationship of one element or feature relative to another element or feature as shown in the drawings. These relative terms are, for example, “inner,” “outer,” “inside,” “outside,” “below,” “under,” “above,” “over,” etc. These spatial relative terms are intended to include different orientations of the device in use or in operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings. For example, if the device in a figure is turned over, then elements described as “below other elements or features” or “under other elements or features” will be oriented “above the other elements or features” or “over the other elements or features.” Thus, the exemplary term “below” may include orientations of both above and below. The device can be otherwise oriented (rotated by 90 degrees or in other directions), and the spatial relationship descriptors used herein will be explained accordingly.
Referring to
According to the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus of the present disclosure, the heat exchange assembly is prone to refrigerant leakage. By arranging the refrigerant detection device 20 near the bottom plate 11 of the shell 10 of the cabinet and making the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 smaller than or equal to ½ of the distance D between the bottom plate 11 and the top plate 14, it can be ensured that the distance between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is small enough, so that when refrigerant leakage occurs in the indoor unit of the HVAC apparatus, since the density of the refrigerant is larger than that of air, the refrigerant will first diffuse and deposit in the downward direction as well as in left and right directions, and then continuously accumulate on the bottom plate 11. Therefore, near the bottom plate 11 of the accommodation chamber 110 of the cabinet, the concentration of refrigerant will be higher. By arranging the refrigerant detection device such that the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is smaller than or equal to ½ of the distance D between the bottom plate 11 and the top plate 14, the detection accuracy of the refrigerant detection device 20 can be improved and the time required for detection can be shortened.
In an embodiment, the shell 10 is a cuboid, and the size H of the shell 10 in a height direction is larger than the size L of the shell 10 in a length direction and the size W of the shell 10 in a width direction. The shell 10 includes the top plate 14 and the bottom plate 11 arranged opposite to each other, a front plate and a rear side plate arranged opposite to each other, as well as a left side plate 12 and a right side plate 13 arranged opposite to each other. The left side plate 12, the right side plate 13, and the rear side plate constitute side plates of the shell 10. It can be understood that the top plate 14 and the bottom plate 11 are spaced apart in the height direction. The top plate 14, the bottom plate 11, the front plate, the rear side plate, the left side plate 12, and the right side plate 13 together enclose the accommodation chamber 110 of the shell 10.
Referring to
The indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus further includes a water receiving tray 60, which is arranged inside the accommodation chamber 110 and fixedly connected to the bottom plate 11. The water receiving tray 60 is used to collect condensate water from the heat exchanger 30 and discharge it. Referring to
The indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus further includes an air inlet 101, which includes one or more through holes formed on the left side plate 12. The air inlet 101 is arranged on a side of the left side plate 12 that is close to the bottom plate 11. The air inlet 101 is configured to communicate the airflow inside the house with the airflow inside the accommodation chamber 110, so that the airflow inside the house can enter the accommodation chamber 110 and can be cooled by the heat exchanger 30. The indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus further includes an air outlet 102, which includes one or more through holes formed on the top plate 14. The air outlet 102 is arranged on a side of the top plate 14 that is close to right side plate 13. The airflow inside the accommodation chamber 110 is cooled by the heat exchanger 30 and then flows into the house through the air outlet 102, thereby cooling the house.
The heat exchange assembly includes an expansion valve, a heat exchanger 30, and a refrigerant delivery pipeline. The refrigerant delivery pipeline is used to connect the expansion valve and the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger 30 is a tube fin heat exchanger or a microchannel heat exchanger. The heat exchanger 30 includes a copper heat exchanger 30 or an aluminum heat exchanger 30. The heat exchanger 30 is used to achieve heat exchange between the refrigerant and air, thereby cooling the air. The function of the heat exchanger 30 is for low-temperature liquid refrigerant to enter the interior of the pipeline of the heat exchanger 30, so that the low-temperature liquid refrigerant is transformed into a gaseous refrigerant. This process absorbs heat. Heat exchange occurs between the surface of the heat exchanger 30 and the airflow inside the accommodation chamber 110, thereby cooling the airflow inside the accommodation chamber 110. Therefore, the heat exchanger 30 is a component of the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus that is prone to refrigerant leakage. The position of refrigerant leakage is mostly located at the end face of the heat exchanger 30, namely, at a welding connection position between heat exchange tubes and an elbow of a long U-shaped heat exchanger 30. In an embodiment, the heat exchanger has at least two heat exchange tubes connected to each other, and the at least two heat exchange tubes have a welding connection part and/or an elbow part therebetween. The refrigerant detection device is arranged at a position near the welding connection part and/or the elbow part, so that the refrigerant detection device can be closer to the position of the heat exchanger that is prone to leakage, the leakage can be detected at the beginning, the detection time of the refrigerant detection device can be shortened, and the detection accuracy can be improved.
Referring to
An internal fan 40 is arranged above the heat exchanger 30, and guides the low-temperature airflow near the heat exchanger 30 to the air outlet 102. In an embodiment, the internal fan 40 is a centrifugal fan. The centrifugal fan includes a volute, fan blades, a motor, and a motor bracket. The volute is a metal volute. The volute includes an airflow inlet 41 located at its center and an airflow outlet 42 located at its volute-shaped opening. The centrifugal fan draws the low-temperature airflow near the heat exchanger 30 from the airflow inlet 41 of the centrifugal fan, and then sucks it to the airflow outlet 42 before discharging. In this way, the internal fan 40 can effectively guide the airflow cooled by the heat exchanger 30 to the airflow outlet 42.
The indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus further includes multiple partition plates. A top space of the accommodation chamber 110 is divided into two chambers by the partition plates. A left chamber is used as an electric control box 50, and a right chamber is used as a flow guide chamber 70. The flow guide chamber 70 corresponds to the position of the air outlet 102. A bottom surface of the flow guide chamber 70 is formed with an air inlet, which is connected to the airflow outlet 42 of the internal fan 40, so that all the low-temperature airflow flowing out from the airflow outlet 42 of the internal fan 40 flows into the flow guide chamber 70, and then flows out of the shell 10 through the air outlet 102.
The electric control box 50 is a closed space enclosed by sheet metal structures. The electric control box 50 includes an electric control installation plate for installing a control device. In an embodiment, the control device is a circuit board. The control device is communicatively connected with both the internal fan 40 and the refrigerant detection device 20. In an embodiment, the control device is connected to the internal fan 40 and the refrigerant detection device 20 through wires for communication. The electric control box 50 is arranged at an upper part of the accommodation chamber 110, which can prevent the internal circuit board from being corroded or short circuited by the condensate water in the water receiving tray 60.
The refrigerant detection device 20 is communicatively connected with the control device, forming a refrigerant leakage detection system. The refrigerant detection device 20 is configured to detect refrigerant gas leakage inside the accommodation chamber 110. The refrigerant detection device 20 includes at least one of a semiconductor refrigerant detection device 20, an infrared induction refrigerant detection device 20, and a thermal conduction refrigerant detection device 20. In an embodiment, the refrigerant detection device 20 is fixedly connected to the left side plate 12, the right side plate 13, or the rear side plate through the connection bracket 80. In an embodiment, the connection bracket 80 is a sheet metal member. The refrigerant detection device 20 is fixedly connected to the connection bracket 80 through fasteners, and the connection bracket is fixedly connected to the left side plate 12, the right side plate 13, or the rear side plate through fasteners. In an embodiment, the fasteners are screws or bolts.
The connection bracket 80 includes a first installation plate 81 and a second installation plate 82. The first installation plate 81 intersects with the second installation plate 82. In an embodiment, the first installation plate 81 and the second installation plate 82 are arranged perpendicular to each other. At least one first installation hole 83 is formed on the first installation plate 81, and at least one first assembly hole 22 is also formed on the refrigerant detection device 20. The position and number of the first installation hole 83 correspond to those of the first assembly hole 22 respectively. The refrigerant detection device 20 is fixed to the connection bracket 80 by passing a fastener through the first installation hole 83 and the first assembly hole 22 respectively. A second installation hole 84 is formed on the second installation plate 82, and a second assembly hole is formed on the side plate. The position and number of the second installation hole 84 correspond to those of the second assembly hole respectively. The refrigerant detection device 20 is fixed to the side plate by passing a fastener through the second installation hole 84 and the second assembly hole respectively.
In an embodiment, the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is smaller than or equal to 50 mm. It can be understood that in the area having a distance larger than 50 mm from the bottom plate 11, the concentration of refrigerant is relatively low. Therefore, if the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is larger than 50 mm, the detection accuracy of the refrigerant detection device 20 will decrease. It can be understood that ½ of the distance D between the bottom plate 11 and the top plate 14 is larger than or equal to 50 mm.
In an embodiment, the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is larger than or equal to 15 mm and smaller than or equal to 25 mm. Within this range, the concentration of refrigerant is high, which not only ensures that the distance between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is small enough, but also enables the refrigerant detection device 20 to be placed above the heat exchanger 30, that is, placed on the side of the heat exchanger 30 that faces away from the air inlet 101. Since the air inlet is arranged at the bottom of the accommodation chamber 110, airflow flows into the accommodation chamber 110 from the outside of the air inlet. Therefore, the incoming airflow will blow away the refrigerant accumulating at the bottom of the accommodation chamber 110, reducing the concentration of refrigerant near the bottom plate 11 of the accommodation chamber 110. Compared with placing the refrigerant detection device 20 below the heat exchanger 30, placing the refrigerant detection device 20 above the heat exchanger 30 results in higher detection accuracy and shorter detection time of the refrigerant detection device 20.
A simulated leakage test was conducted on the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus of the present disclosure, and the results are presented below: in a case where the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is within a range of 0 mm to 10 mm, when refrigerant leakage occurs in the heat exchanger 30, the refrigerant detection device 20 can detect the refrigerant leakage within 3 seconds and trigger a response; in a case where the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is within a range of 10 mm to 30 mm, when refrigerant leakage occurs in the heat exchanger 30, the refrigerant detection device 20 can detect the refrigerant leakage within 6 to 8 seconds and trigger a response; and in a case where the distance D1 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the bottom plate 11 is within a range of 30 mm to 50 mm, when refrigerant leakage occurs in the heat exchanger 30, the refrigerant detection device 20 can detect the refrigerant leakage within 11 to 13 seconds and trigger a response. The above data indicates that the closer the refrigerant detection device 20 is to the bottom plate 11, the more advantageous it is for detecting the refrigerant leakage in a short period of time and triggering a response. At the same time, considering both the difficulty of communicative connection between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the control device and the convenience of maintenance of the refrigerant detection device 20, the refrigerant detection device 20 is arranged above the heat exchanger 30 in this embodiment.
Since the refrigerant usually leaks from the interior of the heat exchanger 30, the closer the refrigerant detection device 20 is to the heat exchanger 30, the higher the detection accuracy. In an embodiment, the minimum distance D2 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the heat exchanger 30 is smaller than or equal to 50 mm, which enables the refrigerant leakage to be timely and effectively detected. The minimum distance D2 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the heat exchanger 30 refers to the minimum distance between the detection window 21 of the refrigerant detection device 20 and the heat exchanger 30. In an embodiment, the minimum distance D2 between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the heat exchanger 30 is larger than 0 mm and smaller than or equal to 15 mm. In this way, the distance between the refrigerant detection device 20 and the heat exchanger 30 is smaller, further improving the detection effect of the refrigerant detection device 20.
The lower flammable limit (LFL) of refrigerant is the minimum concentration limit required for the refrigerant to become potentially combustible. In order to prevent the concentration of refrigerant from reaching the lower flammable limit (LFL) at local positions, when a refrigerant lower flammable limit of 10% to 20% is detected by the refrigerant detection device 20, the control device triggers a response, which includes a refrigerant leakage alarm signal and/or turning on the internal fan 40. After the control device triggers a response, the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus enters a forced operation mode of refrigerant leakage, and the internal fan 40 is forcibly turned on for ventilation. The entire process lasts for 5 minutes. During this period, the refrigerant detection device 20 continuously monitors the concentration of refrigerant. When the concentration of refrigerant is detected to be below an alarm exit value of 5% LFL, the forced operation mode of refrigerant leakage is exited after a 5-minute timing is met.
According to the second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an HVAC apparatus is proposed, which includes the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus according to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The HVAC apparatus also includes the outdoor unit of the HVAC apparatus; the outdoor unit of the HVAC apparatus includes a compressor, which is communicatively connected with a control device. After the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus enters the forced operation mode of refrigerant leakage, it also includes stopping the operation of the compressor.
The HVAC apparatus according to the second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure includes the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus according to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore also has the advantageous effects of the indoor unit 1 of the HVAC apparatus.
Described above are only specific embodiments of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited to this. Any changes or replacements that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present disclosure should be covered within the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be accorded with the scope of protection of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202322672420.1 | Sep 2023 | CN | national |
