EP1971807A2

EP1971807A2 - Indoor unit for airconditioner

Info

Publication number: EP1971807A2
Application number: EP05765974A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jeong-Hun Kim; Nae-Hyun Park; Hyeyoung Song; Se-Hyun Kim; Young-Ki Daedong Apt. 102-601 HONG; Kyu-Sup Jang
Original assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Current assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Priority date: 2005-06-28
Filing date: 2005-06-28
Publication date: 2008-09-24
Also published as: WO2007001101A9; WO2007001101A3; WO2007001101A8; WO2007001101A2

Abstract

The present invention discloses an indoor unit for an air conditioner which generates and discharges cool air in a casing (10) in which an evaporator (20) and a ventilation device (30) are installed. Meshed safety nets (16) for preventing insertion of fingers and reducing fan passage resistances are installed on discharge holes, to improve safety and reduce discharge passage resistances.

Description

INDOOR UNIT FOR AIRCONDITTONER

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an indoor unit for an air conditioner which can improve safety in discharge holes for discharging cool air and reduce discharge passage resistances, when generating and discharging cool air in a casing in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed. Background Art

[2] In general, an air conditioner is an apparatus for heating/cooling an indoor space by exchanging heat between refrigerants circulated along a compressor, a condenser, an expansion means and an evaporator and air passing through the condenser or the evaporator. The air conditioner includes an outdoor unit including the compressor, the condenser and the expansion means and being installed in an outdoor space, and an indoor unit including the evaporator and being installed in an indoor space. The outdoor unit and the indoor unit are coupled to each other through a refrigerant tube.

[3] The air conditioner can be formed in various shapes according to the installation position of the indoor unit, such as a stand type air conditioner installed to stand in the indoor space, a wall-hanging type air conditioner installed to hang on the inner wall, and a ceiling type air conditioner built in the ceiling.

[4] Recently, in order to improve design of the indoor unit installed in the indoor space, a frame type air conditioner has been developed and sold at a market. In the frame type air conditioner, a front panel having various pictures is installed on a front surface of a thin rectangular parallelepiped casing, and an evaporator and a turbo fan are built inside.

[5] The structure of the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner will now be explained in detail. A suction hole is formed on a front surface of a thin casing, and discharge holes are formed on both sides and bottom surface thereof. An evaporator, a turbo fan and a motor are installed in the casing to overlap with each other, and an orifice for guiding air flow is installed between the evaporator and the turbo fan.

[6] A bottom end of a front panel is hinge-coupled to the suction hole so that the top end of the front panel can be opened/closed at a predetermined angle. A discharge grill having a plurality of louvers is installed on each discharge hole to guide an air discharge direction.

[7] When the turbo fan is operated, the indoor air is sucked through the suction hole in the axial direction, cooled by exchanging heat with refrigerants in the evaporator, sent in the radial direction through the turbo fan, and discharged in the discharge direction controlled by the discharge grills of the discharge holes.

[8] However, in the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner, the discharge holes are formed on both sides and bottom surface of the thin casing, and thus reduced in size. In adition, the discharge grills are installed on the discharge holes, respectively, and the louvers of the discharge grills are installed at an interval below 12mm to prevent insertion of fingers into the discharge holes and hide inside components, which increases discharge passage resistances.

[9]

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[10] The present invention is achieved to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit for an air conditioner which can improve safety by preventing fingers from being inserted into discharge holes for discharging cool air in a casing in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed.

[11] Another object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit for an air con ditioner which can improve the outer appearance by preventing inside components from being exposed through discharge holes for discharging cool air in a casing in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed.

[12] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit for an air conditioner which can increase an air discharge volume by reducing discharge passage resistances in discharge holes for discharging cool air in a casing in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed.

[13] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit for an air conditioner which can sterilize and purify cool air through discharge holes for discharging cool air in a casing in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed.

[14]

Technical Solution

[15] In order to achieve the above-described objects of the invention, there is provided an indoor unit for an air conditioner, including: a casing on which suction and discharge holes for sucking and discharging indoor air are formed and in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed; and meshed safety nets installed in the discharge holes of the casing, for preventing insertion of fingers.

[16] Preferably, the casing is a thin rectangular parallelepiped casing having a suction hole on its front surface and discharge holes on its both sides and bottom surface, the evaporator is a thin rectangular parallelepiped evaporator installed on the front surface of the casing, and the ventilation device is a turbo fan and a motor installed on the rear surface of the evaporator.

[17] Preferably, the safety nets are installed at an interval over 5% of the turbo fan diameter to reduce discharge passage resistances, and the mesh height increases from the shroud side to the hub side of the turbo fan. More preferably, the mesh height is equal to or smaller than 8mm to prevent insertion of fingers.

[18] More preferably, the safety nets are silver nano coated to sterilize the discharged air.

[19]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[20] The present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings which are given only by way of illustration and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:

[21] Hg. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an indoor unit for a frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention;

[22] Hg. 2 is a perspective view illustrating disassembly of the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention;

[23] Hg. 3 is a front view illustrating a safety net applied to the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention;

[24] Hg. 4 is a graph showing noises in each installation position of the safety net in the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention; and

[25] Hg. 5 is a graph showing noises by an air discharge volume in the conventional art and the present invention.

[26]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[27] An indoor unit for an air conditioner in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[28] Hgs. 1 and 2 are a perspective view and a disassembly perspective view illustrating an indoor unit for a frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention.

[29] The indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner is coupled to an outdoor unit through a refrigerant tube. Referring to Hgs. 1 and 2, the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner includes a thin casing 10 having its front surface opened, suction and discharge holes being formed on the casing 10, an evaporator 20 built in the casing 10 for circulating refrigerants, a ventilation device including a turbo fan 30 and a motor 40 positioned on the rear surface of the evaporator 20, for sucking indoor air through the suction hole, making the sucked air pass through the evaporator 20, and discharging the air through the discharge holes, and an orifice 50 disposed between the evaporator 20 and the turbo fan 30, for guiding cool air passing through the evaporator 20 to be sucked in the axial direction of the turbo fan 30. The indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner further includes safety nets 16 installed on each discharge hole of the casing 10, for preventing insertion of fingers and reducing discharge passage resistances.

[30] Here, the casing 10 is a thin rectangular parallelepiped casing having its front surface opened. A housing space for various components is formed in the casing 10. An air guide 11 can be incorporated with the inside edges of the casing 10 to guide suction flow by the turbo fan 30.

[31] The suction hole is formed on the front surface of the casing 10. A front panel 12 is installed on the suction hole of the casing 10 to be opened/closed, thereby hiding the inside components and intercepting noises.

[32] In detail, hinge shafts (not shown) formed on both bottom ends of the front panel 12 are hinge-coupled to the lower portion of the front surface of the casing 10, and connected to a step motor. When the step motor is operated, the top end of the front panel 12 can be automatically opened/closed on the casing 10.

[33] Since the front panel 12 is installed with a gap from the front surface of the casing

10, although the front panel 12 is opened/closed from the bottom end, the front panel 12 does not interfere with the front surface of the casing 10.

[34] Accordingly, when the turbo fan 30 is operated, the front panel 12 is opened on the front surface of the casing 10, for sucking indoor air. Conversely, when the turbo fan 30 is not operated, the front panel 12 is closed to completely block the front surface of the casing 10 for better outer appearance.

[35] Furthermore, an air filter 14 and a dust collector (not shown) for removing dust from the sucked indoor air are installed inside the front surface of the casing 10. The air filter 14 and the dust collector are detachably mounted for cleaning.

[36] Here, the air filter 14 is slidably inserted between guide protrusions (not shown) formed on both sides of the front surface of the casing 10, for removing alien substances such as dust from the sucked air, and the dust collector is fixedly installed on the front surface of the air filter 14, for collecting dust in power supply.

[37] In addition, the discharge holes are formed on both sides and bottom surface of the casing 10. The safety nets 16 are installed on the discharge holes of the casing 10, respectively. The structure and operation of the safety nets 16 will later be explained in detail.

[38] The evaporator 20 is connected to a compressor, a condenser and an expansion means of the outdoor unit, for composing a refrigeration cycle. Here, the refrigerant tube having a plurality of fins is installed inside the front surface of the casing 10. Refrigerants passing through the refrigerant tube exchange heat with the indoor air by the plurality of fins, thereby generating cool air,

[39] The evaporator 20 is a thin rectangular parallelepiped evaporator installed inside the casing 10. The front surface of the evaporator 20 is formed in a square shape like the casing 10.

[40] A drain fan 22 for collecting condensed water running down from the surface of the evaporator 20 is installed at the lower portion of the evaporator 20. A drain hose (not shown) connected to the outdoor space is installed on the drain fan 22, for externally discharging the condensed water.

[41] The turbo fan 30 sucks the indoor air in the axial direction and discharges the sucked air in the radial direction to pass through the evaporator 20. Preferably, the turbo fan 30 has a small thickness to be installed in the casing 10 and a large diameter to increase an air suction volume.

[42] The turbo fan 30 includes a disk-shaped hub 32 having its center peaked to be connected to the motor 40, a ring-shaped shroud 34 positioned separately from the hub 32 in the axial direction, and slowly inclined in the axial direction to guide suction flow, and a plurality of blades 36 formed between the hub 32 and the shroud 34 in the circumferential direction at predetermined intervals. The shroud 34 guides axial direction suction flow, but the hub 32 and the blades 36 guide radial direction discharge flow.

[43] The turbo fan 30 is installed so that the shroud 34 can face the front surface of the casing 10.

[44] The motor 40 is fixed on the inside rear surface of the casing 10 by a motor support member 42. The motor shaft is inserted into the hub 32 so that power can be transmitted to the turbo fan 30. An elastic material 44 for buffering power transmission and absorbing vibration is installed between the motor shaft of the motor 40 and the hub 32.

[45] A convex ring-shaped guide hole 50h is formed at the center portion of the orifice

50, for guiding the sucked air to the center of the turbo fan 30 not to generate warm current. The other portion of the orifice 50 is formed flat to isolate cool air sucked to the turbo fan 30 and cool air discharged from the turbo fan 30.

[46] In addition, a control box 52 for controlling the operation of the turbo fan 30 and the front panel 12 is installed at the upper portion of the front surface of the orifice 50. The control box 52 controls power supplied to the motor 40 for driving the turbo fan 30 and the step motor (not shown) for opening/closing the front panel 12 at a set angle q, and also controls power supplied-to the dust collector.

[47] The control box 52 is directly connected to various operation buttons 54 so that the user can control the operation of the indoor unit 100, or formed to receive operation control signals from a remote controller to control the operation of various components. Also, the control box 52 is connected to an externally-exposed display unit (not shown) for displaying the operational state of the indoor unit 100 to the user through the display unit.

[48] Hg. 3 is a front view illustrating the safety net applied to the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention, and Hg. 4 is a graph showing noises in each installation position of the safety net in the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner in accordance with the present invention.

[49] As illustrated in Hg. 3, the safety nets 16 that are meshed wire nets are installed on the discharge holes. Each mesh is formed in a long rectangular shape in the rotary direction of the turbo fan 30 to reduce passage resistances by discharged air, and the height H is differently set in each mesh position.

[50] Preferably, in the safety net 16, the height of the mesh 16h in the hub side of the turbo fan 30 is gradually larger than the height of the mesh 16s in the shroud side of the turbo fan 30. Since the turbo fan 30 is rotated in a state where the motor shaft of the motor 40 is connected to the hub 32 of the turbo fan 30, the hub 32 of the turbo fan 30 is rotated faster than the shroud 34 of the turbo fan 30. Therefore, a larger passage resistance is generated in the hub 32 of the turbo fan 30 than the shroud 34 of the turbo fan 30. The aforementioned structure reduces the passage resistance of the discharged air passing through the hub 32 of the turbo fan 30. [51] The safety nets 16 can be densely formed on the discharge holes to prevent insertion of fingers and hide the inside components. Preferably, the mesh height of the safety nets 16 is set equal to or smaller than 8mm in consideration of the passage resistance of the discharged air.

[52] Because the safety nets 16 are installed on each discharge hole, the air is discharged from the turbo fan 30, passes through the safety nets 16 of the discharge holes, and is supplied to the indoor space. When the interval L between the safety nets 16 and the turbo fan 30 is narrowed, noises are more generated. Accordingly, as shown in Hg. 4, the interval L between the safety nets 16 and the turbo fan 30 is set over 5% of the diameter D of the turbo fan 30.

[53] Conversely, when the interval L between the safety nets 16 and the turbo fan 30 is widened, the size of the casing 10 is increased. Preferably, the interval L between the safety nets 16 and the turbo fan 30 is set below 10% of the diameter D of the turbo fan 30 in consideration of the product size._

[54] Furthermore, the safety nets 16 that are wire nets are silver nano coated. The air purified through the air filter 14 and the dust collector is cooled through the evaporator 20, and sterilized and purified through the safety nets 16 of the discharge holes.

[55] The operation of the indoor unit for the frame type air conditioner will now be briefly explained. Power is supplied to the step motor and the motor 40 by the control box 54. The front panel 12 is opened, and the turbo fan 30 is rotated to suck the indoor air. The sucked indoor air is purified through the air filter 14 and the dust collector, and converted into cool air by the heat exchange operation in the evaporator 20.

[56] Thereafter, the cool air passing through the evaporator 20 is sucked in the axial direction of the turbo fan 30 by rotation of the turbo fan 30, discharged in the radial direction of the turbo fan 30, sterilized and purified through the silver nano coated safety nets 16 on both sides and bottom surface of the casing 10, and discharged to the indoor space.

[57] Here, the hub 32 of the turbo fan 30 has a large flow resistance, but the mesh 16h in the hub side of the turbo fan 30 has a small flow resistance. In addition, the shroud 34 of the turbo fan 30 has a small flow resistance, but the mesh 16s in the shroud side of the turbo fan 30 has a large flow resistance. As a result, the balanced passage resistances are applied to the cool air passing through the turbo fan 30 and the safety nets 16, to improve ventilation efficiency and increase the air volume.

[58] Hg. 5 is a graph showing noises by the air discharge volume in the conventional art and the present invention. [59] As depicted in Hg. 5, in one example of the conventional art, the plurality of louvers are arranged on each discharge hole in the vertical direction to the rotary direction of the turbo fan, thereby increasing flow resistances and noises. In another example of the conventional art, the plurality of louvers are arranged on each discharge hole in the rotary direction of the turbo fan, thereby decreasing flow resistances and noises. In the present invention, the safety nets 16 having the long rectangular meshes are respectively installed on the discharge holes in the rotary direction of the turbo fan 30, thereby reducing flow resistances and noises.

[60] In another example of the conventional art, two louvers are arranged long on the same size of discharge holes in the rotary direction of the turbo fan. Conversely, in the present invention, four wire nets are arranged long on the same size of discharge holes in the rotary direction of the turbo fan 30. That is, the wire nets of the present invention are more densely arranged than the louvers of another example of the conventional art, thereby increasing safety by preventing insertion of fingers into the discharge holes, and improving the outer appearance by hiding the inside components.

[61] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is understood that the present invention should not be limited to these preferred embodiments but various changes and modifications can be made by one skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present invention as hereinafter claimed.

Claims

[1] An indoor unit for an air conditioner, comprising: a casing on which suction and discharge holes for sucking and discharging indoor air are formed and in which an evaporator and a ventilation device are installed; and meshed safety nets installed in the discharge holes of the casing, for preventing insertion of fingers.

[2] The indoor unit of claim 1 , wherein the casing is a thin rectangular parallelepiped casing having a suction hole on its front surface and discharge holes on its both sides and bottom surface, the evaporator is a thin rectangular parallelepiped evaporator installed inside the front surface of the casing, and the ventilation device is a turbo fan and a motor installed on the rear surface of the evaporator.

[3] The indoor unit of claim 2, wherein the safety nets are installed at an interval over 5% of the turbo fan diameter.

[4] The indoor unit of claim 3, wherein long rectangular meshes are formed on the safety nets in the rotary direction of the turbo fan.

[5] The indoor unit of claim 4, wherein the mesh height of the safety nets increases from the shroud side to the hub side of the turbo fan.

[6] The indoor unit of claim 5, wherein the mesh height of the safety nets is equal to or smaller than 8mm to prevent insertion of fingers.

[7] The indoor unit of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the safety nets are silver nano coated to sterilize the discharged air.