JP2002005082A - Drain pump and air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a discharge noise during high speed running of an impeller without a fear of contact of an impeller rotary shaft and a pump casing. SOLUTION: A drain pump comprises a pump casing 1 having a drain suction port 3 and a drain discharge port 4, and an impeller 2 which is arranged inside the pump casing 1 and is rotated by a driving means 5. A rotary shaft 6 of the impeller 2 is provided with an air discharge means 8 for discharging air existing in the pump casing 1. When suction of drain is carried out by rotating the impeller 2 by means of a motor 5, air in the pump casing 1 is discharged outside by an air discharge means 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a drain pump and an air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a ceiling-mounted type air conditioner, a drain pump is used to discharge drain generated in a heat exchanger to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 4, this type of drain pump A has a pump casing 1 having a drain suction port 3 located on the lower surface and a drain outlet 4 located on the side face, and a pump casing 1 provided inside the pump casing 1. And a rotary shaft 6 of the impeller 2 penetrates an upper portion of the pump casing 1 and is connected to the motor 5. It has become. Reference numeral 9 denotes a motor fixture.

[0004]

In the case of the drain pump configured as described above, it is necessary to reduce the amount of air from the upper part of the impeller 2 in order to reduce drainage noise. When drain level is low, impeller 2
From the point where the rotation speed becomes high, the amount of air flowing in from the gap S formed between the pump casing 1 and the rotary shaft 6 increases, and there is a problem that drainage noise increases. . Although it is conceivable that the gap S is narrowed to reduce the amount of air inflow, there is a possibility that the rotation of the rotating shaft 6 may cause contact with the pump casing 1. There is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to reduce drainage noise during high-speed rotation of an impeller without worrying about contact between the impeller rotating shaft and a pump casing. It is.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a pump casing 1 having a drain inlet 3 and a drain outlet 4 is provided. In the drain pump provided with the impeller 2 which is driven to rotate by the driving means 5, an air discharging means 8 for discharging the air in the pump casing 1 is provided on the rotating shaft 6 of the impeller 2.

With the above construction, the air in the pump casing 1 is discharged to the outside by the air discharging means 8 when the impeller 2 is driven to rotate by the driving means 5 and the drain is pumped up. It will be. Accordingly, the amount of air flowing into the pump casing 1 can be reduced, and the gap between the impeller rotating shaft 6 and the pump casing 1 does not need to be reduced, so that
The drainage noise can be reduced without having to worry about contact between the impeller rotating shaft 6 and the pump casing 1.

[0008] As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
In the drain pump described above, the air discharging means 8 is
When it is possible to rotate together with the rotation shaft 6, the rotation speed of the air discharging means 8 and the rotation speed of the impeller 2 correspond to each other, and the adjustment of the amount of air in the pump casing 1 is performed by the rotation speed of the driving means 5. It can be done easily. Therefore, drainage noise particularly at a low water level can be effectively reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, the drain pump according to any one of the first and second aspects is used for draining an air conditioner.

[0010] With the above-described structure, the drainage sound at the low water level can be reduced, and thus the air conditioner is most suitable for an air conditioner that mainly performs drainage at the low water level.

[0011]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a ceiling-mounted air conditioner using this drain pump will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, this air conditioner has an air conditioner main body 1 above an opening 17 formed in a ceiling C.
1 and the opening 7 with respect to the air conditioner body 1.
The casing 13 of the air conditioner body 11 has a substantially annular heat exchanger 14 and a suction side facing downward at the center of the heat exchanger 14. An air blower 15 having an outlet side as a side surface of the heat exchanger 14 and a bell mouth 16 arranged on a suction side of the air blower 15 are provided. Reference numeral 18 denotes a drain pan, 19 denotes a fan motor, and 20 denotes a blow air passage.

In the case of the air conditioner having the above-described structure, as shown in FIG. 2, the drain pan is formed in a portion of the casing 13 where the blow-off air passage 20 is not formed (ie, between the blow-out air passages). A pump chamber 22 communicated with the pump 18 is formed, and a drain pump A is disposed in the pump chamber 22, and the drain pump A discharges the drain accumulated in the drain pan 18 to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 3, the drain pump A has a pump casing 1 having a drain suction port 3 located on a lower surface and a drain discharge port 4 located on a side face, and a drive casing in the pump casing 1. And an impeller 2 rotationally driven by a motor 5 acting as a means. Reference numeral 9 denotes a motor fixture.

The pump casing 1 includes a lower casing 1a enclosing the impeller 2 and an upper casing 1b covering an upper opening of the lower casing 1a and having a circular hole 7 at the center thereof through a sealing member 8. The rotating shaft 6 of the impeller 2 is connected to the motor 5 through the circular hole 7.

The drain suction port 3 is formed at the center of the lower casing 1a of the pump casing 1 (ie, at a position corresponding to the rotation center of the impeller 2). In addition, the drain outlet 4 is integrally formed as a trumpet from the side surface of the lower casing 1a.

The rotation shaft 6 of the impeller 2 has
An axial fan 8 acting as an air discharging means for discharging air from the pump casing 1 is provided so as to be able to rotate together.

In the drain pump configured as described above, the following operational effects can be obtained.

When the impeller 2 is driven to rotate by the motor 5 and the drain is pumped, the air W in the pump casing 1 is discharged to the outside by the axial fan 8 rotating together with the impeller rotating shaft 6. It will be. Therefore,
The amount of air flowing into the pump casing 1 can be reduced, and the gap between the impeller rotating shaft 6 and the pump casing 1 does not need to be reduced. The drainage noise can be reduced without performing.

By the way, in the above air conditioner,
When the drain pump A having the above configuration is used for drain discharge, when the water level of the drain is low, the load on the drain pump A is reduced, so that the rotation speed of the impeller 2 increases (that is, the rotation speed of the axial fan 8). Is increased), the amount of air exhausted by the axial fan 8 (that is, the back pressure by the axial fan 8) is increased, and as a result, the amount of air flowing into the pump casing 1 is reduced. Therefore, the drainage sound is reduced and the drainage capacity is increased. On the other hand, when the water level of the drain is high, the load on the drain pump A increases, so that the rotation speed of the impeller 2 decreases (ie, the rotation speed of the axial fan 8 decreases), and the amount of air discharged by the axial fan 8 (That is, the back pressure by the axial fan 8) is reduced, and as a result, the amount of air flowing into the pump casing 1 is increased. Therefore, the drainage sound becomes loud and the drainage capacity becomes low.

However, in the case of an air conditioner, when the power is restarted after a power failure or when the operation is first started on the day, the water level of the drain may be high. ) Since the water level of the drain is low, as described above, the drain pump A having the above-described configuration has a low drainage sound and a high drainage capacity at a low water level.
Is optimal.

In the above-described embodiment, an axial fan provided so as to be able to rotate coaxially with the impeller rotating shaft is employed as the air drainage means. A fan, a moving blade integrally formed on a rotating shaft, or the like may be employed.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a pump casing 1 having a drain inlet 3 and a drain outlet 4 is provided.
In a drain pump having an impeller 2 inside the pump casing 1 and rotationally driven by a driving means 5, an air discharging means 8 for discharging air from the pump casing 1 is provided on a rotating shaft 6 of the impeller 2. Since the impeller 2 is rotationally driven by the motor 5 and the drain is pumped, the air in the pump casing 1 is discharged to the outside by the air discharging means 8.
The amount of air flowing into the pump casing 1 can be reduced, and the drainage noise can be reduced without having to worry about contact between the impeller rotating shaft 6 and the pump casing 1.

As in the invention of claim 2, claim 1
In the drain pump described above, the air discharging means 8 is
When it is possible to rotate together with the rotation shaft 6, the rotation speed of the air discharging means 8 and the rotation speed of the impeller 2 correspond to each other, and the adjustment of the amount of air in the pump casing 1 is performed by the rotation speed of the driving means 5. It can be done easily. Therefore, drainage noise particularly at a low water level can be effectively reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the drain pump according to any one of the first and second aspects is used for draining an air conditioner, drainage noise at a low water level is reduced. Therefore, there is an effect that it is optimal in an air conditioner that mainly performs drainage at a low water level.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of the air conditioner main body in the air conditioner according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the drain pump according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional drain pump.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a pump casing, 2 is an impeller, 3 is a drain inlet, 4 is a drain outlet, 5 is a motor, 6 is a rotating shaft, and 8 is an air discharge means (axial fan).

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pump casing (1) having a drain inlet (3) and a drain outlet (4); and an impeller (1) in the pump casing (1) and driven to rotate by a driving means (5). 2), wherein the rotating shaft (6) of the impeller (2) is provided with air discharging means (8) for discharging air from the pump casing (1). And drain pump. 2. The drain pump according to claim 1, wherein said air discharging means (8) is rotatable with said rotary shaft (6). 3. An air conditioner, wherein the drain pump according to claim 1 is used for drain discharge.