JP2006153404A - Indoor unit for air conditioning - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an indoor unit for air conditioning properly used for cooling the air in a room having a double flooring. <P>SOLUTION: This indoor unit 1 for air conditioning comprises a housing 14, an air suction opening 16 formed on an upper portion of the housing 14, a heat exchanger 18 mounted in a state of faced to the air suction opening 16, and a fan case 24 mounted at a lower portion of the heat exchanger 18 and having a suction opening 20 and a discharge opening 22, and an air channel 26 communicated with the discharge opening 22 of the fan case 24 is connected with a floor surface opening 28 formed on an upper floor of the double flooring. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an indoor unit for air conditioning that cools indoor air having a double floor.

  An air conditioner used to cool indoor air such as a computer room includes an air conditioning indoor unit that cools indoor air using a heat exchanger and an air conditioning outdoor unit that supplies refrigerant to the air conditioning indoor unit. .

  As an indoor unit for air conditioning, a housing, an air suction port formed in the housing, a heat exchanger disposed so as to face the air suction port, and a suction port disposed on the downstream side of the heat exchanger And a fan case having a discharge port are known.

  In such an indoor unit, an external air duct is connected to the discharge port of the fan case, and cooling air is supplied into the room via the connected air duct (for example, Patent Document 1). reference).

JP 2003-287271 A

  By the way, a computer room or the like often has a double floor, that is, a free access floor in which a space for arranging wiring of devices and the like is formed by an upper floor and a bottom floor. In addition, it is difficult for the cooling air to reach the equipment due to the increase in the size of the room, and the amount of heat generated increases due to the higher density of the equipment, and the room temperature tends to rise due to the generated heat. Therefore, it is required to further secure the air volume of the cooling air. However, the conventional technique such as Patent Document 1 does not consider such circumstances, and is not necessarily suitable for a room having a double floor.

  An object of the present invention is to realize an indoor unit for air conditioning that is more suitable for cooling indoor air having a double floor.

  In order to solve the above problems, an indoor unit for air conditioning according to the present invention includes a housing, an air suction port formed in an upper portion of the housing, a heat exchanger disposed facing the air suction port, a heat A fan case having a suction port and a discharge port disposed below the exchanger is provided, and a wind tunnel communicating with the fan case discharge port is connected to a floor surface opening formed on the upper floor of the double floor. It is characterized by.

  According to this, when the air sucked into the housing is cooled by the heat exchanger, the cooled air is blown out from the wind tunnel by the fan. The blown out cooling air is guided to the double floor space through the floor surface opening, and then supplied into the room from the return port of the upper floor. In short, the double floor space is used as a cooling air blowing duct. Therefore, if the return port is formed in the vicinity of the devices to be cooled, the temperature rise of the ambient air around the devices can be efficiently suppressed by the cooling air from the return port.

  Moreover, since a ventilation duct can be abbreviate | omitted, an indoor space can be used effectively and the appearance of a room can be improved.

  In this case, the wind tunnel can be formed with a channel whose cross-sectional area gradually increases from the fan case side to the floor opening. As a result, the cooling air is rectified with the flow hardly disturbed in the process of passing through the wind tunnel. Therefore, the pressure loss generated in the wind tunnel can be suppressed, and the air volume of the cooling air can be further secured.

  Further, the wind tunnel can support the arc-shaped wind direction guide so as to protrude downward from the floor surface opening. According to this, the cooling air is blown into the double floor space along the wind direction guide by protruding the wind direction guide. In other words, since the traveling direction of the cooling air gradually changes from the vertical downward direction to the horizontal direction, the cooling air is smoothly blown out without colliding with the bottom floor of the double floor. Therefore, the pressure loss resulting from the collision can be suppressed, and the air volume of the cooling air can be further ensured.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the indoor unit for air conditioning more suitable for cooling the indoor air which has a double floor is realizable.

(Embodiment 1)
A first embodiment of an indoor unit for air conditioning to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an air conditioning indoor unit 1 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioning indoor unit 1 is an underfloor type indoor unit that cools indoor air having a double floor (hereinafter referred to as a free access floor 12) such as a computer room. Here, the free access floor 12 is a space 11 formed by an upper floor 12a and a lower floor 12b for wiring of devices such as computers and servers.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the indoor unit 1 for air conditioning according to the present invention includes a housing 14, an air suction port 16 formed at the top of the housing 14, and heat disposed facing the air suction port 16. The heat exchanger 18 includes a fan case 24 having a suction port 20 and a discharge port 22 disposed below the heat exchanger 18. A wind tunnel 26 communicating with the discharge port 22 of the fan case 24 is connected to a floor surface opening 28 formed in the upper floor 12a.

  The housing 14 is a stationary box-shaped casing disposed on the surface of the upper plate 12a. The heat exchanger 18 cools the indoor air with the flowing refrigerant. The fan case 24 houses a fan 30 that is a sirocco centrifugal fan. However, a turbo fan or a once-through fan may be used.

  The wind tunnel 26 is a cylindrical body as a built-in duct, and is erected in the vertical direction. The wind tunnel 26 has an upstream opening connected to the discharge port 22 of the fan case 24 and a downstream opening connected to the floor surface opening 28.

  A first wind direction guide 32 as a flow path forming member is disposed inside the wind tunnel 26. The wind direction guide 32 has an upper end supported by the edge of the discharge port 22, and is inclined with respect to the axial center from the upper end thereof and supported by the opening edge on the downstream side of the wind tunnel 26. In short, the wind tunnel 26 has the flow path 27 whose cross-sectional area gradually increases from the fan case 24 side to the floor surface opening 28 by the wind direction guide 32. For the flow path 27, the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the floor opening 28 to the cross-sectional area of the discharge port 22 may be set to 100% to 500%, for example, and more preferably 100% to 200%. The floor surface opening 28 here corresponds to the opening on the downstream side of the wind tunnel 26. Further, as the wind direction guide 32, a plate-shaped one may be used, but the surface on the flow path 27 side may be formed in an arc shape.

  Further, a second wind direction guide 34a as a flow path forming member is supported on the inner surface of the wind tunnel 26 so that it can be pulled out. Similarly, the wind direction guide 34b is supported by the wind direction guide 32 so that extraction | drawer is possible. The wind direction guide 34 a is formed in an arc shape downward, and is supported so as to protrude downward from the floor surface opening 28. As an example of a support method, a guide rail as a support member may be disposed on the inner surface of the wind tunnel 26, and the upper end portion of the wind direction guide 34a may be fixed to the disposed guide rail. The point is that the wind direction guide 34a may be housed so that it can be pulled out from the opening on the downstream side of the wind tunnel 26. Similarly, the wind direction guide 32b is formed in an arc shape downward.

  The broken lines in FIG. 1 indicate a state in which the wind direction guides 34a and 34b are protruded from the floor surface opening 28, for example, a state when the air conditioning indoor unit 1 is operating. As indicated by the broken lines, when the wind direction guides 34a and 34b are pulled out, the wind direction guides 34a and 34b are gradually curved in the horizontal direction from the floor surface opening 28. At this time, the wind direction guide 34b is positioned in a state closer to the horizontal than the wind direction guide 34a. In other words, the flow path 35 formed by the airflow direction guides 34a and 34b gradually bends in the horizontal direction from the floor surface opening 28, and the cross-sectional area gradually increases in the air ventilation direction. Instead of supporting the airflow direction guides 34a and 34b so that the airflow direction guides 34a and 34b can be protruded, the airflow direction guides 34a and 34b are bundled with the air conditioning indoor unit 1 and are installed when the air conditioning indoor unit 1 is installed on the free access floor 12. 34a and 34b may be attached.

  When the air conditioning indoor unit 1 configured as described above is operated, room air in the computer room is sucked into the housing 14 via the air suction port 16. The sucked air is cooled by the refrigerant flowing through the heat exchanger 18. The cooled air is sucked into the fan case 24 and then discharged from the discharge port 22. The discharged cooling air is blown out from the floor surface opening 28 toward the space 11 through the flow path 27 of the wind tunnel 26. The direction of travel of the blown cooling air is changed along the wind direction guides 34a and 34b. Then, after the cooling air is ventilated through the space 11, the cooling air is supplied into the room from the return port of the upper floor 12a. The return port here is formed in the vicinity of the equipment to be cooled.

  According to this embodiment, the space 11 of the free access floor 12 can be used as a duct for cooling air. Therefore, even if the air duct is omitted, the cooling air can be guided to the vicinity of the devices. As a result, the temperature rise of the ambient air of the devices can be efficiently suppressed, and the air conditioning capability can be improved. Moreover, since a ventilation duct can be abbreviate | omitted, while being able to utilize indoor space effectively, the appearance of a room can be improved. Furthermore, the installation work of the indoor unit for air conditioning becomes easy.

  In contrast, a conventional indoor air conditioner has an external air duct connected to the exhaust port of the fan case. Therefore, in order to guide the cooling air to the vicinity of the devices, a ventilation duct is provided in the indoor space. Further, when the air duct is not provided, the cooling air may not reach the equipment due to the increase in the size of the computer room.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the cross-sectional area of the flow path 27 gradually increases from the fan case 24 side to the floor surface opening 28. As a result, the cooling air is rectified with the flow hardly disturbed in the process of passing through the flow path 27. Therefore, the pressure loss generated in the wind tunnel 26 can be suppressed, and the air volume of the cooling air can be further secured.

  On the other hand, it has been proposed to gradually increase the cross-sectional area of the air duct in the ventilation direction (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-287271). However, since such an air duct has a portion where the flow path expands locally and suddenly, pressure loss still occurs in that portion.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the cooling air from the underfloor opening 28 is blown into the space 11 along the wind direction guide 34a. In other words, since the traveling direction of the cooling air gradually changes from the vertical downward direction to the horizontal direction, the cooling air is smoothly blown out without colliding with the bottom floor 12b. Therefore, the pressure loss resulting from the collision can be suppressed, and the air volume of the cooling air can be further ensured.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the flow path 35 formed by the airflow direction guides 34a and 34b gradually increases in cross-sectional area in the cooling air ventilation direction. Thereby, the pressure loss at the time of a cooling air moving from the floor surface opening 28 to the space 11 can also be suppressed.

  FIG. 2 is a system diagram of an air conditioner 40 using the indoor unit 1 for air conditioning according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioner 40 includes the air conditioning indoor unit 1 of FIG. 1 and an air conditioning outdoor unit 42 that supplies refrigerant to the air conditioning indoor unit 1. The outdoor unit 42 for air conditioning includes a compressor 44 that compresses the refrigerant, a condenser 46 that dissipates the heat of the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 44 to the atmosphere, and condenses the refrigerant, and the condenser 46 A blower 48 to be ventilated and a throttle mechanism 49 that decompresses the refrigerant from the condenser 46 and supplies the refrigerant to the indoor unit 1 for air conditioning are provided.

  FIG. 3 shows another example of the indoor unit 1 for air conditioning shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the air conditioning indoor unit 1 a is provided with a wind tunnel 50 as an enlarged duct instead of the wind tunnel 26 and the wind direction guide 32 of FIG. 1. The wind tunnel 50 is formed with a cross-sectional area gradually increasing from the fan case 24 side to the floor surface opening 28.

(Embodiment 2)
A second embodiment of an air conditioning indoor unit to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the air conditioning indoor unit 2 of the present embodiment. This embodiment is mainly different from the wind direction guide 32 of the first embodiment in the form of the wind direction guide 52. Therefore, portions corresponding to those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and different points will be mainly described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the air conditioning indoor unit 2, a first wind direction guide 52 as a flow path forming member is disposed in the wind tunnel 26. The wind direction guide 52 is a cylindrical body as a built-in duct, and is connected to the discharge port 22 of the fan case 24, and the downstream opening is connected to the floor surface opening 28. And the wind tunnel guide 52 of this embodiment is formed in the banana shape curved toward the downward direction. The bending radius of the wind direction guide 52 may be in the range of 150 mm to 1000 mm, for example. Second wind direction guides 54 a and 54 b as flow path forming members are supported by such a wind direction guide 52 so as to be able to be drawn downward from the downstream side opening of the wind tunnel 26. Here, the wind direction guides 54 a and 54 b are formed corresponding to the shape of the wind direction guide 52.

  According to the present embodiment, the cooling air that flows through the space 11 of the free access floor 12 is different from the first embodiment in the traveling direction. That is, by removing the airflow direction guide 32 of FIG. 1 and replacing it with the airflow direction guide 52 having a different shape, the cooling air blowing direction can be changed as necessary.

  Generally, in a computer room or the like, the arrangement of computer equipment in the room may be changed. In other words, the position of the equipment to be cooled may change. In that case, if the direction of blowing the cooling air cannot be adjusted, a significant structural change or replacement of the indoor unit for air conditioning becomes necessary. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, the direction of the cooling air can be adjusted even if the arrangement position of the devices to be cooled is changed, and therefore the existing air conditioning indoor unit 2 can respond to the occasion.

  In the present embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the airflow direction guide 52 in FIG. 4 is the same as the cooling air flow direction, but the floor from the fan case 24 side as in the first embodiment (for example, FIG. 1). It is desirable to have a flow path whose cross-sectional area gradually increases over the surface opening 28.

  FIG. 5 is another example of the air conditioning indoor unit 2 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the air conditioning indoor unit 2 a is provided with a wind tunnel 56 as an enlarged duct instead of the wind tunnel 26 and the wind direction guide 52 of FIG. 4. The wind tunnel 56 is formed to be gradually curved downward, the upstream opening being connected to the discharge port 22 of the fan case 24, and the downstream opening being connected to the floor surface opening 28.

  Although this invention was demonstrated by 1st and 2nd embodiment, it is not restricted to this. For example, the present invention can be applied not only to computer rooms but also to large-scale Internet data centers and general offices. In short, the present invention can be applied to any air conditioning indoor unit disposed on the free access floor 12. In addition, although the example which cools indoor air was demonstrated, this invention is applicable also when warming indoor air. In that case, the refrigerant flow in the air conditioner 40 shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to realize an air conditioning indoor unit for cooling equipment that is more suitable for cooling indoor air having the free access floor 12.

It is a block diagram of the indoor unit for air conditioning of 1st embodiment to which this invention is applied. It is a systematic diagram of the air conditioning apparatus using the indoor unit for an air conditioning of FIG. It is another example of the indoor unit for an air conditioning of FIG. It is a block diagram of the indoor unit for air conditioning of 2nd embodiment to which this invention is applied. It is another example of the indoor unit for an air conditioning of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Air Conditioning Indoor Unit 12 Double Floor 12a Upper Floor 14 Housing 16 Air Suction Port 18 Heat Exchanger 20 Suction Port 22 Discharge Port 24 Fan Case 26 Wind Tunnel 32 First Wind Direction Guide 34a, 34b Second Wind Direction Guide

Claims (3)

  A housing, an air suction port formed in an upper portion of the housing, a heat exchanger disposed facing the air suction port, and a suction port and a discharge port disposed below the heat exchanger An air conditioner indoor unit comprising: a fan case including: a wind tunnel connected to a discharge port of the fan case; and a floor opening formed on an upper floor of a double floor.   The indoor unit for air conditioning according to claim 1, wherein the wind tunnel has a flow path whose cross-sectional area gradually increases from the fan case side to the floor surface opening. 3. The indoor unit for air conditioning according to claim 1, wherein the wind tunnel supports an arcuate wind direction guide downward so as to protrude downward from the floor surface opening. 4.

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