GB2451152A

GB2451152A - Ceiling type air conditioner

Info

Publication number: GB2451152A
Application number: GB0800254A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Byung Hee Lee; Je Jun Hoon; Young Seok Lim; Jong Won Lee
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2007-07-18
Filing date: 2008-01-08
Publication date: 2009-01-21
Anticipated expiration: 2028-01-08
Also published as: GB0800254D0; NL2001226C2; CN101349453B; KR20090008524A; CN101349453A; ITTO20080071A1; NL2001226A1; KR101195884B1; GB2451152B

Abstract

A ceiling type air conditioner comprises a body 10, a fan 11 installed in the body 10 and a heat exchanger 13 installed around the fan 11 inside the body 10. A partition panel 30 divides an inner space of the body 10 into a suction 10a and discharge 10b region and has an opening 31 for the passage of the fan 11 upon assembling or disassembling the fan 11 in the body 10. A bell mouth member 40 detachably couples to the opening 31 of the panel 30 to guide air into the fan 11. A condensate water sump 14 may be installed below the heat exchanger 13 and the panel 30 may have a rim coupled with the water sump 14. A control box 50 may be installed at a lower surface of the panel 30 so as not to interfere with the bell mouth member 40. A plurality of couplings may be provided to couple the bell mouth member 40 to the panel 30. The couplings may comprise of hooks 35 in the panel 30 that engage recesses 45 in the bell mouth member 40 or vice versa. At least one screw 37 may fix the bell mouth member 40 to the panel 30 to prevent disengagement of the hooks and recesses.

Description

1 2451152

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

CEILING-TYPE AIR CONDITIONER

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2007-0071528, filed on July 18, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF TUE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a ceiling-type air conditioner, and, more particularly, to a ceiling-type air conditioner for easy disassembling of a blowing fan.

2. Description of the Related Art

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003- 0000420 (published on January 6, 2003) discloses a ceiling-type air conditioner including a body to be embedded in the ceiling and a ceiling panel coupled to the bottom of the body and having a suction hole and discharge hole. The ceiling panel closes an opening of the ceiling, to provide the air conditioner with a favorable outer appearance.

The body receives therein a blowing fan, and a heat exchanger disposed to surround the blowing fan. The body also receives a condensate water sump disposed along the bottom of the heat exchanger, and a partition panel having a bell mouth to guide air to the suction side of the blowing fan. The rim of the partition panel is coupled to the condensate water sump, to divide an inner space of the body into a suction region and a discharge region. A control box for receiving a plurality of electric elements is installed at a lower surface of the partition panel.

Generally, in the ceiling-type air conditioner, when a motor to operate the blowing fan breaks down, it is necessary to disassemble the blowing fan for the repair or exchange of the broken motor. However, in the case of the above described conventional ceiling-type air conditioner, the disassembling of the blowing fan is possible only after all the ceiling panel, control box and partition panel are disassembled. Therefore, the conventional ceiling-type air conditioner has a difficulty to disassemble the blowing fan for the repair of the broken motor. In particular, it is very difficult to disassemble the control box having a complex wiring connection structure.

SUNIVIARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a ceiling-type air conditioner for assuring easy disassembling of a blowing fan with a minimum disassembling of peripheral elements.

In accordance with the invention, the above and/or other aspects can be achieved by the provision of a ceiling-type air conditioner comprising: a body; a blowing fan installed in the body; a heat exchanger installed around the blowing fan inside the body; a partition panel to divide an inner space of the body into a suction region and a discharge region and having an opening for the passage of the blowing fan upon disassembling of the blowing fan; and a bell-mouth member detachably coupled to the opening of the partition panel, to guide suctioned air into the blowing fan.

The ceiling-type air conditioner may further comprise: a condensate water sump installed below the heat exchanger inside the body, and the partition panel may have a rim coupled with the condensate water sump.

The ceiling-type air conditioner may further comprise: a control box installed at a lower surface of the partition panel so as not to interfere with the bell-mouth member. Also, the bell-mouth member may have a cut formed at a rim portion thereof close to the control box, to prevent interference between the bell-mouth member and the control box.

The ceiling-type air conditioner may further comprise: a plurality of couplers to couple the bell-mouth member and the partition panel with each other, and the couplers may include hooks and recesses provided, respectively, at the partition panel and the bell-mouth member at corresponding positions, to be engaged with each other.

The ceiling-type air conditioner may further comprise: at least one fixing screw to fix the bell-mouth member to the partition panel after the hooks are engaged in the recesses, for preventing disengagement of the hooks and the recesses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanyii-lg drawings, of which: FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a ceiling-type air conditioner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the ceiling-type air conditioner; FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the disengaged state of a hook and a recess provided to couple a partition panel with a bell-mouth panel included in the ceiling-type air conditioner; FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the engaged state of the hook and the recess; and FIG. 5 is a sectional view illustrating a blowing fan separated from the ceiling-type air conditioner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a ceiling-type air conditioner according to the present invention comprises a box-shaped body 10 to be embedded in a ceiling 100 and having an opened bottom, and a ceiling panel 20 coupled to the bottom of the body 10 and having a peripheral portion to cover an opening 101 perforated in the ceiling 100.

The body 10 receives therein a blowing fan 11 to suction air from the bottom thereof and discharge the suctioned air in a radial direction, and a drive motor 12 to operate the blowing fan 11. The drive motor 12 �5 fixed to an inner top surface of the body 10. A heat exchanger 13 to heat exchange the air discharged from the blowing fan 11 is installed around the blowing fan 11 to surround the blowing fan 11. In addition, a condensate water sump 14 is installed below the heat exchanger 13 to discharge condensate water generated during the heat exchange of the air. A lower surface of the condensate water sump 14 is supported by an upper surface of the ceiling panel 20.

The ceiling panel 20 has a center suction hole 21 to suction indoor air and a plurality of discharge holes 22 located around the suction hole 21. The plurality of discharge holes 22 are connected, respectively, to a plurality of corresponding discharge paths 14a formed in the condensate water sump 14. A filter 23 to purify air is installed at the suction hole 21 of the ceiling panel 20.

The body 10 also receives therein a partition panel and a bell-mouth member 40. The partition panel 30 takes the form of a flat plate having a center opening 31.

The rim of the partition panel 30 is coupled to the condensate water sump 14 to divide an inner space of the body 10 into a suction region lOa and a discharge region lOb. The opening 31 of the partition panel 30 has a size larger than an outer diameter of the blowing fan 11, to allow the passage of the blowing fan 11. This is to separate the blowing fan 11 through the opening 31 when it is desired to disassemble the blowing fan 11 for the repair of the drive motor 12 and other reasons. That is, the blowing fan 11 can be separated without separating the partition panel 30.

The bell-mouth member 40 has a center opening 41 for the passage of the suctioned air and a curved air guiding plane 42 extended from the opening 41. A peripheral portion of the bell-mouth member 40 is detachably coupled to the opening 31 of the partition panel 30. The bell-mouth member 40 guides the air, introduced through the suction hole 21 of the ceiling panel 20, toward the suction side of the blowing fan 11.

A control box 50 is installed at a lower surface of the partition panel 30 and receives therein a plurality of electric elements to control operation of the air conditioner. The control box 50, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is fixed to the lower surface of the partition panel 30 at a position close to the condensate water sump 14. This is to prevent any interference between the control box 50 and the bell-mouth member 40. As shown in FIG. 2, a rim portion of the bell-mouth member 40 has a straight cut 43 at a position thereof close to the control box 50. This is also to prevent the interference between the control box 50 and the bell-mouth member 40 upon installation or separation of the bell-mouth member 40.

To couple the bell-mouth member 40 and the partition panel 30 to each other, both the bell-mouth member 40 and the partition panel 30 are provided with a plurality of couplers. The couplers, as shown in FIG. 3, include hooks 35 provided at the partition panel 30 and recesses 45 formed in the bell-mouth member 40 for engagement of the corresponding hooks 35. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the hooks 35 are provided at opposite sides of the opening 31 of the partition panel 30, and the recesses 45 are formed in opposite sides of the bell-mouth member 40 at positions corresponding to the respective hooks 35. As the bell-mouth member 40 is slightly moved horizontally (toward the control box) after each hook 35 is inserted into the corresponding recess 45, the hook 35 can be engaged in the recess 45. FIG. 4 illustrates the engaged state of the hook 35 and the recess 45. To prevent the hook 35 from being disengaged from the recess 45 after the bell-mouth member 40 is coupled with the partition panel 30, at least one fixing screw 37 is fastened through the partition member 30 and the bell-mouth member 40.

Although FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the hooks 35 provided at the partition member 30 and the recesses 45 provided at the bell-mouth member 40, positions of the hooks 35 and the recesses 45 may be switched. That is, the recesses may be provided at the partition member, and the hooks may be provided at the bell-mouth member.

Now, a method of separating the blowing fan from the ceiling-type air conditioner will be described.

When it is desired to separate the blowing fan 11 for the repair of the broken drive motor 12 and other reasons, as shown in FIG. 5, the ceiling panel 20 is first separated from the body 10. After separating the ceiling panel 20, the fixing screw 37 is unfastened, and then, the bell-mouth member 40 is separated. Since the bell-mouth member 40 is coupled with the partition panel 30 via the engagement of the hooks 35 and the recesses 45, the partition panel 30 can be easily separated by simply unfastening the fixing screw 37. In the embodiment of the present invention, furthermore, since there is no interference between the bell-mouth member 40 and the control box 50, it is unnecessary to separate the control box 50 upon separation of the bell-mouth member 40.

Once the bell-mouth member 40 is separated, the blowing fan 11 is separable. Accordingly, the blowing fan 11 can be separated through the opening 31 of the partition panel 30 by unfastening a nut ha provided at the center of the blowing fan 11. In this case, since the opening 31 of the partition panel 30 is larger than the blowing fan 11, the blowing fan 11 can be easily separated. After completing separation of the blowing fan 11, the repair or exchange of the drive motor 12 is possible. As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is unnecessary to separate the control box 50, partition panel 30, or the like for the separation of the blowing fan 11, and the blowing fan 11 can be easily separated as compared to the prior art. Consequently, the repair of the drive motor 12, etc. can be simply accomplished.

As apparent from the above description, the

ceiling-type air conditioner according to the present invention has the following several effects.

Firstly, since the bell-mouth member can be separated from the partition panel and the blowing fan can be separated through an opening of the partition panel, it is possible to assure easy separation of the blowing fan from a body of the air conditioner. As a result, when a motor for the blowing fan breaks down, the repair of the broken motor can be easily accomplished.

Secondly, since there is no interference between the bell-mouth member and the control box upon separation of the bell-mouth member, it is possible to reduce the disassembling of peripheral elements to a minimum. That is, it is unnecessary to separate the control box, partition panel, or the like when the blowing fan is separated. This accomplishes more easy separation of the

blowing fan as compared to the prior art. -

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, L0 except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification

(including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features

disclosed in this specification (including any

accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

What is claimed is: 1. A ceiling-type air conditioner comprising: a body; a blowing fan installed in the body; a heat exchanger installed around the blowing fan inside the body; a partition panel to divide an inner space of the body into a suction region and a discharge region and having an opening for the passage of the blowing fan upon disassembling of the blowing fan; and a bell-mouth member detachably coupled to the opening of the partition panel, to guide suctioned air into the blowing fan.
2. The ceiling-type air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising: a condensate water sump installed below the heat exchanger inside the body, wherein the partition panel has a rim coupled with the condensate water sump.
3. The ceiling-type air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a control box installed at a lower surface of the partition panel so as not to interfere with the bell-mouth member.
4. The ceiling-type air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein the bell-mouth member has a cut formed at a rim portion thereof close to the control box, to prevent interference between the bell-mouth member and the control box.
5. The ceiling-type air conditioner according to any preceding claim, further comprising: a plurality of couplers to couple the bell-mouth member and the partition panel with each other, wherein the couplers include hooks and recesses provided, respectively, at the partition panel and the bell-mouth member at corresponding positions, to be engaged with each other.
6. The ceiling-type air conditioner according to claim 5, further comprising: at least one fixing screw to fix the bell-mouth member to the partition panel after the hooks are engaged in the recesses, for preventing disengagement of the hooks and the recesses.