JP2006250404A - Indoor unit and air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an indoor unit capable of improving workability of a control box in maintenance. <P>SOLUTION: In this indoor unit comprising the control box storing electric components and provided with an openable and closable lid 70 on its opening portion, and blowing out the conditioned air obtained by cooling or heating the indoor air introduced from a suction opening by an indoor heat exchanger, into a room, a casing main body 51 of the control box is vertical divided to have a two-piece structure composed of a right wall surface member 52 and a left wall surface member 53, the right wall surface member 52 has a shaft portion 54 projecting toward the left wall surface member 53, both wall surface members 52, 53 are connected through the shaft portion 54, and the lid 70 is rotatably supported on the shaft portion 54. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an indoor unit and an air conditioner that perform air conditioning operation by cooling, dehumidifying, or heating indoor air.

Conventionally, an air conditioner that performs indoor cooling operation, dehumidifying operation, and heating operation using a heat pump has been widespread. In this air conditioner, an outdoor unit provided with a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor unit provided with an indoor fan and an indoor heat exchanger are connected by a refrigerant pipe and sent out by the compressor. The circulating refrigerant is configured to cool or heat the air by repeating the state change.
Among these, the indoor unit installed in the air-conditioned room operates an indoor fan using a fan motor as a drive source under the control of a control box containing electrical components such as a circuit board. Air (room air) is introduced, and conditioned air obtained by cooling or heating the room air with an indoor heat exchanger through which the refrigerant passes is blown out into the room from the air outlet. Note that the control box of the indoor unit is normally supplied with power from the outside, and is also electrically connected to the outdoor unit by power supply wiring and control signal wiring.

Here, the structure of the above-described control box will be briefly described with reference to FIGS.
The control box 1 includes a lid 3 that can be opened and closed at an opening of the box body 2, and a shield material 4 made of a metal plate is attached to the outside of the box body 2. The lid 3 closes the opening located on the front surface of the indoor unit during operation, and opens the opening during work such as maintenance to enable internal work. The closed state of the lid 3 is held by a detachable locking mechanism 5.

The hinge mechanism that enables the lid 3 to be opened and closed includes a through hole 3b formed in a pair of left and right arms 3a that sandwich the side surface of the box body 2, and a pair of left and right convex portions 2a that protrude from the side surface of the box body 2. The lid 3 rotates about the convex portion 2a fitted to the through hole 3b as an axis to open and close the opening.
The shield material 4 is provided with a through hole 4 a and is fixed by engagement with the through hole 4 a with a locking projection 2 b formed on the box body 2. In addition, the front-end | tip part of the shielding material 4 is hold | maintained by the latching claw 2c of a substantially L-shaped cross section in the vicinity of the engaging part with the latching protrusion 2b.

Further, some conventional wall-mounted indoor unit units are configured to close the suction portion that is opened and closed by the louver when the air-conditioning operation is stopped and open the louver when the air-conditioning operation is stopped. In this case, the louver driving motor is housed in the box-shaped motor housing portion, and is configured to be attached to the electrical component box in a state of being covered with a cover body having an insertion hole through which the rotation shaft is inserted. Mounting, replacement and maintenance are assumed to be easy. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
JP 2000-74477 A

By the way, the above-described conventional control box 1 is a hinge mechanism in which the protruding portion 2a protruding from the outside of the box body 2 and the through hole 3b are fitted and the box body 2 is sandwiched by the arm portion 3a. There is a problem that the lid 3 is easily detached due to deformation of the box body 2 and the arm portion 3a due to the opening / closing operation. Further, the conventional control box 1 has a problem that once the shield material 4 is attached, it is difficult to remove the engagement and fixation by the through hole 4a and the locking projection 2b. Such problems are desired to be improved in order to improve workability such as maintenance for handling the control box 1.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit and an air conditioner that improve the workability of a control box during maintenance or the like.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means.
An indoor unit according to the present invention includes a control box that houses an electrical component such as a circuit board and is provided with a lid that can be opened and closed at an opening. In the indoor unit that blows out the conditioned air obtained by cooling or heating in the room from the outlet,
The casing of the control box has a vertically divided two-part structure, and projects a shaft portion toward the other wall surface member arranged opposite to the left or right wall surface member, and both wall surfaces through the shaft portion. A member is coupled, and the lid is rotatably supported by the shaft portion.

  According to such an indoor unit, the casing of the control box has a vertically divided two-part structure, and the shaft portion directed to the other wall surface member arranged opposite to the wall surface member on either the left or right wall surface member Since both the wall surface members are coupled via the shaft portion and the lid is rotatably supported by the shaft portion, the rigidity between the wall surface members coupled by the shaft portion is increased and controlled. The box becomes difficult to deform. In addition, since the lid is supported by the shaft portion that joins the wall surface members, the rotating portion of the lid also increases in rigidity and is difficult to deform.

In the indoor unit, the outer peripheral portion of the control box is provided with a wiring path for external wiring to be connected to the outdoor unit, and a configuration in which the shaft portion is disposed with an interval from the wiring path is preferable. The rigidity of the entire control box is increased and it becomes more difficult to deform.
In this case, it is preferable to form the wiring path in a box cross-sectional shape. This further increases the rigidity of the wiring path, so that the rigidity of the entire control box can be further improved.

  In the indoor unit described above, a shield material is disposed outside the control box, and the shield material is detachable by engagement between a protruding portion provided on the control box side and elastically deformed and a locking hole. It is preferable that the shield member is easily attached and detached by elastic deformation of the convex portion.

  An air conditioner according to the present invention includes an indoor unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, and an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between the refrigerant and outdoor air. An outdoor unit comprising: a refrigerant pipe for connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and for circulating a refrigerant between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit; the control box and the outdoor unit And a wiring for electrically connecting the two.

  According to such an air conditioner, in the indoor unit, the casing of the control box has a vertically divided two-part structure, and the other wall surface member disposed opposite to the wall surface member on either the left or right wall surface member Since both the wall surface members are coupled via the shaft portion and the lid is rotatably supported by the shaft portion, the wall portions connected by the shaft portion are connected to each other. Increases rigidity and makes the control box difficult to deform. In addition, since the lid is supported by the shaft portion that couples the wall surface members, the rotation support portion of the lid also has increased rigidity and is difficult to deform.

According to the above-described present invention, since the rigidity of the control box installed in the indoor unit and the rigidity of the rotation support portion of the lid are increased, the entire control box is hardly deformed when the lid is opened and closed. It is possible to obtain a remarkable effect that the operability such as assembling and maintenance is improved by obtaining excellent operability.
Moreover, since the convex part by the side of a control box also elastically deforms about a shielding material, the workability | operativity of attachment / detachment operation improves.

In addition, the control box with a two-part structure with a shaft projecting on one wall member has a shape that can be molded by a simple method that simply opens and closes the mold during molding. Can be obtained.
Therefore, in the indoor unit and the air conditioner provided with the control box described above, a remarkable effect that workability such as maintenance is improved can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an indoor unit and an air conditioner according to the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The air conditioner 100 shown in FIG. 6 has a configuration in which one indoor unit 20 and one outdoor unit 30 are connected by a refrigerant pipe 40, and a cooling / dehumidifying operation and a heating operation using a heat pump. It is a device that performs.

The indoor unit 20 includes a suction grill (suction port) 21 for taking in air (room air) from a room to be air-conditioned, and indoor heat for cooling or heating the room air taken in from the suction grill 21 for air conditioning. Exchanger 22, air outlet 23 for returning the air conditioned by this indoor heat exchanger 22 (air-conditioned air) to the room, and taking in air from suction grille 21, and blowing air-conditioned air from the outlet 23 into the room And a cross flow fan (indoor fan) 24, and an indoor unit unit 20 that are arranged from the inner front surface to the inner upper surface, and are passed through the suction grille 21 and led to the indoor heat exchanger 22 from the indoor air. The main element is a pre-filter 25 that removes impurities such as dust. In addition, a control box 50 that performs various controls of the crossflow fan 24 and the like is installed inside the indoor unit 20 in cooperation with the outdoor unit 30 side.
The suction grill 21 and the air outlet 23 are formed in the front panel 26, and the air outlet 23 is provided with a wind direction control device 27 that adjusts the direction of the air-conditioned air.

The air conditioning outdoor unit 30 includes a compressor 31 for compressing the refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger 32 for performing heat exchange between the refrigerant and outdoor air (outside air), and a refrigerant in the outdoor heat exchanger 32. It has the outdoor fan 33 which accelerates | stimulates heat exchange with outdoor air.
Reference numeral 40 denotes a refrigerant pipe for connecting the air conditioning indoor unit 20 and the air conditioning outdoor unit 30 and circulating the refrigerant between the air conditioning indoor unit 20 and the air conditioning outdoor unit 30.

FIG. 7 is a view in which the suction grill 21, the indoor heat exchanger 22, the prefilter 25, the front panel 26, and the like are removed from the finished product of the indoor unit 20 shown in FIG. 6, and the control box 50 is exposed.
The control box 50 accommodates electrical components such as a circuit board, and is disposed in the vicinity of the side end (in the illustrated example, the right side end) in the indoor unit 20. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the control box 50 is formed with an opening 60 for performing wiring connection work or the like in the casing main body 51, and a resin molded part having a lid 70 that can be opened and closed in the opening 60. It is.

A wiring path 61 for external wiring is formed at the lower part of the control box 50 so that the wiring of the power supply system passes through a position away from the internal substrates as a noise countermeasure. The wiring path 61 is an external wiring (not shown) connected to the terminal block 90 provided on the front surface of the lid 70, that is, a power cable and a signal line that connect between the indoor unit 20 and the outdoor unit 30. It is a wiring passage for passing wiring, and has a box cross-sectional shape that curves from an outlet opening 61a that opens near the terminal block 90 to an inlet opening 61b on the back side.
On one side surface of the wiring path 61, a terminal block 91 used for internal wiring in the indoor unit 20 is provided. In the illustrated example, a terminal block 91 for connecting a communication line from the outside is attached to the right outer wall surface of the wiring path 61.
In addition, a shield member 80 such as a metal plate is attached to the outside of the casing body 51 so that the internal substrates are not affected by noise.

  The control box 50 has a two-part structure in which the casing body 51 is vertically divided. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the casing main body 51 is divided into two parts, a right wall surface member 52 and a left wall surface member 53, and left and right members via a shaft portion 54 protruding from one right wall surface member 52. Are combined. The shaft section 54 having a circular cross section is provided in the vicinity of the upper part of the front end of the right wall surface member 52 toward the left wall surface member 53 that is disposed to face the storage space and the opening 60 with a predetermined interval. Further, the left wall surface member 53 is provided with a circular recess 55 for inserting and fitting the distal end portion of the shaft portion 54.

The right wall surface member 52 and the left wall surface member 53 close the region except for the front surface forming the opening 60, that is, form wall surfaces on the upper surface, the lower surface, and the back surface. It has a substantially L-shaped cross section.
Further, below the right wall member 52 and the left wall member 53, plate-like ribs 52b and 53b are respectively provided to form a wiring path 61 having a box cross section. These plate-like ribs 52b and 53b together with the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53 form a wiring path 61 having a substantially rectangular box cross section.
Further, the lid 70 includes a bearing portion 71 through which the shaft portion 54 passes at the upper end portion.

The control box 50 is assembled by combining the left and right wall surface members 52, 53 that are opposed to each other so as to sandwich the lid 70 through the shaft portion 54 through the bearing portion 71 of the lid 70. As a result, the distal end portion of the shaft portion 54 is fitted into the circular recess 55 to form an integral casing body 51, and the lid 70 is supported by the shaft portion 54 so as to be rotatable. At this time, the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53 are fixed so as not to be separated by a locking mechanism arranged at an appropriate position. Thereafter, the shield material 80 is attached to the outside of the casing body 51.
The shield member 80 is fixed to the casing main body 51 by engaging a convex portion 56 provided on the control box side and elastically deforming with a locking hole 81 drilled on the shield material side so as to be detachably fixed. . In this case, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, by providing grooves 56a penetrating the casing member in three directions around the convex portion 56 having a substantially triangular cross-sectional shape, the periphery of the convex portion 56 is easily elastically deformed. It is possible. Note that the end of the shield member 80 is held by a locking claw 57 provided on the casing body 51 as in the conventional case.

According to the control box 50 of the indoor unit 20 as described above, the casing main body 51 has a vertically divided left and right split structure, and the left wall surface member disposed opposite to the right wall surface member 52 on one right wall surface member 52. A shaft portion 54 is provided so as to project toward 53, the left and right wall surface members 52, 53 are coupled via the shaft portion 54, and the lid 70 is rotatably supported by the shaft portion 54. Therefore, the rigidity between the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53 joined by the shaft portion 54 is increased, and the deformation becomes difficult. In addition, since the lid 70 is supported by the shaft portion 54 that connects the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53, the rotating portion of the lid 70 is also rigid and hardly deformed.
Therefore, when the lid 70 is opened and closed, the shaft portion 54 that supports the lid 70 and the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53 are not deformed, so that the operability is improved and the lid 70 falls off. Nor. The lid 70 is kept closed by the engagement between the protrusion 58 provided on the right side wall member 52 and the locking hook 72 provided on the lid 70, and when the lid 70 is opened, What is necessary is just to cancel | release engagement.

In addition, since the wiring path 61 for external wiring connected to the outdoor unit 30 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the control box 50, the shaft portion 54 is disposed at a position spaced from the wiring path 61. Accordingly, the shaft portion 54 functioning as a skeleton / strength member and the wiring path 61 of the box structure cooperate to increase the rigidity of the control box 50, so that a highly rigid structure that is more difficult to deform is obtained.
Also, regarding the attachment / detachment of the shield member 80, when the projection 56 is pushed in during removal, the engagement can be released by elastic deformation, and when attaching, the projection 56 is pushed down by the shield member 80 and elastically deforms. The convex portion 56 does not hinder the passage of the shield member 80, and therefore the attaching / detaching operation of the shield member 80 becomes easy.

  As described above, the indoor unit 20 of the present invention pays attention to separating the wiring of the signal line connected to the outdoor unit 30 from the wiring of the power supply system for noise countermeasures, In the control box 50 in which 61 is disposed, a shaft portion 54 that rotatably supports the lid 70 with a space from the wiring path 61 is provided. As a result, since the shaft portion 54 and the wiring path 61 serving as a skeleton member are arranged at intervals above and below the opening 60, in particular, it is substantially diagonal to the wiring path 61 existing to the lower rear of the casing body 51. Since the shaft portion 54 exists at the position, it greatly contributes to improving the rigidity of the casing body 51.

Further, the left and right wall surface members 52 and 53 described above can be molded by linearly opening and closing the mold, so that the productivity at the time of molding is good and can be manufactured at low cost.
In the above-described embodiment, a structure in which the shaft portion 54 is a hollow cylinder and a bolt is passed through and fastened may be employed, and thereby the rigidity can be further improved.

By the way, in the description of the above-described embodiment, a single-type air conditioner in which one indoor unit 20 is connected to one outdoor unit 30 is used, but a plurality of indoor units are provided in one outdoor unit 30. It is also possible to apply the present invention to a multi-type air conditioner in which the machine units 20 are connected.
In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it can change suitably.

It is an exploded view showing an embodiment of a control box housed and installed in the indoor unit according to the present invention. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the assembly state which closed the lid of the control box shown in FIG. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the state which opened the lid of the control box shown in FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the convex part provided in the control box for the shield material fixation, and comprised so that it might elastically deform. It is a perspective view which shows the structural example of an air conditioning apparatus. It is a perspective view of the principal part which exposes and shows the control box in an indoor unit. It is a side view which shows the conventional control box. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG. It is CC sectional drawing of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Indoor unit 30 Outdoor unit 40 Refrigerant piping 50 Control box 51 Casing main body 52 Right side wall member 53 Left side wall member 54 Shaft part 55 Circular recessed part 56 Projection part 60 Opening part 61 Wiring path 70 Lid 71 Bearing part 80 Shielding material 90, 91 Terminal block 100 Air conditioner

Claims (5)

An air conditioner that is equipped with a control box that houses electrical parts such as circuit boards and that has a lid that can be opened and closed at the opening, and that operates indoor fans and cools or heats the indoor air introduced from the air intake with an indoor heat exchanger In an indoor unit that blows air from the air outlet into the room,
The casing of the control box has a vertically divided two-part structure, and a shaft portion directed to the other wall surface member arranged opposite to the wall surface member is provided on either the left or right wall surface member, and the shaft portion The indoor unit is characterized in that both wall surface members are coupled via a shaft, and the lid is rotatably supported by the shaft portion.   The indoor unit according to claim 1, wherein a wiring path for external wiring connected to an outdoor unit is provided on an outer peripheral portion of the control box, and the shaft portion is disposed at a distance from the wiring path. .   The indoor unit according to claim 2, wherein the wiring path is formed in a box cross-sectional shape.   A shield material is disposed outside the control box, and the shield material is detachably supported by engagement of a convex portion provided on the control box side and elastically deformed with a locking hole. The indoor unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The indoor unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An outdoor unit having a compressor for compressing the refrigerant and an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outdoor air;
A refrigerant pipe for connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and for circulating a refrigerant between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit;
Wiring for electrically connecting the control box and the outdoor unit;
An air conditioner characterized by comprising:

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