EP1741994B1

EP1741994B1 - Condensate drain pan with a floating valve

Info

Publication number: EP1741994B1
Application number: EP06011612A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Walter Alessio
Original assignee: Comet SNC di SALE Adriana e C
Current assignee: Comet SNC di SALE Adriana e C
Priority date: 2005-06-29
Filing date: 2006-06-06
Publication date: 2008-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2026-06-06
Also published as: ATE411498T1; HRP20090013T3; EP1741994A1; ITMI20050237U1; DE602006003135D1; ES2315962T3

Abstract

A box-like pan (1) for containing and discharging the water condensate (9) generated by an air conditioner (12), comprising at least one inclined base (2), at least one aperture (4) for discharging the condensate being placed at the lower end (3) thereof, said at least one aperture being fluldically connected with at least one drain nozzle (7). The pan also comprises at least one shutoff element (8) to be shape-coupled to said at least one aperture, which is suitable to prevent the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said box-like pan, and floatingly movable on the condensate within said pan in order to at least partially allow the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said pan.

Description

The present invention relates to a box-like pan (or container) for containing and discharging the water condensate generated by an air-conditioning unit.
Normal air-conditioning units for adjusting and maintaining the temperature and moisture in closed environments are known to be equipped with condensate collection box-like pans (see for example patent document EP-A-1143204 ), which are provided to receive said condensate deriving from the moisture absorbed from the conditioner's work environment, and channel the same towards the drainage system by passing through a drainage pipe. Said box-like pans can be either directly fitted within the air conditioner, or alternatively connected to a prearrangement box for air conditioning systems, which is known per se, that can be positioned outside the conditioner and is capable of receiving both the drainage pipe and the delivery pipe to the conditioner.
When the conditioner is not working, for example in wintertime, the fact that the drainage and the box-like pan are permanently connected leads to a continuous flow of bad-smelling fumes within the work environment of the conditioning unit, which derive from the evaporation of the stagnant water within the drain.
In order to overcome this drawback, a coiled pipe, commonly known as the trap, can be fitted in the drain line, which allows reducing the odours flowing from the drain, without however completely eliminating the same.
In order to resolve this drawback, it is also known to use drain valves being placed along the piping connecting the condensate collection box-like pan to the drain, which are provided such as to allow the condensate water to flow towards the drain and prevent the odours from backing up towards the environment.
As taught in JP08-005093 , said drain valves comprise an operating chamber where a spherical shutoff element is housed, which has a lower specific weight (i.e. weight density) than that of water. On a bottom portion of the operating chamber there is arranged an outflow pipe connected to the drain, which has a housing seat for the shutoff element. Thereby, due to its weight, the valve is normally held on the housing seat such that the odours are prevented from flowing back to the conditioner's work environment. When the condensate outflows to the operating chamber, towards the drain, the valve floats such that the fluid outlet pipe is opened and the discharge of the liquid is allowed.
Although said drain valves are structurally simple and quite effective in preventing bad odours from flowing towards the conditioner's work environment, they are not without drawbacks. In fact, they require to be mounted along the drainage pipe, near the drain, in positions that are very often difficult to reach and/or however distant from the air conditioner to which they are fluidically connected. This is obviously a drawback, both during the valve installation step and during the normal maintenance operations on said conditioner, since not only the valve is placed away from the conditioner, but is also generally made of a non-transparent material, and thus cannot be visually inspected. It should also be understood that, in view of the above, in the case where said valve is clogged, the operation required to replace and/or repair the same is quite expensive. Said operation, in fact, would also require the drainage pipe, or at least a part thereof, to be dismounted, with further waste of time and cost increase.
Furthermore, said drain valves, are however supplied separately from the air-conditioning unit comprising the box-like pan for containing and discharging the condensate, as they are substantially an ancillary part of the drainage pipe connected to the conditioning unit. This implies that a manufacturer of air-conditioning units is required to make and/or being equipped with drain valves and box-like pans for discharging the condensate, which derive from different manufacturing processes, with further additional costs. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to meet these requirements by providing a box-like pan for conditioners, which in addition to containing and discharging the condensate towards the drain, is also capable of preventing the odours generated from the evaporation of the stagnant liquid within the drain from backing up towards the work environment of the air conditioner.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a structurally and constructively simple box-like pan to be adapted to several constructive dimensions of the piping connecting the pan to the drain. A further object of the present invention is to provide a pan that can be easily fitted and replaced, and being such as to be easily inspected during maintenance and servicing operations.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by means of a box-like pan for containing the water condensate generated by an air-conditioning unit, comprising at least one inclined base, at least one aperture for discharging the condensate being placed at the lower end thereof, said at least one aperture being fluidly connected with at least one drain nozzle.
Furthermore, said pan comprises at least one shutoff element, which can be shape-coupled (i.e. matched) to said at least one aperture in order to prevent the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said box-like pan, and floatingly movable on the condensate within said pan in order to at least partially allow the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said pan.
According to a specific aspect of the following invention, the drain nozzle has several mouth diameters such as to be adapted to several dimensions of the piping connected to the drain.
Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the detailed description of a preferred, though not exclusive, embodiment of a box-like pan for containing the water condensate generated by an air-conditioning unit, such as illustrated in the annexed figures, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional side view of the box-like pan according to the invention, being filled with condensate liquid;
Fig. 2 is a sectional top view of the box-like pan from Fig. 1, with the shutoff element in a stable, though not permanent position, at the aperture;
Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the box-like pan within an air conditioning unit, connected to the drain;
Fig. 4a is a schematic view of the box-like pan connected to a prearrangement box for air-conditioning systems, without condensate (a);
Fig. 4b is a schematic view of the box-like pan connected to a prearrangement box for air-conditioning systems, filled with condensate.

With particular reference to these figures, with 1 has been indicated the box-like pan being the object of the present invention.
The box-like pan 1, that has substantially the shape of a narrow and elongated wedge, comprises an inclined, substantially plane base 2 supporting a first pair of side walls 2a and 2c and a second pair of side walls 2b and 2d that are faced two by two and continuously joined along the common corners 2e, 2f, 2g and 2h.
It should be observed that, while a particular embodiment of a box-like pan is described herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this embodiment cannot be construed as limiting the present invention, In fact, as will be understood below, a box-like pan having a trapezoid or circular or oval or other shape not mentioned herein may also implement the technical solution claimed herein.
Furthermore, it should be also stated that said box-like pan 1 can be directly fitted within the air-conditioning unit 12, or alternatively connected to a prearrangement box 20 for air conditioning systems, which is known per se, that can be positioned outside the conditioner and capable of receiving both the drainage pipe 11 and the pipe connecting to the conditioner (not shown herein). The connection between the box-like pan 1 and said prearrangement box can be provided by means of known connecting means such as, for example, by means of interference, snap, bonding, or others that are not mentioned herein.
The inclined base 2 of the pan 1, at its lower end 3, at the side wall 2a, has an aperture 4, having a substantially circular shape, which is provided with an inlet portion 5 that is formed on the inclined base 2, which is capable of facilitating the outflow of the condensate water within the aperture 4. On the outer surface 6 of the wall 2a of the pan 1, there is placed a drain nozzle 7 being fluidically connected to the aperture 4 and arranged with its own longitudinal axis x substantially parallel to said inclined base 2. Said drain nozzle 7, having a substantially cylindrical shape, has two mouths 7a and 7b outside thereof, which have different external diameters, such as to be joined to said drainage pipes 11 having different crosswise sizes in order to provide the fluid connection between the box-like pan 1 and the drain 10.
Within the pan 1, there is housed a shutoff element 8, having a substantially spherical shape, which is freely movable within said pan 1 and can be shape-coupled to the aperture 4 that is arranged on the wall 2a. Advantageously, said shutoff element 8 has a slightly greater size than that of the drain aperture 4 such as to be coupled thereto, thus interrupting the fluid connection between said pan 1 and said drain nozzle 7 in a stable though not permanent manner. Said shape-coupling is provided such as to avoid that the shutoff element 8 may remain permanently inserted within the aperture 4.
Advantageously, the shutoff element 8 is made of a material having a lower specific weight than that of water, for example cellulose, cork, wood, plastic or the like.
It should be observed that both the shutoff element 8 and the aperture 4 can be provided in a combination of shapes other than that mentioned above, such as round for the aperture 4 and ogival for the shutoff element 8, or truncated-cone for the aperture 4 and truncated-cone for the shutoff element 8, or other combination of shapes not mentioned herein, with the proviso that the coupling between the shutoff element 8 and the aperture 4 is capable of preventing, in a stable though not permanent manner, the fluid connection between the aperture 4 and the box-like pan 1.
Furthermore, the shutoff element 8 can be fastened to the aperture 4 by means of elastic means (not shown) for example of the type comprising a spring, or inextensible means, for example a wire or further by means of a cage fitted within the pan 1, said shutoff element 8 being thus prevented from moving too far from the aperture 4.
When the air conditioner 12 is off, said shutoff element 8 is shape-coupled, in a stable though not permanent manner, to the aperture 4. In this stage, the box-like pan 1 does not contain condensate water to be discharged.
When the air conditioner 12 is operated, the condensate water 9, deriving from the moisture absorbed from the work environment 13 of the conditioner 12 fills the pan 2 thus moving the shutoff element 8 from the stable shape-coupling position with the aperture 4 to a floating position on the condensate liquid within the pan 1. The condensate water thus begins to flow through the opening 4 that has been left opened by the displacement of the shutoff element 8, passing through the drain nozzle 7, that is connected to the drainage pipe 11, and thus reaching the drain 10.
When the level of the condensate water 9 decreases within the box-like pan 1, the shutoff element 8, in any position it may be within the pan, rests against the inclined base 2 and slides by gravity to the initial stable position of shape-coupling with the aperture 4. When the shutoff element 8 has reached the initial stable position, the condensate liquid is completely discharged and the fluid connection between the aperture 4 and drainage tank 10 is interrupted again.
It should be noted that the condensate water within the pan 1 is substantially free of minerals, since it derives from the moisture absorbed from the work environment 13 of the conditioner 12, which results to be further advantageous as scaling that would hinder the repositioning of the shutoff element 8 to the opening 4 is not formed either within the pan 1, or near the aperture 4.
Furthermore, it should be observed that, while a preferred embodiment of the invention is described herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this embodiment cannot be construed as limiting the invention. In fact, a box-like pan provided with two or more inclined bases, with one or more apertures being provided at the lower ends thereof, and provided with a number of shutoff elements equal to the number of the apertures provided in the pan can implement, again, the technical solution as claimed herein.
Practically, the invention described has been found to achieve the proposed objects.
In fact, the invention thus conceived is capable of containing the condensate, discharging it to the drain and prevent any odours generated from the evaporation of the stagnating liquid within the drain from backing up to the work environment of the air conditioner. This is very advantageous, in that it allows one to unify in an individual constructive solution those functions that are performed by a pan normally provided within an air conditioner to those of a drain valve normally positioned along the drainage pipe.
Furthermore, said box-like pan is structurally and constructively simple, and can be adapted to several constructive sizes of the conditioner drainage pipe.
In addition, as this box-like pan is easily assembled and replaced, it can be easily inspected upon maintenance and servicing operations.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.
All the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials uses, as well as the shapes and sizes may be any according to the requirements, without however departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

A box-like pan (1) for containing and discharging the water condensate (9) generated by an air conditioner (12), comprising at least one inclined base (2), at least one aperture (4) for discharging the condensate being placed at the lower end (3) of said inclined base (2), said at least one aperture being fluidically connected with at least one drain nozzle (7), characterized in that it comprises at least one shutoff element (8) to be shape-coupled to said at least one aperture, in order to prevent the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said box-like pan, and floatingly movable on the condensate within said pan in order to allow, at least partially, the fluid connection between said at least one aperture and said pan.
The box-like pan according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one shutoff element is provided with a lower specific weight than that of water.
The box-like pan according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that said at least one shutoff element is substantially spherical.
The box-like pan according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said at least one aperture is substantially round.
The box-like pan according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said at least one inclined base is plane.
The box-like pan according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said at least one shutoff element is freely movable within said box-like pan.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said at least one aperture is placed on one of the side walls of said box-like pan.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that said at least one aperture is provided with an inlet portion (5) that is formed on said at least one inclined base.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said at least one drain nozzle is substantially cylindrical.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said at least one drain nozzle has the longitudinal axis substantially parallel to said at least one inclined base.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said at least one drain nozzle has one or more mouths having different external diameters.
The box-like pan according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it can be connected to a prearrangement box for air conditioning systems.
The box-like pan according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it can be fitted within an air-conditioning unit.