JP2011169495A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner capable of suppressing breeding of bacteria by preventing remaining of water on a drain pan without degrading performance, to improve sanitation of the entire drain pan. <P>SOLUTION: The drain pan 10 of this air conditioner includes a first water receiving section 11 made of a hydrophobic porous material, and a second water receiving section 12 made of a synthetic resin impervious to water, and covering the bottom of the first water receiving section 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to improve the hygiene of a drain pan that receives drain water generated by a heat exchanger, and to prevent an abnormal stop of the apparatus due to drain water overflow. Related to the machine.

The air conditioner includes a blower, a heat exchanger, a drain pan that receives drain water generated by the heat exchanger, and a drain pump that sucks the drain water flowing into the drain pan.
In such an air conditioner, when the operation of the apparatus is stopped, bacteria and slime grow in the drain pan due to dust accumulated in the drain pan or return water from the drain pump stored in the drain pan storage section, It was the cause of water overflow and drain clogging in the drain pan.

  In order to solve such problems, a waterproof resin sheet and an antibacterial film kneaded with an antibacterial agent are stacked in the water storage part of the foamed resin drain pan to propagate the germs of the drain pan. There is one that suppresses drainage and the like from being clogged in the passage of condensed water (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a copper plate having a heat storage material is provided at the bottom of the drain pan, and a heater for heating the drain pan is disposed between the drain pan bottom plate and the heat storage material to prevent the growth of algae and bacteria due to the drain water. There are some (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3663015 (page 4-6, Fig. 1-3) JP 2000-249359 A (page 2-3, FIG. 2)

  In the air conditioner of Patent Document 1, an antibacterial film in which an antibacterial agent is kneaded is installed in the drain pan water storage section to suppress the propagation of various bacteria in the drain pan water storage section. Road antibacterial could not be realized. Furthermore, the antibacterial film in which the antibacterial agent has been kneaded has a problem that the antibacterial effect cannot be obtained if dust or the like accumulates on the surface of the drain pan, and the water remaining in the drain pan causes dust at high humidity. There is a problem in that bacteria attached to the bacterium tend to proliferate and slime and slime are generated.

  In addition, the air conditioner of Patent Document 2 evaporates water with a heater in order to eliminate water remaining on the drain pan. However, not only members and electric power for this purpose are required, but also the drain pan. There is a problem that the heat exchange efficiency in the air conditioner decreases due to the heating.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and suppresses the growth of bacteria by eliminating water residue on the drain pan without reducing the performance, so as to improve the hygiene of the entire drain pan. An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioning apparatus.

  The present invention provides an air conditioner including a blower fan, a heat exchanger, and a drain pan that receives drain water generated by the heat exchanger, wherein the drain pan is a first water receiver made of a porous material having hydrophobicity. And a second water receiving portion that is made of a non-water-permeable synthetic resin and covers the bottom of the first water receiving portion.

  According to the present invention, since there is no moisture that causes the growth of bacteria on the surface of the drain pan, even if dust accumulates on the surface of the drain pan, the growth of bacteria and slime can be suppressed. Can be improved.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is AA sectional drawing which abbreviate | omitted the decorative panel of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part of the drain pan of FIG. It is an expansion explanatory view of the 1st water receiving part of Drawing 3. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part of the drain pan of the air conditioning apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

[Embodiment 1]
1 and 2 showing the air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, 1 is a main body case of a ceiling cassette type air-conditioning apparatus formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape having an open bottom surface, and the bottom opening is The decorative panel 2 has an air inlet 3 for indoor air and an air outlet 4 for conditioned air.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a blower fan installed in the main body case 1 above (downstream side) the suction port 3 and circulating indoor air. 6 is a substantially C-shaped heat exchanger installed on the outer periphery of the blower fan 5, and a drain pan 10 for receiving drain water generated by the heat exchanger 6 is provided below the heat exchanger 6. Reference numeral 4 a denotes an air passage provided outside the drain pan 10 so as to correspond to the four sides of the main body case 1 and communicating with the outlet 4 of the decorative panel 2.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the drain pan 10 is made of a non-water-permeable synthetic resin, and a second water receiving portion 12 that is a main body portion of the drain pan 10 having a bottom surface that is inclined toward the concave water storage portion 13. And a second water receiver having an area that can receive all drain water dripped from the heat exchanger 6, that is, an area larger than the projected area of the heat exchanger 6. On the part 12, it consists of the 1st water receiving part 11 arrange | positioned substantially horizontally through the clearance gap. A drain pump 14 is provided in the water storage unit 13 and pumps up the water accumulated in the water storage unit 13 and is connected to the drain drain pipe 15.

  The first water receiver 11 is made of, for example, a polymer material such as an epoxy resin, or an inorganic material such as titanium. However, the first water receiver 11 does not hydrolyze or corrode water and is excellent in water resistance. It is necessary to be. In addition, it is desirable that the surface of the second water receiving portion 12 is subjected to a hydrophobic treatment so that the drain water to be dropped can easily flow to the water storage portion 13.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.
When the operation is started, the blower fan 5 is driven to suck indoor air from the suction port 3, and this indoor air passes through the heat exchanger 6 to exchange hot air into cold air or heat from cold air to hot air ( Conditioned air) and blown out from the blowout port 4 through the air passage 4a.

  When heat is exchanged from hot air to cold air, drain water is generated on the surface of the heat exchanger 6, and the drain water falls on the drain pan 10 provided under the heat exchanger 6 and is collected in the water storage unit 13. The drain water accumulated in the water storage unit 13 is pumped up by the drain pump 14 and discharged from the drain drain pipe 15 to the outside of the room.

  In this case, the drain water generated and dripped on the surface of the heat exchanger 6 is retained in the first water receiver 11 disposed in the drain pan 10. Since the first water receiver 11 is made of a hydrophobic porous material, the drain water that has fallen into the first water receiver 11 instantly penetrates into the first water receiver 11, It is captured.

  The drain water that has permeated the first water receiver 11 passes through the first water receiver 11 and flows out to the second water receiver 12, is guided to the inclined surface, and accumulates in the water reservoir 13. At this time, since the water and dust are separated by the first water receiving portion 11, the growth of the bacteria is suppressed, and the hygiene of the entire drain pan 10 is improved.

  In the present embodiment, by configuring the first water receiving portion 11 with a porous material having hydrophobicity, the surface can be maintained in a dry state even after the drain water has been absorbed. The growth of bacteria existing on the surface of the water receiver 11 can be suppressed.

  The pore diameter of the porous material constituting the first water receiving part 11 is desirably in the range of 1 nm to 10 μm. Even if dust accumulates on the surface of the porous material by using the air conditioner over time, clogging due to the dust entering the pores must be prevented.

  Generally, there are many fibrous and sandy dusts on the drain pan in the air conditioner, and most of them have a particle size of several tens of μm or more. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the pore diameter of the porous material is set to 10 μm or less. On the other hand, in order to ensure the water absorption of the porous material, a pore diameter of 1 nm or more is required. Therefore, by forming the porous material within the pore diameter range of 1 nm to 10 μm, the drain water and dust can be reliably separated in the first water receiving portion 11, and clogging is prevented. Can be prevented.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the porous material constituting the first water receiving portion 11 has the smallest pore diameter of the upper surface portion 11 a that is close to the heat exchanger 6, and moves away from the heat exchanger 6. Therefore, it is desirable to make it large. By making such a pore size distribution, dust and drain water can be effectively separated, and the amount of water passing through the porous material can be increased. Even if it does, it does not overflow on the surface of the 1st water receiving part 11, but can flow through the porous material to the 2nd water receiving part 12.

  In addition, by containing an antibacterial agent in the porous material constituting the first water receiving portion 11, bacteria on the surface of the first water receiving portion 11 and bacteria entering the porous material are sterilized. be able to. Moreover, by comprising in this way, the drain water which passed the porous material flows in into the water storage part 13 of the drain pan 10 as sterilization water, and can contribute to the improvement of the sanitary property of the water storage part 13.

[Embodiment 2]
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a main part of the drain pan of the air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the part of the same or same function as Embodiment 1. FIG.
In Embodiment 1, although the case where the 1st water receiving part 11 of the drain pan 10 was arrange | positioned via the clearance gap between the 2nd water receiving parts 12 was shown, in this Embodiment, the drain pan 10 The first water receiving portion 11 is installed on the second water receiving portion 12 with its bottom abutting against the second water receiving portion 12 and only the upper portion of the water storage portion 13 is opened. The drain water that has permeated into the first water receiving portion 11 moves toward the open water storage portion 13 and is stored in the water storage portion 13.

  The operation of the drain pan 10 configured as described above is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, and the first water receiver 11 is porous so that the drain water dripped from the heat exchanger 6 can be sufficiently retained. The size, thickness, and pore diameter of the quality material are set, so that the drained drain water does not overflow.

In the present embodiment, the amount of drain water that moves in the direction of the water storage unit 13 from within the first water receiving unit 11 increases as it approaches the water storage unit 13. For this reason, by increasing the thickness of the porous material closer to the water storage unit 13 or increasing the pore diameter, the amount of drain water retained in the first water receiving unit 11 in the vicinity of the water storage unit 13 is increased. And you may comprise so that a water level may not rise beyond the surface of the 1st water receiving part 11. FIG. Note that the thickness of the porous material may be increased and the pore diameter may be increased as the distance from the water storage unit 13 becomes closer.
By configuring in this way, it is not necessary to form the bottom surface of the second water receiving portion 12 as an inclined surface as in the first embodiment, so that the structure of the drain pan is simplified.

  According to this Embodiment, the 1st water receiving part 11 and the 2nd water receiving part 12 of the drain pan 10 can be comprised with the same material. For example, in a polymer porous material, it is possible to form a resin layer without pores on the outermost surface of a molded porous body depending on the polymerization temperature at the time of polymerization of monomers, and depending on the polymerization temperature The thickness of the resin layer can be adjusted.

In this way, according to the present embodiment, the first water receiving part 11 and the second water receiving part 12 can be formed of the same material and integrally, so that the number of processing steps is reduced and the production is reduced. Can be improved.
Also in the present embodiment, substantially the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

  In the above description, the case where the present invention is implemented in the illustrated air conditioner is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is also applied to an air conditioner having another structure such as an air conditioner installed on a wall surface. The invention can be implemented.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body case of an air conditioning apparatus, 2 decorative panel, 5 ventilation fan, 6 heat exchanger, 10 drain pan, 11 1st water receiving part, 12 2nd water receiving part, 13 water storage part, 14 drain pump.

Claims (7)

In an air conditioner including a blower fan, a heat exchanger, and a drain pan that receives drain water generated by the heat exchanger,
The drain pan is composed of a first water receiving portion made of a porous material having hydrophobicity and a second water receiving portion made of a non-water-permeable synthetic resin and covering the bottom of the first water receiving portion. An air conditioner characterized by that.   The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the first water receiving portion of the drain pan is provided on the second water receiving portion with a gap.   2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the first water receiving portion of the drain pan is provided on the second water receiving portion so that the bottom of the first water receiving portion is placed on the second water receiving portion. apparatus.   The porous material constituting the first water receiving portion of the drain pan has a small pore diameter on the side close to the heat exchanger, and is formed larger as the distance from the heat exchanger increases. 4. The air conditioning apparatus according to any one of 3.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a pore diameter of the porous material constituting the first water receiving portion of the drain pan is in a range of 1 nm to 10 µm.   The air-conditioning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the porous material constituting the first water receiving part of the drain pan contains an antibacterial agent.   The air conditioner according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the first water receiving portion and the second water receiving portion of the drain pan are integrally formed.

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