JP2010223506A - Indoor unit of air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly adjust an air blowing amount to each region in a room. <P>SOLUTION: This indoor unit of an air conditioner includes a cross flow fan and a heat exchanger disposed in an indoor unit body, and a nose section disposed opposite to an outer peripheral face of the cross flow fan and generating the air flow supplied to the room by the cross flow fan. The nose section is divided into a plurality of divided nose sections along the rotating shaft direction of the cross flow fan, and each of the divided nose sections is movable to change a nose clearance between an outer peripheral face of an air blowing fan and itself by a driving mechanism. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner, and more particularly to an indoor unit of an air conditioner that can appropriately adjust the amount of air blown to each region in the room.

  An indoor unit of an air conditioner has a heat exchanger and a cross-flow fan housed in an indoor unit body in which a suction port and a blow-out port are formed, and the indoor air is drawn from the suction port by rotating the cross-flow fan. The air sucked into the main body and the air sucked into the indoor unit main body is heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger, and the air that has been heat-exchanged to become hot air or cold air is blown into the room from the air outlet.

  Such an indoor unit is provided with a nose portion for generating a flow of air blown into the room when the cross-flow fan rotates. The nose portion is formed in a convex shape protruding toward the outer peripheral surface of the cross flow fan, and is formed over the entire width of the cross flow fan along the rotation axis direction of the cross flow fan.

  In the relationship between the crossflow fan and the nose part, if the gap between the crossflow fan and the nose part is large (nose gap), the crossflow fan is sucked through the nose gap in the air flow generated when the crossflow fan rotates. The ratio of the air flow (recirculation flow) sucked again to the side increases, and there arises a problem that the amount of air blown from the air outlet into the room is reduced.

  On the other hand, when the nose gap is small, there arises a problem that noise during rotation of the cross-flow fan increases.

  Therefore, the nose gap is set to a value that can secure a sufficient amount of air flow into the room and that can suppress noise during rotation of the cross-flow fan, and the value is fixed.

  Furthermore, the nose gap is uniform over the entire width of the cross flow fan along the rotational axis direction of the cross flow fan, and the amount of air blown into the room from the outlet is constant over the entire width of the outlet in the width direction. It has become.

  In addition, as described in the following Patent Document 1, an indoor unit including a mechanism for adjusting a nose gap as necessary is also known. However, in this indoor unit, the adjustment of the nose gap is performed in the same manner over the entire width of the cross flow fan.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-293819

  According to the conventional indoor unit of an air conditioner, since the amount of air blown into the room from the air outlet is uniform over the entire width in the width direction of the air outlet, the air volume is variable for each region in the room. It was not possible to make adjustments. For example, if there are multiple people in a room where the air conditioner is in cooling operation, increase the amount of cold air to the area where there is a person who feels hot, and increase the amount of cold air to the area where there is a person who feels cold. I couldn't make adjustments to reduce it.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an indoor unit of an air conditioner that can appropriately adjust the amount of air blown to each region in the room.

  A first feature according to an embodiment of the present invention is that an indoor unit body provided with a suction port and an outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the indoor unit body, and the indoor unit body are disposed in the indoor unit body. A cross-flow fan that sucks indoor air from the suction port and distributes the sucked air through the heat exchanger and blows the air into the room from the air outlet, and is disposed to face the outer peripheral surface of the cross-flow fan. In an indoor unit of an air conditioner provided with a nose part that generates a flow of air blown by a fan, the nose part is divided into a plurality of divided nose parts along the direction of the rotation axis of the cross-flow fan. And a drive mechanism for moving the divided nose portion so as to vary a nose gap between the divided nose portion and the outer peripheral surface of the blower fan.

  According to the present invention, the amount of air blown to each region in the room can be adjusted as appropriate by moving the individual divided nose portions so as to vary the nose gap.

It is a perspective view which shows the indoor unit of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the M surface in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the N surface in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the ventilation state to each area | region in a room. It is a side view which shows how the air flows at the time of rotation of a cross flow fan. It is a perspective view which shows the indoor unit of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the nose clearance gap in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention, the rotation speed of a crossflow fan, and the ventilation volume from a blower outlet. It is a graph which shows about the case where the nose clearance gap for changing the rotation speed and increasing the ventilation volume to a one part area and maintaining the ventilation volume in another area | region is enlarged. It is a schematic diagram explaining the operation | movement of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the indoor unit 1 of the air conditioner has an indoor unit body 2 that is a hollow casing, and the indoor unit body 2 sucks indoor air into the indoor unit body 2. The inlet 3 and the blower outlet 4 which blows into the room the air sucked in the indoor unit main body 2 are formed. The blower outlet 4 is provided with a vertical louver 5 and a horizontal louver (not shown) that change the direction of air blown into the room in the left-right direction.

  In the indoor unit main body 2, a heat exchanger 6 and a cross flow fan 7 are disposed, and a nose portion 8 is further provided.

  The heat exchanger 6 has a refrigerant flowing therein, and the air sucked from the suction port 3 flows through the fins of the heat exchanger 6 so that heat exchange of heat absorption or heat dissipation is performed with the refrigerant. The sucked air becomes hot air or cold air.

  The cross flow fan 7 is installed in the indoor unit main body 2 with a rotating shaft extending in the horizontal direction, is driven by a fan motor 9 and rotates around the rotating shaft, and sucks indoor air from the suction port 3 and blows it. Air is blown into the room from the outlet 4.

  The nose portion 8 is arranged between the cross flow fan 7 and the outlet 4, is formed in a convex shape protruding toward the outer peripheral surface of the cross flow fan 7, and is a cross flow fan along the rotation axis direction of the cross flow fan 7. 7 is formed over the entire length.

  The length dimension along the rotation axis direction of the cross flow fan 7, the length dimension of the nose portion 8 along the rotation axis direction of the cross flow fan 7, and the width dimension of the outlet 4 are formed to be substantially the same dimension. ing.

  The nose portion 8 is formed by divided nose portions 8 a and 8 b which are divided into two along the rotational axis direction of the cross flow fan 7. Each divided nose portion 8a, 8b is provided so as to be movable in a direction in which the divided nose portion 8a, 8b is in contact with or separated from the outer peripheral surface of the cross flow fan 7. A driving mechanism 10 is connected to move in the direction of contact with and away from the outer peripheral surface. The drive mechanism 10 includes, for example, a rack connected to the divided nose portions 8a and 8b, a pinion meshed with the rack, a motor that rotationally drives the pinion, and the like.

  2 is a cross-sectional view of the M plane in FIG. 1, where the divided nose portion 8 a moves to a position away from the cross flow fan 7, and the nose gap 11 between the divided nose portion 8 a and the cross flow fan 7 becomes large. Yes. On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the N plane in FIG. 1, where the divided nose portion 8 b moves to a position close to the cross flow fan 7 and the nose gap 11 between the divided nose portion 8 b and the cross flow fan 7 is small. It has become.

  FIG. 5 is a side view showing the air flow when the cross-flow fan 7 is rotating. Since the nose portion 8 faces the outer peripheral surface of the cross flow fan 7, when the cross flow fan 7 rotates around the rotation axis, an eccentric vortex is generated around the position eccentric from the rotation axis of the cross flow fan 7. Then, the air sucked from the suction port 3 is blown into the room from the blower outlet 4. Part of the flow of the eccentric vortex becomes a flow of air (recirculation flow) that is sucked again into the suction side of the cross flow fan 7 through the nose gap 11. When the nose gap 11 increases, the ratio of the recirculation flow increases, and the amount of air blown into the room from the outlet 4 decreases.

  In such a configuration, the drive mechanism 10 is driven to increase the nose gap 11 of one divided nose portion 8a as shown in FIG. 2, and the nose gap 11 of the other divided nose portion 8b is shown in FIG. Make it smaller. The drive mechanism 10 can be controlled by switching the operation buttons of the remote controller that controls the operation of the indoor unit 1.

  On the divided nose portion 8a side where the nose gap 11 is enlarged, the amount of air in the recirculation flow increases, and the amount of air blown into the room from the outlet 4 (arrow A shown in FIGS. 1 and 4) decreases. On the other hand, on the divided nose portion 8b side where the nose gap 11 is reduced, the amount of air in the recirculation flow decreases, and the amount of air blown into the room from the outlet 4 (arrow B shown in FIGS. 1 and 4) increases. .

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, there are two persons P1 and P2 in the room, and one person P1 feels that the amount of air blown from the indoor unit 1 is small, and the other person P2 sends the air from the indoor unit 1. When it is better to increase the air volume, the remote control is adjusted so that the nose gap 11 of the divided nose portion 8a located on the person P1 side is increased and the nose gap 11 of the divided nose portion 8b located on the person P2 side is reduced. Manipulate.

  As a result, the amount of air blown to the indoor area where the person P1 is present can be reduced, and the amount of air blown to the indoor area where the person P2 is present can be increased. It is possible to secure an air blowing amount according to each person's preference.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the nose portion 8 is divided into two divided nose portions 8a and 8b has been described as an example, but the present invention is applied even when the nose portion 8 is divided into three or more. be able to.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that, in the second embodiment and other embodiments described below, the same components as those of the previously described embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted.

  The basic configuration of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, except that the nose portion 8 is divided into three divided nose portions 8a, 8b, and 8c, and a plurality of fan frames. This is the point where the end portions of the divided nose portions 8a, 8b, 8c adjacent to the position facing the connecting portion of the fan piece 7a in the cross flow fan 7 formed by connecting 7a are positioned.

  The fan piece 7a is formed by a disk-shaped side plate 12 and a plurality of blades 13 formed integrally with the side plate 11, and the cross flow fan 7 is formed by connecting the plurality of fan pieces 7a by welding or the like. Has been.

  In such a configuration, when the cross-flow fan 7 is driven to rotate, no wind is generated in the portion where the side plate 11 that is the connecting portion of each fan piece 7a is located. On the other hand, at the ends of the adjacent divided nose portions 8 a, 8 b, 8 c, a step is produced when the adjacent divided nose portions 8 a, 8 b, 8 c are moved to different contact positions with respect to the cross flow fan 7.

  However, since the position where the step is generated between the adjacent divided nose portions 8a, 8b and 8c and the connecting portion of the fan piece 7a are opposed to each other, the step is generated between the divided nose portions 8a, 8b and 8c. However, the step does not affect the amount of air blown from the crossflow fan 7 into the room. Therefore, even when the nose portion 8 is divided into a plurality of divided nose portions 8a, 8b, and 8c, the indoor unit 1 that does not adversely affect the amount of air blown into the room can be provided.

(Third embodiment)
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The basic configuration of the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. In the third embodiment, the reference rotational speed of the cross-flow fan 7 that determines the amount of air blown into the room is minimized by the nose clearance 11. In the case of lowering the air flow rate, the nose gap 11 of the divided nose portion used for blowing air to the area where the air flow rate is lowered is increased.

  Note that the minimum size of the nose gap 11 is a size that does not generate noise during rotation even when the cross-flow fan 7 rotates at the maximum rotation speed.

  FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of air blown from the nose gap 11 and the outlet 4 and the rotational speed of the cross-flow fan 7. The nose gaps 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d have a magnitude relationship of 11a <11b <11c <11d, and the nose gap 11a is the minimum dimension of the nose gap 11.

  As shown in the graph of FIG. 7, when the rotational speed of the cross flow fan 7 is the same, the amount of air blown from the outlet 4 increases as the nose gap 11 decreases. If the nose gap 11 is the same, the amount of air blown from the outlet 4 increases as the rotational speed of the cross flow fan 7 increases. As a result, it is possible to adjust the amount of air blown into each area in the room without generating noise during rotation in the cross flow fan 7.

  Further, in order to increase the rotational speed to increase the air flow rate to a partial area “X” in the room and maintain the air flow rate to another area “Y”, as shown in FIG. The nose gap 11 of the divided nose portion used for blowing air to “Y” is increased.

(Fourth embodiment)
A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The basic configuration of the fourth embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. In the fourth embodiment, the control unit that drives the drive mechanism 10 (see FIG. 2) is provided. Comprises means for periodically changing the nose gaps 11 of the divided nose portions 8a, 8b, 8c. Specifically, each divided nose portion 8a, 8b, 8c is moved in a direction to be in contact with or separated from the cross-flow fan 7 every set time, and a nose gap 11 of each divided nose portion 8a, 8b, 8c is set. It changes every hour.

  Thereby, the ventilation volume with respect to each area | region in a room | chamber can be changed automatically with progress of time, and the air-conditioning state which can feel more comfortable with respect to the person who exists indoors can be provided. In FIG. 9, the size of the arrow indicates the size of the amount of air blown to the area corresponding to each divided nose portion 8a, 8b, 8c.

2 indoor unit body 3 suction port 4 air outlet 6 heat exchanger 7 cross-flow fan 7a fan top 8 nose part 8a, 8b, 8c split nose part 10 moving mechanism 11 nose gap

Claims (4)

An indoor unit body provided with an inlet and an outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the indoor unit body, and air that is disposed in the indoor unit body and sucks indoor air from the suction port A cross-flow fan that circulates through the heat exchanger and blows air into the room from the outlet, and a nose portion that is disposed to face the outer peripheral surface of the cross-flow fan and generates a flow of air blown by the cross-flow fan. In the indoor unit of an air conditioner equipped with
The nose portion is divided into a plurality of divided nose portions along the rotational axis direction of the cross-flow fan, and each of the divided nose portions is moved so as to vary a nose gap between the outer peripheral surface of the blower fan. An air conditioner indoor unit comprising a drive mechanism.   2. The cross flow fan is formed by connecting a plurality of fan pieces, and an end portion of the divided nose portion is located at a position facing a connecting portion of adjacent fan pieces. Air conditioner indoor unit.   The air conditioning according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a reference rotational speed of the cross-flow fan for determining an air flow rate is set to a value when the nose gap is minimum, and the nose gap is increased when the air flow rate is lowered. Indoor unit of the machine.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means for periodically changing the nose gap of the divided nose portion.

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