Patent Application
20200166240
This application is claims priority to Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201811418769.X, filed on Nov. 26, 2018, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
An air deflector is typically employed in an air blowing device, such as an air conditioner, to deflect a direction of air flow. For example, an air deflector of the air conditioner is connected to the air conditioner body through rotating shafts on its both ends, to thereby generate an airflow with a variable direction.
The present disclosure relates to a technical field of blowing devices, and more particularly to a vent assembly for a blowing device and an air conditioner.
According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, a vent assembly for a blowing device is provided, which includes a frame defining an air outlet therein, and an air deflector pivotally provided in the air outlet and configured to open or close the air outlet. The air deflector is provided with a first attraction member, and the frame is provided with a second attraction member in a corresponding position and configured to attract the first attraction member when the air deflector is closed, such that the air deflector is arranged in a plane where the air outlet is.
According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, an air conditioner is provided, which includes the vent assembly for the blowing device according to the first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure.
It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary and explanatory and are not constructed to limit the present disclosure.
Drawings herein are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, and are intended to illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the specification serve to explain the present disclosure.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail and examples of the embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless specified otherwise, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure, and instead they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the appended claims.
In the present disclosure, in the absence of description to the contrary, orientation terms, such as “inner,” “outer” or the like are generally in terms of a contour of the corresponding component. In addition, the terms such as “first” and “second” in embodiments of the present disclosure are used to distinguish one element from another element, and are not intended to indicate or imply any sequence or relative importance.
The inventors of the present disclosure have recognized that, an air deflector is typically unevenly stressed when it is closed to a position of an air outlet, which results in a non-uniform gap between the air deflector and a frame where the air outlet is defined. In such a case, external impurities or dust may easily enter the blowing device through the gap and affect operation or service life of internal parts.
For example, in an air conditioner, during the opening or closure of the air deflector, the air deflector is driven only by a motor disposed on one end of the air deflector and rotates passively and cooperatively by means of the rotating shaft on the other end thereof. Such a structure causes the air deflector to be actively stressed only on one end, that is, the air deflector is unevenly stressed, resulting in a non-uniform gap between the air deflector and a frame of the air conditioner body when the air deflector is closed, thereby causing the above hidden troubles.
A vent assembly for a blowing device provided in the present disclosure can be applied to various blowing devices, such as air conditioners, air conditioner fans or other devices having a grille outlet, which are well known or common to those skilled in the art. In order to clearly describe further advantageous effects of the vent assembly, the present disclosure will be elaborated by example of the vent assembly being applied to an air conditioner, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
Referring to
The vent assembly includes a frame 200 defining an air outlet therein and an air deflector 100 pivotally arranged in the air outlet and configured to open or close the air outlet. The air deflector 100 is provided with a first attraction member 110, and the frame 200 is provided with a second attraction member 210 in a corresponding position.
The second attraction member 210 is configured to attract the first attraction member 110 when the air deflector 100 is closed, such that the air deflector 100 is arranged in a plane where the air outlet is. It should be noted that the air deflector 100 can be formed by a panel, a bottom plate, and a reinforcing rib between them, and the air deflector 100 being arranged in the plane where the air outlet is means that the panel of the air deflector 100 is snapped in the air outlet when the air deflector 100 is closed.
The air deflector 100 has an outer surface flush with an outer surface of the frame 200 and has a peripheral edge evenly spaced apart from the frame 200, such that an air conditioner body can define a closed space therein, which is aesthetic and can prevent external impurities and dust from entering the interior of the air conditioner body. In order to have a sufficient attraction force between the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210, the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can be arranged at positions relatively close to each other, and for example, they can be disposed at positions near respective edges of the air deflector 100 and the frame 200.
Moreover, a plurality of the first attraction members 110 can be uniformly disposed to the air deflector 100 to balance the attraction force across the whole air deflector 100. Additionally, in order to further ensure the sealing performance after the air deflector 100 is closed, the edge of the air deflector 100 or an inner contour of the air outlet of the frame 200 can be provided with a sealing strip to seal a gap between the air deflector 100 and the frame 200 when the air deflector 100 is closed.
Therefore, when the air deflector 100 is closed, the whole air deflector 100 is evenly stressed by the attraction force between the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 and can be completely closed in the plane of the air outlet, so as to ensure a uniform gap between the edge of the air deflector 100 and the frame 200. The vent assembly has a simple structure and hence saves costs.
In an embodiment as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Further, as illustrated in
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can attract each other by a magnetic force. For example, one of the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can be a metal patch, and the other one can be a permanent magnet. For another example, the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can both be permanent magnets to actively attract each other by a long-term magnetic field when the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 approach each other, and no additional operation is required. Certainly, the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can attract each other in other ways, such as vacuum attraction, which will not be specifically defined herein.
The permanent magnet can be a permanent ferromagnet. The permanent ferromagnet is widely used in various fields such as an electronic field, an electrical field, a mechanical field, a transportation field, a medical field and a daily necessity field. The permanent ferromagnet has advantages of a wide hysteresis loop, a high coercivity and a high remanence, and it is magnetically stable and can store large magnetic energy.
In some other embodiments, the first attraction member 110 and the second attraction member 210 can attract each other by an electromagnetic force. The first attraction member 110 can be an iron core, and the second attraction member 210 can be correspondingly a solenoid that is energized at least when the air deflector 100 is closed. Thus, when the air deflector 100 is closed, the solenoid is energized, and together with the iron core forms an electromagnet, generating a magnetic force, such that the iron core and the solenoid are attracted together to ensure the uniform gap between the air deflector 100 and the frame 200.
As illustrated, the solenoid can be connected with a control circuit 400 of the air conditioner, and a solenoid valve 500 configured to control energization and de-energization of the solenoid can be provided in the control circuit 400. When the air deflector 100 is closed, the control circuit 400 turns on the solenoid valve 500, the solenoid is energized, and the magnetic force is generated between the second attraction member 210 and the first attraction member 110, so as to assist with the closure of the air deflector 100 to the plane where the air outlet is.
When the air deflector 100 is open, the control circuit 400 turns off the solenoid valve 500, the solenoid is de-energized, and the magnetic force between the second attraction member 210 and the first attraction member 110 disappears, such that the air deflector 100 is driven to open by means of the rotation driving member 230. It should be noted the driving force of the rotation driving member 230 is much greater than the attraction force of the attraction members. In a case where the air deflector 100 needs to be opened, the rotation driving member 230 can drive the air deflector 100 to open against the attraction force, even if the solenoid is not de-energized. In order to solve the problem of the non-uniform gap between the air deflector 100 and the frame 200 existing in the related art, the control circuit 400 of the air conditioner can control the solenoid to be energized at least when the air deflector 100 is closed, so as to achieve the auxiliary magnetic attraction and fixation of the air deflector 100 and the frame 200 by the corresponding attraction members.
In some other embodiments, referring to
In this way, both ends of the air deflector 100 can be attracted with the frame 200 when the air deflector 100 is closed, so as to further ensure the uniform gap between the air deflector 100 and the frame 200.
Additionally, as illustrated in
As described above, the present disclosure also provides an air conditioner including the vent assembly for the blowing device provided by the present disclosure. The air conditioner has all the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned vent assembly, which will not be elaborated herein.
Further, as illustrated in
Other embodiments of the present disclosure will be conceivable for those skilled in the related art after they consider the specification and practice the present disclosure. The present application is intended to cover any variations, usages, or adaptations of the present disclosure, which follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or conventional technical means in the art and undisclosed in the present disclosure. The specification and embodiments should be regarded as illustrative, and the actual scope of the present disclosure is indicated by the claims.
In the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms “bottom,” “inside,” and other orientation or positional relationships are based on example orientations illustrated in the drawings, and are merely for the convenience of the description of some embodiments, rather than indicating or implying the device or component being constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.
Moreover, the terms “first” and “second” are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, elements referred to as “first” and “second” may include one or more of the features either explicitly or implicitly. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality” indicates two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.
In the present disclosure, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and the like shall be understood broadly, and may be either a fixed connection or a detachable connection, or integrated, unless otherwise explicitly defined. These terms can refer to mechanical or electrical connections, or both. Such connections can be direct connections or indirect connections through an intermediate medium. These terms can also refer to the internal connections or the interactions between elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art on a case-by-case basis.
In the present disclosure, a first element being “on,” a second element may indicate direct contact between the first and second elements, without contact, or indirect through an intermediate medium, unless otherwise explicitly stated and defined.
In the description of the present disclosure, the terms “some embodiments,” “example,” and the like may indicate a specific feature described in connection with the embodiment or example, a structure, a material or feature included in at least one embodiment or example. In the present disclosure, the schematic representation of the above terms is not necessarily directed to the same embodiment or example.
Moreover, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in a suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, various embodiments or examples described in the specification, as well as features of various embodiments or examples, may be combined and reorganized.
It is intended that the specification and embodiments be considered as examples only. Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the specification and drawings of the present disclosure. That is, although specific embodiments have been described above in detail, the description is merely for purposes of illustration. It should be appreciated, therefore, that many aspects described above are not intended as required or essential elements unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Various modifications of, and equivalent acts corresponding to, the disclosed aspects of the example embodiments, in addition to those described above, can be made by a person of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure defined in the following claims, the scope of which is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass such modifications and equivalent structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201811418769.X | Nov 2018 | CN | national |
