JP2005328356A - Signal receiver and air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a signal receiver without disfiguring the appearances of indoor equipments, and to provide an air conditioner equipped with the signal receiver. <P>SOLUTION: There is provided an infrared receiver (a signal receiver) for receiving an infrared signal emitted from a remote controller. The infrared receiver is equipped with a board 6 provided within a casing, an operation switch 7 (a push-button switch) provided in the board 6, an oscillating plate unit 20 that is located on the anterior aspect of the board 6 and is equipped with an infrared ray passing opening 11 (a signal passing through opening) for allowing the infrared rays to pass, and two bends 13, 14 for rockably supporting the oscillating plate unit 20 at two different positions. The oscillating plate unit 20 is pushed out of the anterior aspect to bend down the bends 13, 14, so that the oscillating plate unit 20 presses the operation switch 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner for air conditioning indoors, and more particularly to a signal receiver that receives a signal from a remote controller.

The air conditioner is generally composed of an indoor unit provided indoors and an outdoor unit provided outdoor. As an operation command means for the air conditioner, an infrared receiver is provided in the indoor unit, and a user operates a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as “remote controller”) that emits infrared rays to remotely give an operation command to the indoor unit. . In addition, air conditioning information such as room temperature and operating conditions is transmitted from an indoor unit to a remote controller, and the air conditioning information is displayed on a display unit provided in the remote controller.
In order to realize such remote operation, the indoor unit main body is provided with an infrared receiver. This infrared receiver includes an infrared transmitter in addition to the infrared receiver. Furthermore, the indoor unit main body is provided with a display substrate provided with LEDs (light emitting diodes) for displaying the operation status. The casing of the indoor unit is provided with a light receiving cover that transmits infrared rays so that the infrared rays can be incident on the casing. An infrared light receiver and a transmitter are positioned inside the light receiving cover.
JP-A-9-134642

In such an air conditioner, the forced operation switch is connected to the indoor unit so that the air conditioner can be activated / deactivated even when the remote controller is not used, such as when the user loses the remote control or when the remote control fails. It is necessary to prepare in.
However, when the operation switch is arranged on the display substrate, there is a problem that the operation switch portion is exposed side by side with the LED or the like that informs the operation status, and the design is impaired.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said situation, and it aims at providing the air conditioning apparatus provided with the signal receiver and signal receiver which do not impair the external appearance of an indoor unit.

In the present invention, the following means are adopted in order to solve the above problems.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal receiving device for receiving a signal emitted from a remote controller, a board provided in the casing, a push button switch provided on the board, and a front side of the board. And a swing plate portion that is provided with a signal passage hole for allowing a signal to pass therethrough and that is swingably supported in the front-rear direction, and two bend portions that swingably support the swing plate portion at two different positions. The bend portion is bent when the swing plate portion is pushed from the front side, and the swing plate portion presses the push button type switch.

  According to the present invention, since the swing plate portion is supported by the two bend portions, when the swing plate portion is pressed and the bend portion is bent, the trajectory on which the swing plate portion moves is uniquely determined. . Then, the swinging plate portion reliably presses the push button type switch.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the signal receiving device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a light receiving device that receives a signal and / or a transmitter that transmits a signal is provided on the substrate, and The light receiver and / or the transmitter on the substrate faces.

  In the present invention, the transmission / reception range of the transmitter / receiver is positioned below. Therefore, the signal from the remote controller located below the room easily reaches the light receiver, and the light from the luminaire located above the room becomes difficult to pass through the signal passage hole. This avoids reception failures. In addition, the signal from the transmitter can easily reach the remote control.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the signal receiving device according to the first or second aspect, the swing plate portion is supported by one of the bend portions so that the swing plate portion can swing freely with a lower portion as a fulcrum. Features.

  According to the present invention, the swing plate portion is tilted by the bend portion about the lower part as the center of rotation, so that the height of the upper and lower edges of the signal passage hole is slightly lowered when the swing plate portion is pressed. It will be in the state that fell to. Therefore, the transmission / reception range of the transmitter and the light receiver for transmitting and receiving signals provided on the substrate further expands downward.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the signal receiving device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the swing plate portion is supported on one of the left and right sides by one of the bend portions, and the substrate A light receiving device that receives a signal is provided on the one side of the light source, and a transmitter that transmits a signal is provided on the other side.

  When the swing plate is pushed and approaches the push button switch, the signal passage hole also approaches the substrate. For this reason, the light transmission / reception range is widened. Since the swing plate portion approaches the substrate with one side in the left-right direction as a fulcrum, the other side approaches the substrate more, and the light transmission / reception range becomes wider. Therefore, when the switch is pressed, the transmission angle from the transmitter located on the other side can be made wider, and the signal can be easily transmitted to the remote controller.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the signal receiving device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a light receiving cover that transmits a signal to the front side of the swing plate portion is separate from the swing plate portion. It is provided.

  According to the present invention, the user pushes the light receiving cover, and the light receiving cover pushes the swing plate portion, whereby the push button type switch is pushed. As described above, since the light receiving cover and the swing plate portion are separate bodies, the light receiving cover can be made of a hard material, which is less susceptible to the influence of the user's force, and the light receiving cover itself does not bend and shakes. It is possible to move the moving plate portion along a predetermined path. In addition, the light receiving range by the signal passage hole can be adjusted regardless of the size (design) of the light receiving cover.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an indoor unit including an indoor heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and the indoor air, an outdoor heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outdoor air, and the refrigerant An air conditioner having an outdoor unit including a compressor that compresses and discharges the signal is characterized in that the signal receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is provided in the indoor unit.

  According to the present invention, since the swing plate portion of the signal receiving device provided in the indoor unit is supported by the two bend portions, the swing portion is swung when the swing plate portion is pressed and the bend portion is bent. The trajectory along which the plate part moves is uniquely determined.

The present invention has the following effects.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the push button switch is integrated into the signal receiving device, the appearance is not impaired. Further, since the trajectory of the swing plate is uniquely determined, it is possible to reliably push the push button type switch.
Further, since the push button type switch is provided in the signal receiving device itself, space can be saved.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the transmission / reception performance can be improved because the transmission / reception range extends downward.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the swing plate portion is tilted about the lower part by the bend portion, the transmitter and the light receiver receive and transmit signals when the swing plate portion is pressed. The range extends downward, and the light transmission / reception performance can be improved.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the transmission angle from the transmitter is widened while the switch is pressed, it becomes easy to transmit the signal to the remote controller.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the light receiving cover and the swing plate portion are separate bodies, the swing plate portion can be reliably moved along a predetermined track. In addition, the light receiving range by the signal passage hole can be adjusted regardless of the size (design) of the light receiving cover.
According to the invention described in claim 6, since the push button switch can be integrated into the signal receiving device, the appearance of the indoor unit is not impaired. Further, since the swing plate portion of the signal receiving device is supported by the two bend portions and the orbit of the swing plate portion is uniquely determined, the push button type switch can be surely pressed.
Further, since the push button type switch is provided in the signal receiving device itself, space can be saved.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an infrared receiving device (signal receiving device) according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an external view of an indoor unit 1 of an air conditioner equipped with the infrared receiving device. This infrared receiver compresses an indoor unit 1 including an indoor heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between a refrigerant and room air, an outdoor heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and outdoor air, and the refrigerant. In the air conditioner having an outdoor unit including a compressor for discharging and discharging, the indoor unit 1 is provided.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 3 denotes a light receiving cover provided at the lower front portion of the casing 2 of the indoor unit 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the light receiving cover 3 serves as a window through which infrared light passes when the indoor unit 1 and the remote controller 4 transmit and receive infrared light (signals) S to each other. The light receiving cover 3 is a band-pass filter that cuts an extra frequency band to some extent in order to avoid reception interference due to light from the indoor lighting fixture 5 or the like.

Reference numeral 6 in FIG. 1 denotes a substrate, which includes an operation switch (push button type switch) 7, a transmitter 8 that transmits infrared rays, and a light receiver 9 that receives infrared rays. Reference numeral 10 denotes a front panel provided on the front side (inside the room) of the substrate 6. The front panel 10 is provided with an infrared passage hole (signal passage hole) 11 and an operation switch pushing portion 12, and includes a swing plate portion 20 supported by bend portions 13 and 14. As the bend portions 13 and 14 are bent, the swing plate portion 20 is tilted, and the operation switch pushing portion 12 pushes the operation switch 7.
The light receiving cover 3 is provided on the front side of the front panel 10, and the display plate 15 that forms a part of the casing 2 is provided on the front side of the light receiving cover 3. The display plate 15 is provided with an opening 15a, and a protrusion 3a provided on the light receiving cover 3 is fitted into the opening 15a.
The substrate 6, the front panel 10, the light receiving cover 3, and the display plate 15 are installed in combination.

Next, the structure of the front panel 10 will be described in detail.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the front panel 10 as viewed from behind. As shown in the figure, the front panel 10 has a swing plate portion 20 whose front side is in contact with the light receiving cover 3, a front panel main body 21, bend portions 13 and 14 that support the swing plate portion 20 on the front panel main body 21, The switch pushing part 12 provided in the rear surface of the rocking | swiveling board part 20 is provided. The swing plate portion 20, the front panel main body 21, the bend portions 13 and 14, and the switch push portion 12 are integrally formed.
The bend portion 13 is fixed to the front panel body 21 at the lower left side of the swing plate portion 20 when the swing plate portion 20 is viewed from the front (see FIG. 1), and the distal end is connected to the switch push portion 12. It is fixed. Each bend portion 14 cantileverally supports the swing plate portion 20 on the front panel body 21 at the right side of the swing plate portion 20. The bend portions 13 and 14 are bent by the flexibility of the material, and the swing plate portion 20 can move in the front-rear direction by bending.
The bend portion 13 may be fixed to the front panel body 21 above the swing plate portion 20, or the bend portion 14 may be provided on the left side of the swing plate portion. However, by fixing the base end of the bend portion 13 to the front panel main body 21 below the swing plate portion 20, the swing plate portion 20 rotates about the lower edge. As a result, the transmission / reception ranges of the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 can be expanded downward as described later with the operation switch 7 being pressed.

  The switch pusher 12 is provided at the upper left corner of the swing plate 20 when viewed from the front and extends rearward. A flat surface 12a is provided at the rear end (see FIG. 4), and the operation switch 7 is pushed by the flat surface 12a. The flat surface 12a is made sufficiently wide so that a slight positional deviation between the operation switch 7 and the flat surface 12a can be absorbed.

The positional relationship between the infrared passage hole 11 of the swing plate 20 and the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 is such that the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 face the upper part of the infrared passage hole 11 as shown in FIG. doing.
When the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 are located at the center of the infrared passage hole 11 in the height direction, the light transmission / reception range is A. In this embodiment, the light transmission / reception range is downward as indicated by B. As it widens, the upper passage area is limited. Therefore, the light from the lighting fixture 5 positioned above does not easily reach the light receiver 9, and the infrared light from the remote controller 4 easily reaches the light receiver 9. In addition, the reach of infrared rays emitted from the transmitter 8 also extends downward. As shown in FIG. 1, the light receiver 9 is provided on the bend portion 14 side (right side when viewed from the front), and the transmitter 8 is provided on the left side.

Next, the operation of this infrared receiver will be described.
During operation of the air conditioner, infrared rays emitted from the remote controller 4 through the light receiving cover 3 and the infrared passage hole 11 are received by the light receiver 9, reach an amplification amplifier (not shown), and an operation command is given. Further, when the infrared rays emitted from the transmitter 8 are received by the remote controller 4, operation information such as room temperature, outside temperature, humidity, error display, or power consumption is displayed on a display unit (not shown) provided in the remote controller 4. The

When the user loses the remote control, or when the remote control is not used, such as when the remote control is broken, forced operation is performed by pressing the light receiving cover 3 with a finger.
When the light receiving cover 3 is pushed with a finger, the bend portions 13 and 14 are bent, and the bend portions 13 and 14 serve as fulcrums to move the swing plate portion 20 backward as shown in FIG. 12a presses the operation switch 7.

At this time, since the bend portions 13 and 14 support the swing plate portion 20 on the right and bottom of the swing plate portion 20, the trajectory of the switch push portion 12 is uniquely determined.
On the other hand, if the swing plate portion 20 is supported only by the lateral bend portion 14, the switch push portion 12 is displaced up and down. The reason is as follows. The reception cover 3 is long in the lateral direction so as to widen the reception range in the left-right direction, and accordingly, the swing plate portion 20 is also long in the lateral direction. Under such circumstances, the front panel 10 is made of a flexible material (polystyrene) so that the swing plate portion 20 can be bent. Accordingly, the left end portion is likely to shake up and down only by cantilever support by the bend portion 14. In the present embodiment, in order to avoid this, the lower bend portion 13 prevents the rocking plate portion 20 from shifting up and down.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the lower bend portion 13 is rotated as a center, in a bent state, the transmission / reception range by the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 is wide as shown in FIG. Since the swing plate portion 20 is tilted about the lower portion by the bend portion 13, the height of the upper and lower edges of the infrared passage hole 11 is slightly lowered when the operation switch 7 is pressed. It becomes. Accordingly, the transmission / reception range of the transmitter 8 and the light receiver 9 is expanded downward as shown in FIG. At this time, since the transmitter 8 is located on the side where the deflection is greater (the side far from the bend unit 14), the transmission range is further expanded downward, and information transmission to the remote controller 4 is more reliably performed.

Thus, in the air conditioner provided with the infrared receiver of this embodiment, the operation switch 7 is provided in the infrared receiver, and the appearance is hidden by the light receiving cover 3. For the user, the light receiving cover 3 is a light receiving window of the remote controller 4 and functions as a button of the operation switch 7. Therefore, the design is not spoiled and it is not necessary to provide a space for exposing the operation switch 7 separately in the casing, so that the space can be saved.
Further, since the two bend portions 13 and 14 are provided, the trajectory of the switch pressing portion 12 when the swing plate portion 20 rotates is uniquely determined. Therefore, the switch pushing portion 12 provided on the swing plate portion 20 reliably pushes the operation switch 7.
Further, since the swing plate portion 20 of the front panel 10 is cantilevered by the two vent portions 13 and 14, it is easy to release after injection molding as compared with the case of only one portion.

  Further, since the light receiving cover 3 and the swing plate portion 20 are separate bodies, the light receiving cover can be made of a hard material. For example, it is formed of high purity polystyrene, styrene metafuryl copolymer resin, or the like. That is, since the light receiving cover 3 itself does not bend, the swing plate portion can be moved along a predetermined track. In addition, the light receiving range by the infrared passage hole 11 can be adjusted regardless of the size (design) of the light receiving cover 3. Therefore, the degree of freedom in the design of the light receiving cover 3 is increased, and the size of the rocking plate portion 20 can be increased, so that the amount of bending can be increased, and the operation switch 7 can be pressed more reliably.

Needless to say, a device to which the infrared receiver described above can be applied is not limited to an air conditioner.
Moreover, although the example of the operation switch 7 was shown as a pushbutton type switch, it is not restricted to this, The switch which has another function may be sufficient.

It is the disassembled perspective view which showed the infrared rays receiver with which the indoor unit of the air conditioning apparatus shown as one Embodiment of this invention is provided. It is an external appearance perspective view of the indoor unit. It is the figure shown about the relationship between the indoor unit of an air conditioning apparatus, and a remote control. It is the perspective view shown about the shape of the front panel. It is the sectional side view which showed the positional relationship of an infrared passage hole, a transmitter, and a light receiver. It is the figure which showed the relationship between the motion of a front panel, and the button pushing part which pushes an operation switch. It is the figure shown about the motion of a front panel, and the state of an infrared rays passage hole.

Explanation of symbols

3 Light receiving cover 4 Remote controller 6 Board 7 Operation switch (push button type switch)
8 Transmitter 9 Light receiver 10 Front panel 11 Infrared passage hole (signal passage hole)
12 Switch pushing part 13 Bend part 14 Bend part 15 Display plate 20 Oscillating plate part

Claims (6)

In a signal receiving device that receives a signal emitted from a remote controller,
A substrate provided in the casing, a push button switch provided on the substrate, and a signal passage hole that is located on the front side of the substrate and allows a signal to pass therethrough is supported in a swingable manner in the front-rear direction. A moving plate portion, and two bend portions that swingably support the swing plate portion at two different positions;
The signal receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the bend portion is bent when the swing plate portion is pressed from the front side, and the swing plate portion presses the push button switch. A receiver for receiving a signal and / or a transmitter for transmitting a signal is provided on the substrate;
The signal receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light receiver and / or the transmitter on the substrate faces an upper portion of the signal passage hole.   The signal receiving device according to claim 1, wherein the swing plate portion is supported by one of the bend portions so as to be swingable with a lower portion as a fulcrum. The swing plate portion is supported on one of the left and right sides by one of the bend portions,
4. The signal receiving device according to claim 1, wherein a light receiver for receiving a signal is provided on the one side of the substrate, and a transmitter for transmitting a signal is provided on the other side. apparatus.   5. The signal receiving device according to claim 1, wherein a light receiving cover that transmits a signal is provided separately from the swing plate portion on a front side of the swing plate portion. 6. An indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the refrigerant and indoor air, an outdoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the refrigerant and outdoor air, and a compressor that compresses and discharges the refrigerant In an air conditioner having an outdoor unit
An air conditioner characterized in that the indoor unit is provided with the signal receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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