JP3861177B2 - Cabinet manufacturing method and cabinet - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an indoor unit cabinet of an air conditioner and a method for manufacturing the cabinet.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The indoor unit cabinet stores a heat exchanger, a blower fan, and the like of the indoor unit. As a form of this indoor unit, there is a type that is embedded in the ceiling of the room, and the cabinet of this type of indoor unit is heat-insulated and soundproofed so that heat and sound in the indoor unit do not leak to the back of the ceiling . As a heat insulation / soundproof method, a method of fusing a foamed resin to a housing is known.
[0003]
In the manufacture of this cabinet, first, a belt-shaped sheet metal is bent with a press to form a side wall surrounding the periphery of the indoor unit, and an upper wall is assembled to the side wall to form a box-shaped casing. Next, the box-shaped housing is put into a gap between the inner mold and the outer mold of the molding mold, and the foamed beads having a diameter of 1 to 3 mm are filled into the gap from a filling hole formed in the outer mold. Then, steam is injected into the gap from the steam holes of the inner mold and the outer mold, and the foamed beads are melted and foamed and fused to the casing.
[0004]
Here, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-131226, through holes are formed in the side wall of the casing, and foam beads filled between the outer mold and the casing are disposed between the inner mold and the casing. As a result, a method has been proposed in which the foamed resin is fused to both the front and back surfaces of the casing. In this case, the through hole is formed by punching before bending the sheet metal in consideration of workability.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, when a through hole is made in a sheet metal, the strength against bending naturally falls because the sheet metal in that part is lost. However, if the through-hole is processed before the sheet metal is bent as in the prior art, it may be bent at the portion where the through-hole is formed instead of the folding line at the time of bending, and a desired side wall shape may not be obtained.
[0006]
For this reason, a through-hole cannot be formed in the part to which the force which bends a sheet metal is added, that is, the fold line part and the fold line of the sheet metal. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult to fill the foam beads between the casing near the fold line and the inner mold, and it takes time to fill compared with other portions.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to rapidly fill foam corners of a housing with foam beads.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, a plurality of through holes are provided in a belt-shaped sheet metal, and the sheet metal is bent at a folding line to form a frame-shaped side wall, and the upper wall is fixed to one opening of the side wall. Place the box-shaped casing in the gap of the molding die, fill the gap with the particulate foam material from the filling hole of the molding die, and heat to fuse the foam material to both sides of the casing In the manufacturing method, before the sheet metal is bent, slits are formed in a dotted pattern on the folding line.
[0009]
That is, according to the present invention, since the slit is formed on the fold line, the strength of the sheet metal along the fold line is lowered, and it is easier to bend than the portion where the through hole is formed. Thereby, the through hole can be formed close to the fold line, and the fold line portion is quickly filled with the foam beads.
[0010]
In this case, the shape of the tip of the slit can be various shapes such as an arc, a rectangle, and a triangle. Here, if the size of the slit is set to allow the foamed beads to pass through, the foamed beads can be filled into the fold line portion through the slit, so that the fold line portion can be further quickly filled. . In addition, if the magnitude | size of a bending line is adjusted by adjusting the magnitude | size of a slit, a sheet metal can be bent with the hand of an operator's hand, and a press process can be skipped.
[0011]
The cabinet of the present invention includes an indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger through which a refrigerant flows and a blower fan that sends air to the indoor heat exchanger, a compressor that compresses the refrigerant, and an outdoor heat through which the refrigerant flows. The outdoor unit having an exchanger is preferably used for an indoor unit of an air conditioner having a refrigeration cycle formed so as to circulate refrigerant through the indoor unit and the outdoor unit.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an air conditioner to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a part when the casing is disposed in a mold. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an air conditioner to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an indoor unit including a cabinet to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of the cabinet. FIG. 5 is a view showing a sheet metal having a developed shape of the side wall subjected to the punching process. FIG. 6 is a perspective view after bending a sheet metal having a developed shape of the side wall subjected to the punching process. FIG. 7 shows the shape of the slit.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the configuration of the air conditioning apparatus of the present embodiment is such that, for example, during heating operation, the refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor 1 passes through the four-way valve 3 and the indoor heat exchanger 7 in the indoor unit 5. To be guided to. The refrigerant gas led to the indoor heat exchanger 7 is condensed by exchanging heat with the air sent into the room by the indoor fan 9 and led to the outdoor heat exchanger 15 of the outdoor unit 13 via the expansion valve 11. It has become. The refrigerant guided to the outdoor unit 13 is configured to be exchanged with the outside air sent to the outdoor heat exchanger 15 by the outdoor fan 17 to evaporate and return to the compressor 1.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 3, the indoor unit 5 of the air conditioning apparatus of the present embodiment is installed in a manner embedded in the ceiling 20. The cabinet 19 of the indoor unit 5 is formed by a rectangular cylindrical side wall 24 extending upward from an edge of the rectangular opening 22 formed in the ceiling 20, and an upper wall 26 that closes the upper opening of the side wall 24. And a heat insulating material 30 made of styrene foam covering both the front and back surfaces of the housing 28. A plurality of through holes (not shown in FIG. 2) are formed in the surface of the side wall 24 of the housing 28, and a plurality of slits (not shown) are formed in the ridge line portions of two adjacent surfaces of the side wall 24. However, these through holes and slits are closed by the heat insulating material 30. The decorative panel 34 facing the room 31 and having the ventilation holes 32 through which air is blown is suspended from the lower surface of the upper wall 26 so as to close the opening 22 of the ceiling 20. The space surrounded by the cabinet 19 and the decorative panel 34 is provided with the indoor heat exchanger 7 through which the blower fan 36 and the refrigerant flow, and the air exchanged heat with the refrigerant is sent to the room 31 through the air holes 32. It has become.
[0015]
Next, a method for manufacturing the cabinet 19 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the developed sheet metal 40 of the side wall 24 is punched, and as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of through holes 42, square holes 44 for attaching humidifiers and ducts (not shown), and external pipe connection A pipe outlet 46 and a plurality of slits 48, which are features of the present application, are formed as notches (step 1). Here, the size of the through hole 42 formed in the edge portion of the sheet metal 40 is set to a size that allows the edge portion of the sheet metal 40 to have enough strength to stabilize the form of the housing 28. Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the metal plate 40 is bent by hand along the folding line 50 to form the side wall 24 (step 2), and the upper wall 26 is assembled to the side wall 24 with screws, caulking, etc. Form body 28 (step 3). Then, the formed casing 28 is set in a molding die 56 composed of an outer die 52 and an inner die 54 as shown in FIG. The casing 28 is set at the center of the molding die 56, and after injecting particulate foam beads 60 having a diameter of 1 to 3 mm from a plurality of filling holes 58 provided in the outer die 52, the outer die 52 and the inner die 54 are injected. The casing 28 and the heat insulating material 30 are integrally formed by injecting steam into the molding die 56 from a plurality of steam holes (not shown) formed, and heating and foaming the polystyrene (Step 4).
[0016]
Here, the slit 48 formed in step 1 which is a characteristic part of the present invention will be described. The slit 48 is formed so that the center line of the slit 48 is positioned on the folding line 50. As a result, the slit 48 can be formed to reduce the strength of the fold line 50, and in the process 2, the fold line 50 can be easily bent. For this reason, the through hole 42 can be formed closer to the fold line 50, and the filling delay of the foam beads 60 in the fold line 50 can be eliminated. Further, by providing the slit 48, the foamed polystyrene on the front surface and the foamed polystyrene on the back surface are bonded to each other through the slit 48, so that the fixing of the foamed polystyrene at the folding line portion can be strengthened.
[0017]
In this case, the size of the slit 48 is a size through which the foam beads 60 can pass. For example, since the size of the foam beads 60 having a foaming ratio of 30 times that is generally used is about 3 mm in diameter, by making the width a and length b of the slit 48 shown in FIG. Since the bend line portion can be filled with the foam bead via the slit, the filling delay of the bend line portion can be further reduced. Further, the interval c between the slits 48 is set in advance to a strength that allows the operator to easily perform bending and allows the bending angle to be freely adjusted. For example, when a zinc steel plate having a thickness of 0.8 mm is used for the side wall 24, the width a of the slit 48 is 1 to 10 mm, the length d of the slit 48 is 10 to 100 mm, and the interval c of the slit 48 is 5 to 50 mm. To do. This is preferable because the sheet metal can be bent by the hand of the operator and the pressing step can be omitted.
[0018]
A modification of the present embodiment is shown below. Here, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a modification of the shape of the slit 48. 9 and 10 are views showing modifications of the casing of the air conditioner to which the present invention is applied.
[0019]
In the above embodiment, the slit 48 has an elliptical shape. However, the slit 48 is not limited thereto, and various known slits such as an elliptical shape and a hexagonal shape can be used. In particular, as shown in FIG. 8, if the center line of the slit 48 is sharpened, the center line of the slit 48 can be easily bent, and the accuracy of the bending position by hand can be improved. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the side wall 24 is a quadrangle, but is not limited thereto, and may be an octagon with a square corner as shown in FIG. Further, the side wall 24 and the upper wall 26 do not have to be separate parts. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the sheet metal 40 is formed as a developed shape of the housing 28, that is, the upper wall 26 and the side wall 24 are integrated. A slit 48 may be provided at the boundary between the upper wall 26 and the side wall 24.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly fill the corners of the housing with the foam beads.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view when a cabinet casing to which the present invention is applied is placed in a mold.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an air conditioner to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an indoor unit including a cabinet to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of a cabinet to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 5 is a view showing a sheet metal having a developed shape of a side wall subjected to punching.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view after bending a sheet metal having a developed shape of a side wall subjected to punching.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the shape of a slit.
FIG. 8 is a view showing a modified example of a slit.
FIG. 9 is a view showing a modification of the casing of the air conditioner to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 10 is a view showing a modified example of the casing of the air conditioner to which the present invention is applied.
[Explanation of symbols]
28 Housing 42 Through-hole 50 Bending line 52 Outer mold 54 Inner mold 58 Filling hole 60 Foam beads

Claims (3)

A strip-shaped sheet metal is provided with a plurality of through holes, the sheet metal is bent along a folding line to form a frame-shaped side wall, and a box-shaped housing having an upper wall fixed to one opening of the side wall is formed as a mold. In the manufacturing method of arranging the gap and filling the gap with foam beads from the filling hole of the mold, and then heating and foaming the foam beads to fuse the heat insulating material to both sides of the casing, Before folding a sheet metal, a slit having a size that allows the foamed beads to pass through is formed on the folding line in a dotted shape. It has a box-shaped housing formed of a frame-shaped side wall having a plurality of through holes and an upper wall that closes one opening of the side wall, and foamed beads are heated and foamed on both sides of the box-shaped housing A cabinet that is provided with a heat insulating material that is fused together , and slits that are large enough to allow the foamed beads to pass through are provided in the form of dots on the ridgelines of two adjacent surfaces of the side wall. An indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger through which a refrigerant flows and a blower fan that sends air to the indoor heat exchanger, a compressor that compresses the refrigerant, and an outdoor heat exchanger through which the refrigerant flows The refrigeration cycle is formed so that the refrigerant circulates between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and the indoor unit is stored in the cabinet according to claim 2. Air conditioner.

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