JP2012154556A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner provided with an ion wind generator cleaning air and ventilating it without noise, and capable of blowing out an ion wind in a wider range inside the room.SOLUTION: The air conditioner includes a casing provided with an air suction port and an air blowout port, a heat exchanger arranged in the casing, a blower fan sucking indoor air from the air suction port and blowing it out from the air blowout port after passing it through the heat exchanger, a casing part located from a rear side of the blower fan toward the air blowout port and guiding an airflow from the blower fan toward the air blowout port, a vertical wind direction plate located at the air suction port and deviating the airflow up and down, and an ion wind generator generating the ion wind. The ion wind generator includes a metal needle electrode arranged along an airflow direction with its end located in a down stream side of the airflow direction, a counter electrode plate, and a voltage generator applying a voltage to the metal needle electrode, and the end of the metal needle electrode and the counter electrode plate are located in the downstream side of the blower fan.

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner provided with an ion wind generator.

  The air conditioner circulates room air through a heat exchanger and blows out air conditioned by heating, cooling, dehumidification, and the like into the room, thereby air-conditioning the room. On the other hand, in recent years, various functions other than temperature and humidity control have been desired for air conditioners. The functions that are in high demand include the air cleaning function, the function of keeping the inside of the air conditioner clean, the silent function, energy saving and ecology.

  As an air cleaning function, there are an air quality improvement function such as removal of malodors generated from pets, cigarettes and the like, and suppression of growth of allergen substances such as bacteria and pollen. As an air conditioner with conventional antibacterial and deodorizing effects, an ultraviolet lamp is installed inside the indoor unit of the air conditioner, and a suction grille serving as the wall surface of the ventilation path, the upper wall, front wall, side wall, There is one in which a photocatalyst is supported on an air guide plate (casing portion) located on the back side of a blower fan (for example, see Patent Document 1). The photocatalyst is excited by the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamp to oxidize and decompose adsorbed substances such as bad odors and bacteria, thereby restoring the function of the photocatalyst and continuously adsorbing bad odors and bacteria.

  As another prior art, there is one in which a discharge electrode and a dust collection electrode are provided inside an air conditioner to clean the air (for example, see Patent Document 2). Since the discharge electrode and the dust collecting electrode are arranged inside the air conditioner, it is possible to avoid the increase in ventilation resistance and clean the air.

  On the other hand, noise from the blower fan during operation of the air conditioner may interfere with bedtime or television viewing. As an air conditioner that reduces noise, there is an air conditioner that forms irregularities on the blade outer diameter side or blade inner diameter side of the blower fan to diffuse the fluid to reduce noise (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  However, in the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1, when indoor air passes through the ultraviolet lamp, pressure loss occurs, the amount of passing air decreases, and heat exchange efficiency decreases. Therefore, although antibacterial performance can be exhibited, there is a possibility that the cooling / heating ability may be reduced or the power consumption may be increased. In addition, since an ultraviolet lamp is mounted, it is necessary to increase the cost and take measures against resin deterioration against ultraviolet light.

  In Patent Document 2, since the discharge electrode and the dust collecting electrode are disposed between the heat exchanger and the blower fan, ions generated from the discharge electrode are diffused by the blower fan. Therefore, the generated ions cannot be efficiently released into the room, and it is difficult to deliver the ion wind into the room.

  In Patent Document 3, if the blower fan is operated, a turbulent vortex is always generated between the blower fan blades and the air, and noise is generated not a little.

JP 2000-320854 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-332165 JP 63-124899 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioner that includes an ion wind generator that cleans air and blows air without noise, and that can blow out the ion wind in a wider range in the room.

  In order to achieve the above object, an air conditioner of the present invention includes a housing having an air suction port and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and a heat exchanger that sucks indoor air from the air suction port. A blower fan that blows out from the air outlet, a casing portion that is located from the back side of the blower fan toward the air outlet and guides the airflow from the blower fan to the air outlet, and an airflow that is located at the air outlet. A metal needle having an up / down wind direction plate that deflects in an up / down direction and an ion wind generating device that generates ion wind, the ion wind generating device being arranged along the air flow direction and having a tip positioned downstream in the air flow direction And a voltage generator for applying a voltage to the metal needle electrode, the tip of the metal needle electrode and the counter electrode plate are located downstream of the blower fan.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an air conditioner that includes an ion wind generator that cleans air and blows air without noise, and that can blow out the ion wind over a wider range in the room.

The block diagram of an air conditioner. The sectional side view of an indoor unit. The figure which shows the structure of an ion wind generator. The attachment perspective view of a metal needle electrode and a counter electrode metal plate. The attachment side sectional view of a metal needle electrode and a counter electrode metal plate.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the whole structure of an air conditioner is demonstrated using FIG.1 and FIG.2. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an air conditioner, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the indoor unit.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an air conditioner. The air conditioner 1 includes an indoor unit 2, an outdoor unit 3, and a remote controller 12 that transmits an operation signal to the indoor unit 2. The indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 are connected by a connection pipe 5. The indoor unit 2 includes an internal structure such as a heat exchanger 16 described later in a housing 9. The air conditioner 1 air-conditions the room by sucking room air from the air suction port 6 and blowing the room air heated, cooled, and dehumidified by the heat exchanger 16 into the room from the air outlet 13.

  FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the indoor unit. The indoor unit 2 includes air intake ports 6 for sucking room air on the upper surface and the front surface of the indoor unit 2. A filter 15 that removes dust in the room air is disposed on the downstream side of the air suction port 6 so as to cover the air suction port 6. Downstream of the filter 15 and in the central portion of the housing 9, a heat exchanger 16 is disposed in a substantially inverted V shape. A cross-flow fan type blower fan 14 having a length substantially equal to the width of the heat exchanger 16 is disposed on the downstream side of the heat exchanger 16. A dew tray 17 is disposed at the lower end of the heat exchanger 16. The dew tray 17 receives condensed water generated in the heat exchanger 16 during cooling operation or dehumidifying operation. The condensed water collected in the dew tray 17 is discharged outside through the drain pipe. An air outlet 13 is provided downstream of the heat exchanger 16 and below the indoor unit 2 to blow indoor air heated, cooled, or dehumidified by the heat exchanger 16 into the room. The air outlet 13 includes a left / right wind direction plate 19 for deflecting the blown air in the left / right direction and an up / down wind direction plate 18 for deflecting the air in the vertical direction.

  In FIG. 2, the air flows as shown by white arrows by operating the blower fan 14. That is, by operating the blower fan 14, room air is sucked into the indoor unit 2 from the air suction port 6. At that time, dust in the air is removed by the filter 15. Thereafter, the indoor air sucked into the indoor unit 2 is heated, cooled, dehumidified, and the like by the heat exchanger 16 and blown into the room from the air outlet 13 via the blower fan 14. The conditioned air blown into the room from the air outlet 13 is deflected in the left-right direction and the up-down direction by the left-right wind direction plate 19 and the up-down wind direction plate 18. In this way, room air is sucked from the air suction port 6, and the room air heated, cooled, dehumidified, etc. by the heat exchanger 14 is blown into the room from the air outlet 13, thereby air conditioning the room. When the blower fan 14 rotates, turbulent vortices are generated between the blades constituting the blower fan 14 and the air, resulting in noise. Since the noise hinders bedtime and TV viewing, an air conditioner with quiet operation noise with suppressed noise is desired.

  In the indoor space where the indoor unit 2 is used, acetaldehyde contained in cooking odors when fish and meat are baked in the kitchen, odor of ammonia contained in urine from pets kept in the room, tobacco odor due to smoking Various smells of daily life such as acetic acid are generated. Therefore, a corrugated corrugated deodorizing filter (not shown) or the like, which is an adsorbent based on a porous material such as activated carbon or zeolite, is installed in the downstream portion of the air passing through the filter 15.

  In addition, viruses such as influenza virus, fungi, and fungi float in the air of the indoor space where the indoor unit 2 is used. These viruses, fungi, and molds may propagate inside the air conditioner and become dirty inside. For this reason, in order to sterilize and control these viruses, fungi, and molds, means for mounting an ultraviolet lamp inside the indoor unit has been considered. As the ultraviolet wavelength capable of sterilizing viruses and bacteria, 254 nm, which is near the ultraviolet absorption band of 260 nm of DNA having gene information of viruses and bacteria, is most effective. However, on the other hand, there is a possibility that the resin used for the indoor unit 2 may be deteriorated by the ultraviolet rays, and a means for blocking the ultraviolet light and suppressing the resin deterioration around the ultraviolet lamp is required. In addition, the power consumption increases due to the operation of the ultraviolet lamp.

  An air conditioner equipped with the ion wind generator of the present invention for solving such problems will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 5, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the attachment of the metal needle electrode and counter electrode metal plate, and FIG. 5 is the metal needle electrode and counter electrode metal plate. FIG.

  The ion wind generator 39 provided in the air conditioner 1 of the present invention includes a high voltage generator 30, a conductor 32 extending from a high voltage terminal 31 of the high voltage generator 30, a counter electrode metal plate 25, and a counter electrode metal plate 25. And a metal needle electrode 24 arranged on the upstream side of the inflow air. The metal needle-like electrode 24 is disposed along the airflow direction, and the tip is located downstream in the airflow direction. The tip of the metal needle electrode 24 is located downstream of the blower fan 14 (downstream of the line connecting the tip of the front nose 60 and the back nose in FIG. 5).

  By applying a high voltage of −3 kV to −6 kV generated by the high voltage generator 30 to the metal needle electrode 24, negative corona discharge is generated on the metal needle electrode 24. When negative corona discharge occurs on the metal needle electrode 24, negative ions begin to flow from the metal needle electrode 24 toward the counter electrode metal plate 25 connected to the ground, and an ion wind 26 is generated. The generated ion wind 26 is blown out into the indoor space along the counter electrode metal plate 25 matched with the curved shape of the casing portion 22 that guides the air flow from the blower fan 14.

  These negative ions can sterilize and suppress viruses, fungi, and fungi floating in the air. Further, the ion wind 26 gives the kinetic energy of the ions to the neutral molecules due to the collision between the negative ions generated by the application of the high voltage and the neutral molecules, and the negative ions and the neutral molecules become the counter electrode metal plate 25. It is a molecular motion toward Therefore, since there is no operation sound for generating the ion wind 26, it is possible to blow air into the use space without sound.

  The ion wind 26 is very weak as compared with the air blowing amount of the blower fan 14. Accordingly, the metal needle electrode 24 and the counter electrode metal plate 25 are connected to a position where there is no resistance in the blowing direction of the airflow, that is, downstream of the blower fan 14 (in FIG. 5, the front nose 60 and the rear nose are connected to each other). More preferably, it is arranged on the back side of the blower fan 14 (on the downstream side of the line 62) (on the rear side in the horizontal direction from the center of the blower fan 14 and between the blower fan 14 and the casing portion 22). When the metal needle electrode 24 is located on the upstream side of the blower fan 14, the ion wind 26 is blocked by the blades forming the blower fan 14, and it is difficult to blow the ion wind 26 widely into the indoor space.

  On the other hand, when the counter electrode metal plate 25 is overlapped with the casing portion 22 and curved, the ion wind 26 can be gradually expanded and blown into the indoor space. In particular, by positioning the counter electrode metal plate 25 on the downstream side of the tip of the metal needle electrode 24, the generated ion wind can be smoothly blown out from the air outlet 13 into the room.

  Further, in order to blow the ion wind 26 into the indoor space, it is preferable that the vertical angle of the vertical wind direction plate 18 coincides with the extension of the arc tangent of the curved casing portion 22.

  As described above, since the ion wind 26 is weaker than the air blowing amount of the blower fan 14 and the air volume passing through the heat exchanger 16 is small, the heat exchange amount in the heat exchanger 16 is reduced when only the ion wind 26 is used. . For this reason, when the use space of the air conditioner 1 reaches the set temperature (when the use space of the air conditioner 1 becomes equal to or higher than the set temperature), the rotation of the blower fan 14 is stopped and the metal needle-like electrode 24 is stopped. The ion wind 26 is generated by applying a high voltage to. By controlling in this way, the room air can be harmonized silently, and further, the power for rotating the blower fan can be cut to save energy. Moreover, in order to improve the comfort at the time of bedtime, you may make it air-condition the room only by the ion wind 26, without driving the ventilation fan 14 as a bedtime mode. Even if it does in this way, an energy-saving driving | operation becomes possible by cutting off the electric power for harmonizing indoor air silently and also rotating a ventilation fan similarly.

  In addition, since the ion wind 26 increases in proportion to the length and the number of the metal needle-like electrodes 24, in order to blow out more ion winds 26, along the longitudinal direction of the blower fan 14, It is preferable to arrange a plurality of them over almost the entire width.

  With the ion wind generator provided with the metal needle electrode 24 and the counter electrode metal plate 25 as in the present embodiment, the generated negative ions are blown into the air and adhere to dust, fungi, mold, and viruses floating in the air. It is negatively charged and adheres to the counter electrode metal plate 25 having the counter electrode potential. By making the counter electrode metal plate 25 a metal that exhibits an antibacterial effect by elution of metal ions, the growth of fungi, molds, and viruses can be further suppressed, and the interior of the indoor unit 2 can be further kept clean. Examples of metal ions that have an antibacterial effect include silver, copper, and nickel. In order to reduce costs, austenitic stainless steel containing nickel is preferable. Furthermore, by continuing the operation of the ion wind 26, the indoor air can be purified by air circulation.

  On the other hand, the casing part 22 is provided with the casing convex part 28 which goes to an airflow direction upstream. In addition, the counter electrode metal plate 25 includes a counter electrode metal plate folding portion 29 that is folded back to the back side of the indoor unit at the upstream end portion in the airflow direction of the counter electrode metal plate 25. By using the casing convex portion 28 of the casing portion 22 and the counter electrode metal plate folding portion 29 of the counter electrode metal plate 25, the counter electrode metal plate 25 can be easily attached to and detached from the casing portion 22.

  Specifically, the counter electrode metal plate 25 can be removed from the indoor unit by removing the up / down wind direction plate 18 and the left / right wind direction plate 19 and manually rotating the counter electrode plate fixing claw 27 as indicated by the dotted arrow in FIG. it can. For example, even when dust accumulates on the counter electrode metal plate 25, cleanliness can be further improved by washing away the dirt adhering to the counter electrode metal plate 25 and attaching the counter electrode metal plate 25 to the casing portion 22 again.

  When the counter electrode metal plate 25 is attached to the casing portion 22, the counter electrode metal plate folded portion 29 of the counter electrode metal plate 25 is inserted into the casing convex portion 28 of the casing portion 22 to determine the attachment position of the counter electrode metal plate 25, and then the counter electrode The electrode plate fixing claw 27 is rotated and fixed. By adopting such a structure, it is possible to avoid the risk of the counter electrode metal plate 25 falling due to a mounting failure, to ensure safety, and to securely fix it.

  As described above, the air conditioner of the present embodiment includes a housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, and sucks indoor air from the air inlet through the heat exchanger. A blower fan that blows out from the air outlet, a casing that guides the airflow from the rear side of the blower fan to the air outlet and guides the airflow from the blower fan to the air outlet, and an airflow that is located at the air outlet The ionic wind generator includes an up-and-down wind direction plate that deflects in the direction and an ionic wind generator that generates ionic wind. The electrode, the counter electrode plate, and a voltage generator for applying a voltage to the metal needle electrode, and the tip of the metal needle electrode and the counter electrode plate are located downstream of the blower fan, Clean and noise Comprising an ion wind generator for Ku blowing, it is possible to blow more extensively ion wind in the room.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioner 2 Indoor unit 3 Outdoor unit 5 Connection pipe 6 Air inlet 9 Housing | casing 12 Remote control 13 Air blower 14 Blower fan 15 Filter 16 Heat exchanger 17 Dew tray 18 Vertical wind direction plate 19 Left and right wind direction plate 20 Outlet air path 22 Casing part 24 Metal needle electrode 25 Counter electrode metal plate 26 Ion wind 27 Counter electrode plate fixing claw 28 Casing convex part 29 Counter electrode metal plate folding part 30 High voltage generator 31 High voltage terminal 32 Conductor

Claims (9)

A housing having an air inlet and an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed in the housing, a blower fan that sucks indoor air from the air inlet and then blows out from the air outlet, and A casing portion that is located from the back side of the blower fan toward the air outlet and guides the airflow from the blower fan toward the air outlet, and an up-and-down air direction that is located at the air outlet and deflects the airflow in the vertical direction A plate and an ion wind generator for generating ion wind,
The ion wind generator includes a metal needle electrode that is disposed along the air flow direction and has a tip located downstream in the air flow direction, a counter electrode plate, and a voltage generator that applies a voltage to the metal needle electrode. Have
The tip of the metal needle electrode and the counter electrode plate are an air conditioner located on the downstream side of the blower fan.   2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the counter electrode plate is located on the downstream side in the airflow direction with respect to the tip of the metal needle electrode.   3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the counter electrode plate is disposed so as to overlap the casing portion and guides an air flow toward the air outlet.   4. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the metal needle-like electrode is located on a back side of the blower fan.   5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the metal needle electrodes along the longitudinal direction of the casing.   6. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the counter electrode metal plate is a metal having a sterilizing action by metal ions.   7. The counter electrode metal plate folding part according to claim 1, wherein the casing part has a casing convex part toward the upstream side in the airflow direction, and the counter electrode metal plate is folded back at the front end part in the airstream direction. An air conditioner that fixes the counter electrode metal plate to the casing part by inserting the counter electrode metal plate folded part into the casing convex part.   In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 7, when indoor air is more than preset temperature, rotation of the said ventilation fan is stopped, a voltage is applied to the said metal needle electrode, and ion wind is blown from the said air blower outlet. Air conditioner.   9. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein, when a voltage is applied to the metal needle-like electrode, the angle of the up-and-down air direction plate is on an extension line of the airflow contact surface of the casing portion.

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