JP2022155908A - Ceiling-suspended type indoor unit of air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

To individually air-condition a prescribed area in an air-conditioned room.SOLUTION: A ceiling-suspended type indoor unit of an air conditioner includes a casing 100 which is suspended in an air-conditioned room R from a ceiling C via prescribed suspending means 2. The casing 100 includes an air blower and a heat exchanger in an inside thereof. An air suction part is provided on an upper surface of the casing 100, and an air blowout part is provided on a bottom surface of the casing 100. Conditioned air can be blown out in a spot way toward a human activity area from the air blowout part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ceiling-suspended indoor unit for an air conditioner, and more particularly to a ceiling-suspended indoor unit suitable for individually air-conditioning a predetermined area in a room to be air-conditioned by being suspended from the ceiling. It is a thing.

As one of the methods for installing the indoor unit of an air conditioner in a room to be air-conditioned, a ceiling-mounted cassette air conditioner (ceiling-mounted air conditioner There is a method of suspending the machine) with anchor bolts, etc.

This ceiling hanging installation method is often seen in commercial facilities, etc., but because a large heavy object is installed floating in the upper space of the room, it gives the viewer a sense of instability and oppression. There is Further, since the entire room is controlled to a predetermined temperature, the motor does not shift to low speed operation unless the entire room reaches the set temperature. Especially when the ceiling is high, it takes time to reach the set temperature, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of energy saving.

There is also a method of ducted air conditioning throughout the building, but since it cannot be turned on and off individually, it is not possible to obtain comfort that is suitable for each individual. Furthermore, in a typical ceiling-mounted cassette air conditioner, the wind direction plate is controlled vertically and horizontally, and the conditioned air is blown almost straight. I sometimes feel

By the way, Patent Literature 1 proposes an indoor unit of a ceiling-suspended type air conditioner in which the degree of freedom in design is enhanced with an emphasis on appearance. This indoor unit is composed of a main body arranged away from the ceiling and a hanger for hanging the main body from the ceiling.

The outline of the main body 901 shown in FIG. 12 includes a circular top surface 902 with its center bulging upward, a circular bottom surface 903 with its center bulging downward, a side surface 904 formed between the top surface 902 and the bottom surface 903, and a top surface. It consists of a column-shaped hanger 905 provided in the center of 902 . A suction port 906 is provided on the top surface 902, and a blowout port 907 is provided on the entire circumference of the side surface 904, but the bottom surface 903 has no opening such as a suction port or a blowout port. It is suspended from the ceiling by a hanging tool 905 .

However, in the indoor unit of this ceiling-suspended air conditioner, the entire room is air-conditioned, and temperature-controlled conditioned air is blown out from the outlet 907 on the side surface 904 . Therefore, for example, it is not suitable for individually air-conditioning an activity area of a person directly under the indoor unit.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-263545 (see FIG. 5, etc.)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a ceiling-suspended indoor unit suitable for individually air-conditioning a predetermined area in a room to be air-conditioned.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention includes a housing that is suspended from the ceiling via a predetermined suspension means in an air-conditioned room, the housing has an air suction part on the upper surface, and has a fan and a heat generator inside. It is characterized in that an exchanger is arranged and an air blowing part is annularly formed on the bottom surface.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a ceiling-suspended indoor unit suitable for individually air-conditioning a predetermined area in a room to be air-conditioned.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an installation example of a ceiling-suspended indoor unit of an air conditioner. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the indoor unit viewed from below. (a) A side view and (b) a bottom view of the indoor unit. A typical sectional view showing an internal structure of the above-mentioned indoor unit. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a housing included in the indoor unit; FIG. 3(a) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a wind direction plate included in the indoor unit; FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of operation for explaining a flow state of air in the indoor unit; FIG. 3(a) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB. The exploded perspective view which shows the internal structure of the said housing|casing. The schematic diagram which shows an example of the individual control system by the said indoor unit. The figure which shows the ceiling hanging type|mold indoor unit of the conventional air conditioner.

Next, some embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1, a ceiling-suspended indoor unit (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "indoor unit") 1 of the air conditioner of the present invention is suspended from the ceiling C, and installed in the same air-conditioned room R. It can be allocated and arranged for each existing person's activity area, which in this example is the work desks W1, W2, .

2 to 5, the indoor unit 1 includes a housing 100 suspended from the ceiling C via a predetermined suspension means 2 in the air-conditioned room R. As shown in FIG. In addition to the ceiling C, the housing 100 may be hung from a ceiling slab or a beam member installed on the ceiling slab.

A wire 21 can be used for the suspending means 2 . In this example, the housing 100 is suspended by three wires 21, but the number is not particularly limited. Also, instead of the wire 21, a suspension rod whose length can be adjusted with a turnbuckle or the like may be used. In any case, the installation height of the housing 100 is adjustable, and for example, it can be installed above the head of a person in a standing posture.

The housing 100 includes a blower 110 and a heat exchanger 120 inside. The housing 100 has an air suction part 130 on the upper surface 101 facing the ceiling C side in a suspended state, and an air blowing part 140 on the bottom surface 102 facing the floor surface.

The housing 100 may be a rectangular parallelepiped, but in the present embodiment, the housing 100 has a hemispherical shape with a spherical upper surface 101 and a flat bottom surface 102 . The housing 100 is hung with the top of the upper surface 101 facing up, and the air suction part 130 is formed along the spherical surface of the upper surface 101 . A heat insulating material 105 is provided on the inner surface of the housing 100 excluding the air suction portion 130 .

Also referring to FIG. 10 , a suction grille 131 is detachably fitted in the air suction portion 130 . In this example, the intake grille 131 is divided into three pieces 131a, 131b, and 131c, and the air intake section is arranged so that these three pieces 131a, 131b, and 131c are apparently included in part of the outer shape of the housing 100. 130 is fitted. An air filter 132 is attached below the intake grille 131 .

A mounting plate 150 is provided on the bottom surface 102 side of the housing 100 . The mounting plate 150 is supported by the housing 100 by an air passage bridge portion 141 which will be described later. Blower 110 and heat exchanger 120 are arranged on the upper surface side of mounting plate 150 . A turbo fan 112 driven by a fan motor 111 is used as the air blower 110 and arranged in the center of the mounting plate 150 .

The heat exchanger 120 is arranged on the mounting plate 150 so as to surround the turbo fan 112 . The heat exchanger 120 is formed to have a C-shaped cross section when viewed from the upper surface 101 side. A connection box 121 is provided having a By arranging the heat exchanger 120 so as to surround the turbo fan 112 according to the outer shape of the housing 100, it is possible to achieve the maximum heat exchange capacity and efficient ventilation.

An air blowing portion 140 is annularly formed around the mounting plate 150 . In the air blowing section 140, four blowing path bridge sections 141 are provided at equal intervals to support the mounting plate 150 on the lower surface 102 of the housing 100. As shown in FIG.

As shown by the four arrows in FIG. 6, assuming that the turbo fan 112 generates, for example, a counterclockwise airflow, each of the airflow passage bridges 141 is arranged so as not to become a resistance to the counterclockwise airflow as much as possible. It is preferred to have an angle of direction along the flow of the stream.

Further, the mounting plate 150 is formed with a drain pan that stores condensed water dripping from the heat exchanger 120 during operation. The entire upper surface of the mounting plate 150 may be formed as a drain pan, or the drain pan may be formed only along the lower portion of the heat exchanger 120 .

A wind direction plate 160 that rotates along the annular air blowing portion 140 by being driven by a motor is provided on the lower surface side of the mounting plate 150 . A circular rotation guide rib 152 is formed on the lower surface of the mounting plate 150 as one of the configurations for rotating the wind direction plate 160 along the air blowing portion 140 .

The wind direction plate 160 has a circular base portion 161 that rotates along the rotation guide ribs 152 and a bottom portion 165 that gradually expands in diameter continuously downward from the base portion 161 . Together with the edge portion 103 , a blowing passage 104 for the conditioned air blown from the air blowing portion 140 is formed.

In this embodiment, the base portion 161 of the wind direction plate 160 is fitted to the outer peripheral side of the rotation guide rib 152 . With reference to FIG. 5 , a rotation drive unit 170 for rotating the wind direction plate 160 is provided on a part of the inner peripheral side of the rotation guide rib 152 .

Although not shown in detail, the rotary drive unit 170 includes a motor arranged on a part of the inner peripheral side of the rotary guide rib 152 . The motor has a pinion gear, and rack teeth are formed on the inner peripheral side of the base portion 161 of the wind direction plate 160 . The rotation guide rib 152 is formed with an opening for meshing the pinion gear with the rack teeth.

As a result, the wind direction plate 160 can be rotated 360 degrees by the motor of the rotary drive unit 170, and the whole direction plate 160 can be moved up and down.

Also referring to the schematic diagram of FIG. 7, the lower surface 166 of the skirt portion 165 of the wind direction plate 160 is positioned relative to the axis 112a passing through the center O1 of the turbofan 112 (this center O1 is also the rotation center of the base portion 161). It is formed so as to be positioned on a virtual plane of obliquely intersecting virtual inclined planes (planes indicated by two-dot chain lines in FIG. 7). In other words, the distance from the base portion 161 to the bottom surface 166, which is the tip of the skirt portion 165 extending downward, varies along the circumferential direction. Specifically, the distance from the base 161 to the lower surface 166 of the skirt 165 extending downward is the longest, and the distance from the base 161 to the lower surface 166 of the skirt 165 extending downward is the lowest. Assuming that the upper end is 166b, the blowing passage 104 is elongated at the lower end 166a and the blown conditioned air is spread laterally, and at the upper end 166b the blowing passage 104 is shortened and the blown conditioned air is directed obliquely downward. will be

The air passage 104 is formed over the entire circumference of the bottom surface 102 of the housing 100, but the length of the air passage 104 changes continuously from the lower end 166a to the upper end 166b.

In FIG. 8, the direction of the conditioned air blown from the lower end 166a is indicated by a solid line arrow, and the direction of the conditioned air blown from the upper end 166b is indicated by a chain line arrow. According to this, by rotating the wind direction plate 160, as shown in FIG. 1, the conditioned air is blown downward from the indoor unit 1 in a spiral shape.

Referring to FIG. 7, lower surface 166 of bottom portion 165 is circular in bottom view when housing 100 is viewed from the axial direction of center O1 of base portion 161, and center O2 of the circle extends from center O1 of base portion 161 ( X distance). The base 161 is provided with a cover plate 181 having a center coaxial with the rotation center O1 of the base 161 .

Since the lid plate 181 is circular and its center coincides with the rotation center O1 of the base 161, the lid plate 181 appears stationary even when the wind direction plate 160 rotates, and only the portion around the lid plate 181 is eccentric. It looks like it's rotating. As a result, a visual effect is produced in which the entire wind direction plate 160 does not appear to be rotating even though the direction plate 160 is rotating. , causing dizziness when the user continues to look at the wind direction plate 160).

In this embodiment, the lid plate 181 is made of a transparent material that transmits light, and the lower surface of the mounting plate 150 can transmit through the lid plate 181 to indicate the operation mode of the indoor unit 1, timer on/off, wind strength, etc. A display unit 182 for displaying is arranged. Note that the display unit 182 may be arranged, for example, in the lower edge portion 103 of the housing 100 .

3, 4, 9 and 10, etc., a pipe 200 extending to the ceiling C is attached to the top of the housing 100. As shown in FIG. In the pipe 200, a power cable 210, two refrigerant pipes 220 (221, 222) on the gas side and the liquid side, and a drainage pipe 230 for drain water are passed.

One end of the power cable 210, the two refrigerant pipes 220 (221, 222) on the gas side and the liquid side, and the drain water drainage pipe 230 are drawn into the connection box 121, and the other end is wired along the ceiling C, It is piped, or wired and piped behind the ceiling, and connected to an outdoor unit or the like (not shown). Note that the pipe 200 can also be used as means for suspending the housing 100 .

As shown in FIG. 10, the housing 100 is provided with a support arm 133 that traverses the air suction portion 130, and the power cable 210, the refrigerant pipe 220, and the drain water discharge pipe 230 in the pipe 200 are connected to a predetermined It is drawn through the support arm 133 into the connection box 121 . The connection box 121 is provided with an electrical component storage portion, a pipe connection portion, and a drain pump 122 .

When the indoor unit 1 is in operation, indoor air is sucked into the housing 100 from the air suction part 130 by the rotation of the turbofan 112, and when passing through the heat exchanger 120, heat is exchanged with the refrigerant to become temperature-controlled conditioned air. , is blown out from the air blowing portion 140 toward the air-conditioned room R through the blowing passage 104 .

When the airflow direction plate 160 is rotated during operation of the indoor unit 1, the conditioned air is spread laterally and blown out from the lower end 166a of the skirt portion 166 (see the solid line arrow in FIG. 8), and is blown out from the upper end 166b. , the conditioned air is blown obliquely downward (see the chain-line arrow in FIG. 8).

As a result, as shown in FIG. 1, the conditioned air is blown downward from the indoor unit 1 in a spiral shape. Since the air can be blown out in a targeted manner, the activity area of the desired person can be individually air-conditioned.

In FIG. 11, an indoor unit 1 is suspended from the ceiling C in each activity area W1 to W6, each indoor unit 1 is connected to an outdoor unit 3 capable of multi-connection, and each indoor unit 1 is individually controlled by a controller 4. Although the controllable example is shown, each indoor unit 1 can also be controlled by operating the controller 4 from the mobile phone 5 using a communication connection medium such as WiFi.

Although the present invention has been described using the embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the description of the above embodiments. If a person skilled in the art can make modifications or improvements to the above embodiments, they are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 indoor unit 100 housing 101 upper surface of housing 102 bottom surface of housing 103 lower edge of housing 104 ventilation passage 110 blower 111 fan motor 112 turbo fan 120 heat exchanger 121 connection box 122 drain pump 130 air suction unit 131 suction Grille 132 Air filter 133 Support arm 140 Air blowing part 141 Air blowing path bridge part 150 Placement plate 152 Rotation guide rib 160 Wind direction plate 161 Base part of wind direction plate 165 Bottom part of wind direction plate 170 Rotation drive unit 181 Lid plate 182 Display unit 2 Suspension Means 21 Wire 200 Pipe 210 Power cable 220 Refrigerant pipe 230 Drainage pipe 3 Controller 4 Mobile phone C Ceiling W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6 Person activity area R Air-conditioned room

In this embodiment, the lid plate 181 is made of a translucent material that transmits light, and the lower surface of the mounting plate 150 can transmit through the lid plate 181 to indicate the operation mode of the indoor unit 1, the timer ON/OFF, and the strength of the air blow. A display unit 182 for displaying such as is arranged. Note that the display unit 182 may be arranged, for example, in the lower edge portion 103 of the housing 100 .

Claims (9)

A housing that is suspended from the ceiling via a predetermined suspension means in the air-conditioned room is provided, the housing is provided with an air suction part on the top surface, a blower and a heat exchanger are arranged inside, and air is on the bottom surface. A ceiling-suspended indoor unit for an air conditioner, characterized in that a blowout part is formed in an annular shape. The housing has a mounting plate that supports the blower and the heat exchanger, and a wind direction plate that rotates along the air blowing portion by a rotary drive unit is provided on the lower surface side of the mounting plate. The indoor unit suspended from the ceiling of an air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wind direction plate has a circular base portion and a skirt portion extending downward from the base portion, and a ventilation passage for conditioned air blown out from the air blowing portion by the skirt portion and the lower edge portion of the housing. 3. The ceiling-suspended indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1 or 2, wherein is formed. 4. The air conditioner ceiling according to claim 2, wherein the wind direction plate is formed such that the distance from the base portion to the tip of the skirt portion extending downward varies along the circumferential direction. Hanging indoor unit. The base is provided with a circular cover plate having a center coaxial with the center of rotation of the base. The cover plate is made of a transparent material that transmits light. 5. The ceiling-suspended indoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 3, further comprising a display unit for displaying at least the operation mode of said indoor unit. 6. The mounting plate according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein a drain pan for storing condensed water dripping from the heat exchanger and a drain pump for pumping up the condensed water from the drain pan are provided. A ceiling-suspended indoor unit for the air conditioner described in the above item. The housing is formed in a hemispherical shape having a spherical upper surface, and a pipe extending to the ceiling is attached to the top of the upper surface, and a power cable, a gas side and a liquid side are installed in the pipe. 7. The ceiling-suspended indoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein two refrigerant pipes and a drainage pipe for drain water are passed through the two refrigerant pipes. The heat exchanger is arranged on the mounting plate so as to surround the blower, and a connection box having an electrical component storage portion and a pipe connection portion is arranged between both ends of the heat exchanger. The ceiling-suspended indoor unit for an air conditioner according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The housing is provided with a plurality of bridges crossing the air suction part, and the power cable, the two refrigerant pipes on the gas side and the liquid side, and the drain water drainage pipe in the pipe are connected to the bridges. 9. The ceiling-suspended indoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the air conditioner is pulled into the connection box through the.

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