JP2013142502A - Indoor unit of air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the generation of abnormal noise resulting from partial contact between a shaft and a bearing, to prevent the noise from becoming large during operation, and to achieve size reduction.SOLUTION: An indoor unit of an air conditioner includes a chassis and a blower device 4 and a heat exchanger which are prepared in the chassis. The blower device comprises a base 1, at least one fan 7a, an a fan motor 5 attached to the base and drives the fan via a shaft 9. The fan comprises an impeller 71a connected to the shaft, and a fan casing 72a arranged so as surround the impeller and having a suction part 33 and a discharge part. A shaft support pedestal 31 is arranged in the suction part, an shaft support 30 for supporting the end of the shaft is arranged in the shaft support pedestal, and the shaft support includes a shaft support member into which the end of the shaft is inserted and a flexible support for supporting the shaft support member in a manner of a flexible structure.

Description

  The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner, and is particularly suitable for an apparatus equipped with a plurality of sirocco fans.

  As a conventional indoor unit of an air conditioner, there is one described in JP-A-9-250770 (Patent Document 1). This patent document 1 describes an invention in which the fan shaft can be easily centered and the vibration and noise of the fan are reduced. That is, an L-shaped base plate, a bracket fixed to a horizontal portion spaced apart from a vertical portion of the L-shaped base plate, a motor having both ends supported by the bracket, and the L-shaped base plate A fan motor assembly (blower) integrated with a sirocco fan in which one end of a shaft is rotatably supported by a bearing provided in a vertical portion of the shaft and the other end of the shaft is coupled to the output shaft of the motor; It is a thing.

JP-A-9-250770

  In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, by providing the bearing in the vertical portion integrated with the horizontal portion, the mounting position of the bearing is made more accurate, the shaft is easily centered, and vibration and noise are reduced. Is described. The thing of this patent document 1 needs to provide the vertical part for attaching a bearing, and the dimension of the axial direction becomes large by that. That is, in the thing of this patent document 1, sufficient consideration is not made regarding size reduction of the air blower used for the indoor unit of an air conditioner.

  Moreover, the thing of this patent document 1 has only one fan (blower), and the distance to a motor and a bearing is not so long. However, in the case where a large number of fans are connected to form a multiple fan, the shaft becomes long, it becomes difficult to center due to the influence of the dimensional tolerance of the shaft, and the misalignment between the shaft and the bearing becomes large. When this misalignment increases, the shaft and the bearing come into contact with each other in contact with each other, so that abnormal noise is generated and noise during operation increases.

  If the bearing is abolished and the shaft is cantilevered, noise generation due to contact with the bearing can be prevented, but the interior of a large air conditioner that employs multiple fans that are particularly prone to misalignment In a machine, when a cantilever support structure is used, the fan may vibrate and hit the fan casing during transportation (load handling), possibly damaging the fan.

  An object of the present invention is to suppress the generation of abnormal noise due to contact between the shaft and the bearing that are in contact with each other, prevent the noise during operation from increasing, and reduce the size of the air conditioner. It is to obtain an indoor unit.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a housing, and a blower and a heat exchanger provided in the housing. The blower includes a base portion and at least one blower attached to the base portion. And a fan motor that is attached to the base portion and drives the blower via a shaft, the blower including an impeller connected to the shaft, and a suction portion and a discharge portion provided so as to surround the impeller. In an indoor unit of an air conditioner including a fan casing having, a shaft support pedestal portion is provided in a suction portion of the fan casing, and a shaft support portion for supporting an end portion of the shaft is provided in the shaft support pedestal portion, The shaft support portion includes a shaft support member into which an end portion of the shaft is inserted, and a flexible support portion for supporting the shaft support member in a flexible structure.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of abnormal noise due to contact between the shaft and the bearing that are in contact with each other, so that it is possible to prevent the noise during operation from being increased and miniaturization is also possible. It is possible to obtain a simple air conditioner indoor unit.

Sectional drawing which looked at Example 1 of the indoor unit of the air conditioner of this invention from the side. The perspective view which shows the structure of the air blower of the A section of FIG. The perspective view which expands and shows the air blower of the right end shown in FIG. The side view of the air blower shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 4. The enlarged view which expands and shows the B section of FIG. The figure which shows Example 2 of the indoor unit of the air conditioner of this invention, and is a figure equivalent to FIG. It is sectional drawing of the air blower shown in FIG. 7, and is a figure equivalent to FIG. The figure which shows Example 3 of the indoor unit of the air conditioner of this invention, and is a figure equivalent to FIG. The principal part expansion perspective view which expands and shows the C section of FIG. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the blower shown in FIG. 9 and corresponds to FIG. 5. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the conventional air blower, and is a figure equivalent to FIG. The perspective view which expands and shows the air blower of the right end shown in FIG. The side view of the air blower shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XV-XV in FIG. 14.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the indoor unit of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that, in each drawing, the portions denoted by the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding portions.

  A first embodiment of an indoor unit of an air conditioner according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an air conditioner indoor unit according to a first embodiment of the present invention as seen from the side, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the air blower of section A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the blower at the right end, FIG. 4 is a side view of the blower shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 4, and FIG. It is an enlarged view shown.

The indoor unit of the air conditioner of the present embodiment is an example in which a sirocco fan is employed as a blower (blower fan) and the present invention is applied to a ceiling-suspended indoor unit that is used by being suspended from a ceiling. .
As shown in FIG. 1, the indoor unit 100 of the air conditioner of the present embodiment is bent so that the top plate 24 is made of a metal plate or a resin cover and the back side is bent in an L shape, and the front side is inclined downward. The main body frame upper 22 and the main body frame lower 23 provided below the main body frame 22 are formed in the housing, and the rear lower surface of the housing sucks room air into the room. A grill 27 is provided.

  Inside the casing constituting the indoor unit, an electric box 25 that houses electrical components such as a substrate, and a blower 4 for sucking indoor air and blowing it to the front of the casing, A heat exchanger 21 provided in front of the blower 4 and a drain pan 26 provided in the lower part of the heat exchanger 21 for collecting drain generated in the heat exchanger 21 are provided. Further, an air outlet 28 is provided in front of the indoor unit 100 from which air blown by the blower 4 and passed through the heat exchanger 21 and heat-exchanged with the refrigerant flowing through the heat exchanger is blown out. A wind direction louver 29 is installed at the air outlet 28.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the blower 4 drives the base portion 1, the plurality of blowers 7 (7 a to 7 d) and the plurality of blowers 7 that are arranged and attached to the base portion 1 in a line. And a shaft 9 connected to a motor shaft 5a on one side of the fan motor 5 via a coupling 8. Each of the blowers 7 includes an impeller 71 (71a to 71d) formed of a sirocco fan and the like, and a fan casing 72 (72a to 72d, 72aa to 72da, 72ba) provided around the impeller 71 to surround the impeller 71. ~ 72db). The center of the impeller 71 is connected to the shaft 9.

The fan casing 72 guides the flow of air sucked in from the axial direction of the shaft 9 and blown in the radial direction by the impeller 71, and blown from the discharge portion 73 (see FIG. 1) toward the heat exchanger 21. It is configured to issue. The fan casing 72 is divided into an upper part and a lower part of the casing. The fan casing 72 is coupled to the base part 1 by inserting the tip end side into an opening formed in the base part 1.
The fan motor 5 is attached to the base portion 1 via a motor support portion 2.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the blower device 4 uses a multiple fan structure in which four blowers 7 are provided. The fan motor 5 is composed of a double-axis motor, and the shaft 9 is connected to the motor shaft 5a on one side via the coupling 8, and three fans 7a to 7c are connected to the shaft 9. Impellers 71a to 71c are connected to each other. The motor shaft 5b on the other side is directly connected to the impeller 71d of the leftmost blower 7d.

  The structure of the blower 7a installed at the rightmost end shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the fan casing 72a of the blower 7a is composed of a casing upper 72aa and a casing lower 72ab. A shaft support portion 30 for supporting the end portion of the shaft 9 is installed on the casing upper portion 72aa via a shaft support base portion 31 on the end surface side in the axial direction of the casing upper portion 72aa. In the present embodiment, the shaft support pedestal portion 31 is integrally formed on the casing upper 72aa by injection molding or the like, and the shaft support pedestal portion 31 is centered on the air suction portion 33 in the fan casing 72a. It is provided to pass. The shaft support pedestal 31 is formed in a quadrangular prism shape, and the shaft support 30 is provided substantially at the center of the shaft support pedestal 31.

  The detailed structure of the shaft support 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in these drawings, the shaft support portion 30 includes a shaft support member 11 composed of a bearing for supporting an end portion of the shaft 9 and a rubber for softly supporting the shaft support member 11. The flexible support part 10 comprised by the above, and the said shaft support part 11 and the hollow part 32 which accommodates the said flexible support part 10, etc. are comprised. The recess 32 is provided on the shaft support base 31 by integral molding such as injection molding.

  The shaft support member 11 may be a metal material or a bearing structure made of a resin such as Teflon (registered trademark) (PTFE), polyacetal (POM), or ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the flexible support portion 10 may be a ring-shaped one having a concave cross section and a hollow portion 10a, and the material thereof is rubber. In addition, polyurethane foam, polyethylene foam, and the like can be used. As described above, since the flexible support portion 10 is made of an elastic material such as a rubber having a concave shape and a hollow portion 10a, the flexible support portion 10 flexibly supports the shaft support member 11. Can be supported.

  Since the blower device 4 in the present embodiment uses a multiple fan structure, misalignment is likely to occur due to the weight of the impeller provided on the shaft 9, but in this embodiment, the shaft support portion 30. Thus, the shaft support member 11 that supports the end portion of the shaft 9 and is in direct contact with the shaft 9 is supported by the shaft support portion 30 via the flexible support portion 10, so that the shaft 9 and the shaft support portion 30 Even if a misalignment occurs between the shaft support member 11 and the shaft 9, the contact between the shaft support member 11 and the shaft 9 can be prevented or suppressed. Therefore, the generation of abnormal noise (noise) due to the shaft misalignment can be suppressed. Further, if the shaft support member 11 is made of resin, noise during operation of the indoor unit 100 can be further reduced.

  Further, in this embodiment, the end of the shaft 9 is supported by the shaft support portion 30, so that the impeller 71 vibrates during the transportation (load handling) of the indoor unit 100 and the fan casing. Damage due to collision with 72 can also be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the shaft support portion 30 is configured to be provided in the suction portion 33 of the fan casing 72, so that a bearing (shaft support portion) that supports the shaft 9 is installed in the base portion 1. The axial length of the entire blower 4 can be shortened and the size can be reduced. Further, since there is no need to install a bearing on the base portion 1, it is not necessary to prepare a bearing or a bearing support member for installing the bearing as a separate part, and the number of parts can be reduced because they are not required to be mounted. At the same time, since the bearing mounting work is not required, the assemblability is improved. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the cost can be reduced.

  Here, the structure of the blower device (multiple fan) 4 in the conventional outdoor unit in which a large number of blowers (fans) 7 are connected will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a blower device in a conventional outdoor unit, which corresponds to FIG. 2, FIG. 13 is an enlarged perspective view of the rightmost blower shown in FIG. 12, and FIG. 14 is shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XV-XV in FIG. 14. In these drawings, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 denote the same or corresponding parts, and the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the basic structure of the air blower 4 in the conventional outdoor unit is the same as that of the air blower 4 in the present Example 1 shown in FIG. Explaining the difference, in the blower 4 shown in FIG. 12, a bearing 6 for supporting the shaft 9 is provided between the rightmost blower 7 a and the blower 7 b disposed adjacent thereto, and the bearing support member 3. It is that it is installed in the base part 1 via. Further, as shown in FIGS. 13 to 15, the right end blower 7 a is not provided with the shaft support portion 30 or the shaft support pedestal portion 31 as in this embodiment, and the right end blower 7 a The thing of the structure similar to the air blowers 7b-7d is used.

  In the conventional blower 4 in the outdoor unit, as described above, the base 6 is provided with the bearing 6, so that the shaft 9 vibrates during the transportation (load handling) of the indoor unit, and the impeller 71 becomes the fan. It is possible to prevent the casing 72 from colliding and being damaged. That is, when the bearing 6 is not provided, the coupling 9 for connecting the shaft 9 and the fan motor 5 is made of rubber or the shaft 9 is long, so that the shaft 9 vibrates during transportation (load handling), and the impeller This is because there is a risk that 71 and fan casing 72 come into contact with each other and damage impeller 71 and the like.

  Moreover, in the indoor unit of a large air conditioner provided with a plurality of blowers 7, a longer shaft 9 for driving the impeller 71 of each blower 7 is required. However, the longer the shaft 9, the fan motor 5 The distance from the bearing 6 to the bearing 6 is increased, and the dimensional tolerance due to the deflection of the shaft is increased. For this reason, the misalignment between the bearing 6 and the shaft 9 increases, the shaft 9 vibrates during the rotation of the fan motor 5, and abnormal noise (noise) occurs due to a single contact with the bearing 6 that supports the shaft 9. Is likely to occur.

  On the other hand, in the air blower 4 in the first embodiment, as described above, the shaft support portion 30 is configured to be provided in the suction portion 33 of the fan casing 72, and the shaft support portion 30 causes the end of the shaft 9 to be provided. Since the shaft support member 11 that directly supports the shaft 9 and is in direct contact with the shaft 9 is supported via the flexible support portion 10 with respect to the shaft support portion 30 and the shaft support pedestal portion 31, the shaft 9 and the shaft support portion Even when a misalignment occurs between the shaft support member 11 and the shaft 9, the shaft support member 11 and the shaft 9 can be prevented from coming into contact with each other, and abnormal noise (noise) due to the misalignment of the shaft 9 can be prevented. Can be suppressed.

  That is, the present embodiment makes it difficult for the shaft 9 to hit each other by softly supporting the shaft 9 even in a large-scale air conditioner indoor unit having a plurality of fans that are difficult to align. In this structure, the vibration of the shaft 9 is difficult to propagate to other parts.

  In the first embodiment described above, of the four fans 7 (7a to 7d) shown in FIG. 2, only the rightmost fan 7a is provided in the suction portion 33 and the bearing support portion 30 as shown in FIGS. The left end blower 7d connected to the motor shaft 5b on the other side is also connected to the suction portion 33 on the left end side similarly to the blower 7a on the right end side. If it is set as the structure provided with the bearing support part 30 of the same structure, noise reduction can be achieved further, without enlarging the dimension of the air blower 4. FIG.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the case of the blower 4 of a multiple fan in which four blowers 7 are installed has been described, but the number of blowers 7 is not limited to four, Even when the number is smaller or larger than this, it can be implemented in the same manner, and the same effect can be obtained. For example, even when only one blower 7 is provided, the present invention can be applied by adopting the same configuration as that provided with the bearing support portion 30 in the suction portion 33 of the blower 7d on the left end side in FIG. It is possible and can produce almost the same effect.

  Embodiment 2 of the indoor unit for an air conditioner of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the blower shown in FIG. 7, and is a view corresponding to FIG. 5. In these drawings, the parts denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. These are the same or corresponding parts, and the description of the same parts is omitted.

  Also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the shaft support portion 30 is provided on the suction portion 33 of the fan casing 72 via the shaft support pedestal portion 31. The shaft support member 11 that supports the end of the shaft 9 and is in direct contact with the shaft 9 is supported by the shaft support portion 30 via the flexible support portion 10. Further, the shaft support portion 30, the shaft support pedestal portion 31, and the recess portion 32 are formed by integral molding such as injection molding together with the casing upper 7ba.

  The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the shape of the shaft support pedestal portion 31 formed integrally with the casing upper 72aa is changed from the suction portion 33 of the fan casing 72a to the inside of the impeller 71a. That is, it is configured to be bent in one step. By reducing the plate thickness of the fan casing 72a and bending it in one step, the shaft support base 31 is also provided with a spring effect, and the shaft support 30 is supported by the shaft support base 31 in a flexible structure. It is what you are doing. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  According to the second embodiment, the shaft support member 11 that supports the shaft 9 in direct contact with the end portion of the shaft 9 is not only supported by the shaft support portion 30 via the flexible support portion 10 but also has a flexible structure. Since the shaft support pedestal 31 is also supported via the shaft support pedestal 31, the end of the shaft 9 can be supported more flexibly than in the first embodiment. Therefore, even when a misalignment occurs between the shaft 9 and the shaft support portion 30, it is possible to more reliably prevent or suppress the contact between the shaft support member 11 and the shaft 9. The generation of abnormal noise (noise) due to the misalignment of 9 can be further suppressed. Transmission of the vibration of the shaft 9 to other parts during the rotation of the fan motor 5 can also be reduced.

  Embodiment 3 of the indoor unit for an air conditioner according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3, FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part showing an enlarged portion C of FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the blower shown in FIG. In these drawings, the portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 are the same or corresponding portions, and the description of the same portions is omitted.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the example in which the shaft support pedestal portion 31 is integrally formed on the fan casing 72 (in the above embodiment, on the casing 72aa) has been described. In the third embodiment, the shaft support pedestal 31 is provided. The portion 31 is formed of a member different from the fan casing 72, and the shaft support pedestal portion 31 is fixed to the fan casing 72 by fastening means such as locking claws and screws.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, in this embodiment, the locking claw 34 is provided on the end surfaces of the casing upper portion 72aa and the casing lower portion 72ab on the side of the suction portion 33 by integral formation, etc. The pedestal portion 31 is formed with locking holes 35 on both end sides thereof into which the locking claws 34 are inserted and engaged. The shaft support pedestal 31 is provided with a shaft support 30 in the vicinity of the center thereof, as in the first embodiment. The shaft support portion 30 has the same configuration as the shaft support portion 30 described with reference to FIGS. Then, the shaft support pedestal 31 is attached to the fan casing 72 so that the locking hole 35 and the locking claw 34 provided on the fan casing 72 side are engaged. The shaft support portion 30 is positioned at the center of the suction portion 33 of the fan casing 72 so as to coincide with the shaft center of the shaft 9.

  Even when configured as in the third embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, according to the present embodiment, the fan casing 72 provided with the bearing support portion 30 can be manufactured integrally with other fan casings not provided with the bearing support portion. That is, after the fan casing is manufactured, if the locking claws 34 are attached to the fan casing by fastening means such as welding, adhesive, or screws, the fan casing is manufactured in one unit, for example. Manufacturing costs can be reduced.

  As described above, according to each embodiment of the present invention described above, the shaft support pedestal portion is provided in the suction portion of the fan casing, and the shaft support pedestal portion supports the end of the shaft. The shaft support portion includes a shaft support member into which an end portion of the shaft is inserted and a flexible support portion for supporting the shaft support member in a flexible structure. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of abnormal noise due to contact in a state where the two are in contact with each other, to prevent an increase in noise during operation, and to obtain an indoor unit of an air conditioner that can be downsized.

1: Base part,
2: Motor support part,
3: bearing support,
4: Blower,
5: Fan motor, 5a, 5b: Motor shaft,
6: Bearing,
7, 7a-7d: blower,
71, 71a-71d: impeller,
72, 72a to 72d: fan casing,
72aa-72da: on casing, 72ab-72da: under casing,
73: discharge part, 33: suction part,
8: Coupling
9: shaft,
10: soft support part (rubber), 10a: hollow part,
11: shaft support member,
21: heat exchanger, 22: above the body frame, 23: below the body frame, 24: top plate,
25: Electric box, 26: Drain pan, 27: Suction grill,
28: Air outlet, 29: Wind direction louver 30: Shaft support part,
31: Shaft support base part, 32: Recess part 34: Locking claw, 35: Locking hole.

Claims (11)

A housing, and a blower and a heat exchanger provided in the housing, wherein the blower includes a base, at least one blower attached to the base, and the blower attached to the base. An air conditioner indoor unit comprising a fan motor driven through a shaft, the blower including an impeller connected to the shaft, and a fan casing provided so as to surround the impeller and having a suction portion and a discharge portion In
A shaft support pedestal is provided in the suction portion of the fan casing,
This shaft support pedestal is provided with a shaft support for supporting the end of the shaft,
The shaft support portion includes a shaft support member into which the end portion of the shaft is inserted, and a flexible support portion for supporting the shaft support member in a flexible structure. .   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the blower device includes a plurality of blowers connected to a single shaft and driven by a single fan motor, and the shaft of the plurality of blowers is provided. The indoor unit of an air conditioner, wherein the shaft support portion is provided via a shaft support base portion in a suction portion of a fan casing of a blower connected to the end side.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the indoor unit is a ceiling-suspended indoor unit that is used by being suspended from a ceiling, and the blower of the blower is a sirocco fan. The air conditioner indoor unit is characterized in that the air blower is provided on a suction side in the housing, and the heat exchanger is provided on a blowout side in the housing.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the shaft support pedestal portion is provided so as to pass through a substantially center of a suction portion formed in the casing. An indoor unit for an air conditioner, wherein the indoor unit is provided in the shaft support base at a position corresponding to an axial center position of the shaft.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the flexible support portion is made of an elastic material having a concave cross section and a hollow portion. Air conditioner indoor unit.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the shaft support portion includes a hollow portion integrally formed with the shaft support portion, and the shaft support member is provided in the hollow portion. Is provided through the flexible support part.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the shaft support base is configured in a quadrangular prism shape.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the shaft support base is bent at least one step inward of the fan casing to have a Z-shaped cross-sectional shape. An air conditioner indoor unit.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the shaft support base is integrally formed with the fan casing.   The indoor unit of an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the shaft support pedestal portion is formed of a member different from the fan casing, and the shaft support pedestal portion is fixed to the fan casing by fastening means. An air conditioner indoor unit characterized by   11. The air conditioner indoor unit according to claim 10, wherein the shaft support base is fixed to the fan casing by engagement of a locking claw and a locking hole.

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